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THE REPRESENTATION OF THE MAIN CHARACTER’S HYBRID IDENTITY AS A RESPONSE TO GLOBALIZATION IN ARAVIND ADIGA’S

THE WHITE TIGER

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

In English Letters

By

DIONISIUS SONY WIDYA MUNARSA SUPRIHANTO

Student Number: 074214047

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

2013

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis


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“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free

our minds” - Bob Marley -

“Imagination is more important than knowledge”

- Albert Einstein -


http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/bobmarley385052.html



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For The Sky and The Earth


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank God and the universe for I could finish this

undergraduate thesis. I would also like to show my greatest gratitude to my family:

my father, Ignatius Joko, and also my beloved mother, Yosefin Hantoro for their

material and immaterial support. I also thank my little brother Filipus Neri, who has

supported me in finishing this thesis.

I also would like to thank my advisor, Dr. FX Siswadi, M.A., who has

guided, helped, and given enlightenment to me during the process of writing this

undergraduate thesis. The help and guidance he has given to me along the writing of

this undergraduate thesis have been very contributing. I also thank my co advisor

Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum. for inputs regarding my writing content.

All classmates and English Literature mates: Ani, Herman, Kenan, Samson,

Hindra, Sepi, Natal, Cici, Edy Kedibro, Nisa, Elissa, Aryo, Dita, Aya, Hellene,

Iyuth, Umi, Satriya, Alwi, Wahmuji, Vallone. I would also like to thank Froyd

team, all lecturers of English Letters Department, and others that I could not

mention one by one. Then, I would like to thank Widi and Irene who have helped me

in discussing my writing. I also give thanks to Thesa Paskarina who always supports

and reminds me to finish this writing. And for the last and the main, I would say

special gratitude to Maria Hartiningsih. Without her support and her patience, I

would not get a chance to study in the university.


http://usd.ac.id/profile_detail.php?id=00353

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………………………..i

APPROVAL PAGE…………………………………………………………………ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………………………………. iii

Lembar Pernyataan Persetujuan Publikasi Karya Ilmiah…..….……………………..iv STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY…………………………………….v MOTTO PAGE ……………………………………………………………………..vi DEDICATION PAGE…..………………………………………………………….vii

ACKONWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………….viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………...ix

ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………....xi

ABSTRAK…………………………………………………………………………..xii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................1 A. Background of the Study ............................................................................1 B. Problem Formulation...................................................................................5 C. Objectives of the Study...............................................................................6 D. Definition of Terms.....................................................................................6

1. Globalization..........................................................................................6 2. Hybrid Identity.......................................................................................6

CHAPTER II: THEORITICAL REVIEW..............................................................7 A. Review of Related Studies..........................................................................7 B. Review of Related Theories.......................................................................10

1. Theory of Character and Characterization...........................................10 a. Theories on Characters....................................................................10 b. Theories on Characterization...........................................................11

2. Theory of Globalization.......................................................................13 a. Imperialism....................................................................................14 b. Colonialism....................................................................................15 c. Globalization in India....................................................................18

i. Caste..........................................................................................21 ii. Dowry........................................................................................22

3. Theory of Hybrid Identity...................................................................22 C. Theoretical Framework..............................................................................23

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY.........................................................................25

A. Object of the Study....................................................................................25


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B. Approach of the Study...............................................................................26 C. Method of the Study..................................................................................27

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS......................................................................................28

A. The Characterization of the Main Character (Balram Halwei)........................28 1. The Physical Characterization of Balram Halwei.....................................31 2. The Non-physical Characterization of Balram Halwei.............................34

a. Conscious…………………………………………………………….35 b. Intelligent…………………………………………………………….38 c. Open Minded………………………………………………………...41 d. Passionate……………………………………………………………44 e. Integrated…………………………………………………………….47

B. The Globalization in India That Presented in The Novel................................49 C. The Main Character’s Representation of Hybrid Identity as a Response to

Globalization…………………………………………………………………57

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION................................................................................71

BIBLIOGRAPHY…..................................................................................................75

APPENDIX……………………………………………………….…………………77


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ABSTRACT

DIONISIUS SONY WIDYA MUNARSA SUPRIHANTO. The Representation of the Main Character’s Hybrid Identity as a Response to Globalization in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger.Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2013.

The White Tiger is a novel written by Aravind Adiga that portrays the struggle of a native Indian named Balram Halwei to get out off poverty and also against the oppression from the local authority. In this novel, Balram is described as a native who has the consciousness that he is a victim of a bad system. In this case, the poverty and the oppression are the effects of globalization in his country: India. The objective of this study is to address the relationship between Balram Halwei and the globalization process in his country. There are three research problems raised in this undergraduate thesis: the first problem is to find out how Balram Halwei is described in the novel. The second is to find out how the globalization is described in the novel, and the last is to find out how Balram Balwei represented a hybrid character as a response to globalization. The writer uses library research as the methodology. The main reference of this study is the novel The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Meanwhile, the other references are obtained from several theories in printed books and some articles from the internet. The writer uses postcolonial as the study approach. The writer feels that this approach is suitable to analyze the problems because the novel is a representation of a native’s struggle against colonialism in globalization era.

In the analysis, it is found that Balram Halwei has a hybrid characteristic. He is conscious, intelligent, open-minded, passionate, and integrated. Generally, those characteristics are found through the Balram’s speech description. Specifically, those are found through his past lives, reaction, thought and habit. Then, it is found that globalization in this novel is described through social condition and description of places in India. Moreover, it is also found that globalization as an imperialism and colonialism practice are described through the way Balram’s grandmother, Kusum and Stork, the land lord, treated Balram. Lastly, it is found that Balram’s hybrid characteristics are a response to the condition in his country. His characteristics represent a critique to the government and Indian people itself about how they respond to globalization. What Balram had done is only to make his country a better country within the era of globalization.


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ABSTRAK

DIONISIUS SONY WIDYA MUNARSA SUPRIHANTO. The Representation of the Main Character’s Hybrid Identity as a Response to Globalization in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger.Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2013.

The White Tiger adalah novel karya Aravind Adiga yang menggambarkan perjuangan seorang pribumi India bernama Balram Halwei untuk lepas dari jerat kemiskinan dan penindasan oleh para penguasa di sekitarnya. Dalam novel ini, Balram digambarkan sebagai seorang pribumi yang mempunyai kesadaran bahwa ia adalah korban dari sistem yang buruk. Dalam hal ini pula, kemiskinan dan penindasan yang dirasakan Balram tersebut merupakan sebuah akibat dari globalisasi yang terjadi di negaranya, India.

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui lebih jauh mengenai hubungan karakter utama dengan proses globalisasi yang terjadi di negaranya. Terdapat tiga tujuan utama dalam penelitian ini. Yang pertama adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana Balram Halwei digambarkan dalam novel ini. Yang kedua adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana globalisasi digambarkan dalam novel ini. Dan yang terakhir adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana gambaran Balram Halwei merupakansebuah representasi identitas hibrid sebagai respon terhadap globalisasi.

Metode yang digunakan penulis dalam melakukan studi ini adalah studi pustaka. Sumber utama adalah novel The White Tiger karya Aravind Adiga. Sedangkan sumber referensi didapatkan dari buku-buku teori dan beberapa artikel dari internet. Dalam menganalisa masalah-masalah di atas, penulis menggunakan pendekatan poskolonial. Sudut pandang ini dirasa tepat oleh penulis, sebab novel ini merupakan sebuah representasi pribumi dalam usaha melawan penjajahan di era globalisasi.

Dalam analisis studi ini, ditemukan bahwa Balram Halwei mempunyai karakteristik hibrid. Ia adalah manusia yang mempunyai kesadaran, cerdas, terbuka, bergairah, dan terintegrasi. Secara umum, karakteristik tersebut digambarkan melalui paparan Balram. Kemudian, globalisasi dalam novel ini dipaparkan melalui deskripsi kondisi sosial di beberapa tempat di India. Lebih dari itu, globalisasi sebagai bentuk praktek imperalisme dan kolonialisme ditemukan dalam diri Kusum, nenek Balram dan Stork, si tuan tanah, melalui cara mereka memperlakukan Balram. Pada akhirnya, ditemukan bahwa hibriditas karakteristik Balram merupakan cara Balram untuk merespon kondisi situasi di negaranya dalam menghadapi globalisasi. Karakter Balram yang hibrid ini merupakan bentuk kritik terhadap negaranya: pemerintah dan masyarakat India sendiri dalam merespon globalisasi yang terjadi di negaranya. Semua itu Balram lakukan karena dia ingin membuat India menjadi lebih baik.


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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Aristotle, in his book Poetic, defines poetry as an imitation (from Greek word:

mimesis) of human actions (Abrams, 1993: 89). By ‘imitation’, he means it as a

‘representation’ of human action and re-presenting it in a new “medium”. The

definition above can be applied toa general literary works and becomes a mimetic

criticism. Mimetic criticism views literary work as an imitation, or reflection, or

representation of the world and human life, and the primary criterion applied to a

work as that of the “truth” of its representation to the subject matter that it represents,

or should represent (Abrams, 1993: 40).

If work of literature is seen as a mirror of reality then we can relate it to the

real world. For instance, there is a phenomenon that rose in the early of the 21th

century called globalization. Nowadays, this phenomenon extends to all corners of

the world. Generally, globalization can be defined as “the process by which

businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating

on an international scale” (https://oxforddictionaries.com/). The definition above

seems too general. It is seen from economic perspective only, which refers to a

process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated

through a global network of communication, transportation, and trade. Moreover the

concept of globalization does not stop at the definition above but it also has a deeper


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meaning. The following quotation is what Amartya Sen a Nobel Laureate and

Economist states about globalization:

Global interaction, rather than insulated isolation, has been the basis of economic progress in the world. Trade, along with migration, communication, and dissemination of scientific and technical knowledge, has helped to break the dominance of rampant poverty and the pervasiveness of ‘nasty, brutish and short’ lives that characterized the world. And yet, despite all the progress, life is still severely nasty, brutish and short for a large part of the world population. The great rewards of globalized trade have come to some, but not to others (Amartya Sen, Foreword, Make Trade Fair, Oxfam, 2002). From Amartya’s statement, it is apparent that globalization is a complex

concept. Globalization has several dimensions: political, technological, humanity,

environmental, and cultural. These dimensions may reflect or contribute to the

exclusion of the economically and educationally poor people especially in developing

countries, and environmental degradation, as well as the growth of prosperity and

peace in some areas (Pais, 2006: 1).

On one side, globalization has positive effects. The large volumes of money

movement, increased volume of trades, changes in information technology and

communication are all integral to a global world (Pais, 2006: 1).

Some analysts embrace it enthusiastically as a positive feature of a changing world in which access to technology, information, services and markets will be of benefit to local communities, where dominant forms of social organization will lead to universal prosperity, peace and freedom, and in which a perception of a global environment will lead to global ecological concern (Ashcroft, 1998: 110-111).

But in the other side, although globalization is believed by many people as a

way toward prosperous society, it can actually lead to the opposite condition.

Ashcroft said that in some respects, globalization, in the period of rapid


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decolonization after World War II, becomes a demonstrate of the transmutation of

imperialism into the supra-national operations of economics, communications and

culture “The chief argument against globalization is that global culture and global

economy did not just spontaneously erupt but originated in and continue to be

perpetuated from the centers of capitalist power”(Ashcroft, 1998: 111).

At one level it may appear that globalization has no significant impact on

people’s lives, it seems that their lives are ‘normal’ in most circumstances. Many

people are not aware of how they become a crucial part of this phenomenon. The

reality is that every individual is affected in one way or another. Then, these changes

affect people’s identities and cultural values, which sometimes become altered

significantly. “

Whether it is between generations, or intra-personally, new values can cause dissonance and conflict with existing deeper-rooted values. Sometimes such transitions and changes can further cause difficulty with internal growth and development (Pais, 2006: 2). Hybrid identity is the consequence of the culture acculturation caused by

globalization. Barry said that it can be described as ‘the process of cultural adaption’.

In the process of cultural adaptation, individuals can be classified into four possible

categories based on their acculturation attitudes, as depicted by Barry and colleagues’

seminal work (e.g., Barry, 1990): assimilation (identification mostly with the

receiving culture), integration (high identification with both cultures), separation

(identification mostly with the culture of origin), or marginalization (low

identification with both cultures).


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The White Tiger is a novel which raises globalization issue in India. The novel

was written by an Indian writer, Aravind Adiga, in 2008. This novel has also won the

first Man Booker Prize at the same time. This novel told the story about the struggle

of an indigenous Indian whose identity has been influenced by the complexity of

globalization in India. In this novel, Adiga presented the portrait of globalization in

India and its impacts through the story of the main character. He portrayed the dark

perspective of India’s class struggle in a globalized world as told through a

retrospective narration from the main character, Balram Halwei. The novel was

written in the form of a confession letter by Balram Halway to the Chinese Prime

Minister, Mr. Wen Jiabao, when the prime minister visited India for an official

assignment.

The story was about the journey of Balram Halwei, a poor native Indian who

became a great entrepreneur in India. He came from a darkness area in India called

Laxmangarh. Then, he became a private driver and also a servant for his master,

Ashok. After some periods, he killed his master, robbed his money and fled. After

that, with the robbed money, he built a taxi driver company and became a great

entrepreneur in Bangalore, the world’s center of technology and outsourcing.

The writer chooses this novel as a research object because of the unique

characteristics of the main character, Balram Halwei. Balram’s story was about his

journey escaping from exploitation and becoming a great entrepreneur is interesting

enough to learn about. His response to his social environment and his unpredictable

actions became the other interesting point of this character.


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In this study, the writer tries to find how the main character represents hybrid

identity as a response to globalization. The globalization as a transmutation of

imperialism and colonialism becomes the main issue of this novel, which means that

the writer wants to find out the main character’s response to the globalization.

Hopefully, this research can give a new enlightening perspective.

B. Problem Formulation

1. How is the main character characterized in this novel?

2. How is the globalization in India presented in the novel?

3. How does the main character represent hybrid identity as a response to

globalization?

C. Objectives of the Study

The first objective of this study is to know how the main character is

presented in this novel. In this context, the writer will describe and discuss the

characterization in the story. The second objective of this study is to know how the

globalization in India is presented in the novel. In this phase, the writer will describe

and discuss the globalization in India that presented in the novel. Then, the third

objective of this study is to know how the main character represents hybrid identity as

a response to globalization. By focusing on the combination of characteristics that

was influenced by globalization and the globalization in India, the writer wants to


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show the role of a globalization toward the main character’s thought and how he

overcame the social problem in globalization era.

D. Definition of Terms

To avoid misinterpretation and misunderstanding, the writer would like to

explain some terms which are widely related to the topic that is going to be discussed.

1. Globalization

Globalization is the process whereby individual lives and local communities are

affected by economic and cultural forces that operate world-wide. As the results is the

process of the world becoming a single place (Ashcroft, 1994: 111).

2. Hybrid Identity

Hybridity commonly refers to the creation of newtranscultural (This term

refers to the reciprocal influences of modes of representation and cultural practices of

various kinds in colonies and metropoles, and is thus ‘a phenomenon of the contact

zone (Ashcroft, 1989:233)) forms within the contact zone produced by colonization

(Ashcroft, 1989:118). Hybrid Identity is identity that refers to the creation of new

transcultural forms within the contact zone produced by colonization.


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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

The White Tiger is known as a realistic novel about social injustice in

India, the social disparity between the poor and the rich. It represents the social

condition in India. Yet, some reviewers focused on the two intrinsic elements: the

main character (Balram) and the unpredictable plot of this novel.

The result is an Indian novel that explodes the clichés – ornamental prose, the scent of saffron – associated with that phrase… Caught up in Balram's world – and his wonderful turn of phrase – the pages turn themselves. Brimming with idiosyncrasy, sarcastic, cunning, and often hilarious, Balram is reminiscent of the endless talkers that populate the novels of the great Czech novelist Bohumil Hrabal. Inventing such a character is no small feat for a first-time novelist (www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-white-tiger-by-aravind-adiga-823472.html).

It is true that the main character becomes the main favorite focus taken by

most researchers. He had a combination of different characteristic which differed

him from others. The writer of this research will also use the main character as the

main focus of this research. The complexity and the unique characteristic of the

main character, Balram, becomes the writer’s passion in doing this research.

One research that has similar perspective with this research is an essay

from Lily Want, a Professor of English at the University of Kashmir, Srinagar,

India, entitled The Poetics and Politics of Cultural Studies in Aravind Adiga’s The

White Tiger. This research used a postcolonial perspective to analyze the novel.

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008) can easily be placed in the gamut of Cultural Studies since it shares most of the features of this school. For


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example, it can easily be analyzed as a form of cultural resistance to homogenizing capitalism, as the emphasis throughout is on the particularities of the proletariat suppressed under the dominant high culture. But what strikes one as odd is that this particular class has been undermined in the text to such an extent that the writer not only fails to redefine the social order but also ends up as a spokesperson of the conventional Eurocentric perspective of the East to the extent that it has led literary critics to debate how far he fits a Western cosmopolitan model of writing (Want, 2011: 69).

The essay focused on the resistance of Eastern culture to the Western

culture that is represented in this novel. Moreover, this essay attempted to unravel

these diametrically opposed strands in the fabric of The White Tiger as Adiga

while silencing certain voices ends up allowing the narcissism of the Western

culture to raise its garrulous head.

Another study about Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger is an undergraduate

thesis by Eka Shanti Budi Asih, a student of English Letter Department, Sanata

Dharma University. Her study is entitled Sociopathic Personality as Seen in the

Main Character of Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger. She studied the influence of

social condition to the main character (Balram)’s personality that led him into

becoming a sociopath. She emphasized the personal development of Balram and

the influence of the social condition that caused Balram to become a sociopath.

She judged that the main character, Balram is an individual with anti social

personality disorder, or can be called sociopath, with no further explanation. So,

the writer sees that this undergraduate thesis looked like other literary criticisms,

which was trapped in the judgement of normality and abnormality.

This research originates from the writer’s disagreement to the thesis of Eka

Shanti Budi Asih. The writer disagrees if the main character is judged as a


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sociopath. Generally, Eka’s opinion was true as she saw the main character from

one perspective, but there are some considerations to refuse the judgement. First,

the writer disagrees if the main character was judged as a sociopath because Eka’s

judgement put the main character only in between good or bad condition only. The

second one, Eka did not put specific issues or causes that changed Balram into

becoming a sociopath in her analysis and conclusion. This opinion is based on the

below quotation that the writer found in the novel:

Me, and thousands of others in this country like me, are half-baked, because we were never allowed to complete our schooling. Open our skulls, look in with a penlight, and you'll find an odd museum of ideas: sentences of history or mathematics remembered from school textbooks (no boy remembers his schooling like one who was taken out of school, let me assure you), …. all these ideas, half formed and half digested and half correct, mix up with other half-cooked ideas in your head, and I guess these half-formed ideas bugger one another, and make more half-formed ideas, and this is what you act on and live with (Adiga: 2008: 8).

The quotation above indicated that Balram’s characteristics are not the

only one in his country. There were a lot of people who were like him, and

Balram’s was only one example from such phenomenon that occurred in India. It

means that there must have been a main cause behind the phenomenon. Hence, the

writer will try to find it in this undergraduate thesis.

Moreover, the study from Lily Want also gave an influence to the writer in

doing an analysis about the issue of cultural resistance in The White Tiger. But the

writer will give specific emphasis to the main character as the one that represents

a mixed culture as the result of colonization as well as a response to globalization.

The writer thinks that the complex characteristic of the main character is

interesting to be studied as the complexity has brought him into having a hybrid


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identity. This is what the writer wants to know much about the main character.

The writer will learn about how the main character represents hybrid identity as a

response to globalization.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

a. Theory of Character

There are two main qualities in character’s case (Colwell, 1968: 10-13).

First is morality. Aristotle’s Poetic defines character as moral quality, goodness

and badness. The second is personality, which defines character as a personal and

unique person. It sees a character as different from other characters. Abrams, in

his book, The Glossary of Literary Terms, combined these two qualities to define

character as “The persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are

interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral and dispositional

qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue – and by what they do

– the action” (Abrams,1993: 23).

From the definition above, it can be said that in literary works, character is

the author’s medium to express the author’s ideology or perspective. It can be

seen through the dialogues between the character(s) or the character’s behaviour.

Still from Abram, based on the importance, characters are divided into

major and minor characters. Major characters are described more detailed than

minor characters. The description makes the major character becomes the focus of

the story. They will be presented in almost all scenes in the story: the introduction,


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raising action, the conflict, the climax and the falling action. Otherwise, the minor

characters are presented merely as the ‘complement’ of the story. They are not

presented at all scenes of the story and are not described in details as the major

characters. The importance of minor character is their influence to the major

character.

According to E.M. Forster in his book Aspects of the Novel (1974),

characters are divided into two: flat and round characters. Flat characters are only

described in a single quality. It means that the characters are showed in one aspect

of their appearances in the story. Their quality is not developed from the

beginning until the end of the story. The second category is round characters. The

term ‘round’ shows the fullness of the characters’ behavior. This kind of character

may shift its point of view to other point of view. Generally, this character may

have conflict of its own for making decision. Forster also wrote that round

characters have ability to surprise the readers because the changes of their

behaviors. In short, round characters develop from the beginning until the end of

the story.

b. Theory of Characterization

Characterization is important to create the character in a story. The way the

author creates the characters is defined as characterization. According to Murphy

in Understanding Unseen (1972: 160-173), there are nine ways that the authors

use to make the characters understandable to the readers:


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i. Personal Description

The author describes the characters’ appearances directly, from the body,

such as the face, skin, the hair, the height, the eyes’ shape and even clothes. It will

help the readers understand the characters.

ii. Character as Seen by Another

The author describes the characters through the other characters in the story

like in the personal description; the description of character as seen by another is

covering the physical things of the character.

iii. Speech

The description can be the character’s speech or in the conversation through

another character’s speech. Murphy explains, “Whenever a person speaks,

whenever he is in conversation with another, whenever he puts forward an

opinion, he is giving us some clues to his character” (Murphy, 1972: 164).

iv. Past Lives

The author can give out clues to the reader that shape a character’s nature

through his or her past life in order to get some ideas about the his or her thoughts,

behaviour, and action. “This can be done by direct comment by the author,

through the person’s thought, through his conversation or through the medium of

another person” (Murphy, 1972:166).

v. Conversation of Others

The author gives some clues to the readers about the character through the

others characters conversation.


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vi. Reaction

The author gives out clues to a character by letting the readers know how

the character reacts to various situations and events.

vii. Direct comments

The author directly describes or gives comments on a character. The

difference of direct comments to personal description is that the direct comments

mostly about the psychological things of the character, not the physical things.

viii. Thought

The author can give the readers direct knowledge of what a character is

thinking about. It is only accepted in the novel.

ix. Mannerism, habits, or idiosyncrasies

The author describes the character’s ways of behaving, which may also tell

the readers about specific characteristics of different people. The manner of the

character is habitual.

2. Theory on Globalization

In the book Key Concepts in Post-Colonial Studies, Bill Ashcroft defined

globalization as “the process whereby individual lives and local communities are

affected by economic and cultural forces that operate world-wide. As the result it

is the process of the world becoming a single place” (Ashcroft, 1994: 111).

Furthermore, Aschroft explain that the chief argument against

globalization is that global culture and global economy did not just spontaneously

erupt but originated in and continue to be perpetuated from the centers of


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capitalist power (Ashcroft, 1994:111). Ashcroft also said that in some respects,

globalization, in the period of rapid decolonization after World War II, has

developes from an imperialism into the supra-national operations of economics,

communications and culture “The chief argument against globalization is that

global culture and global economy did not just spontaneously erupt but originated

in and continue to be perpetuated from the centers of capitalist power” (Ashcroft,

1998: 111).

Moreover, Ritzer, an economist, in his book Globalization: A Basic Text,

describes that globalization is not built in one concept, but there are many

concepts that build globalization from some aspects: “there are many other

concepts that either described earlier historical, or contemporary, realities that

deal with at least a portion of that which is encompassed with globalization”

(Ritzer, 2010: 64). Based on Ritzer explanation, it seems that globalization has

influenced by some concepts that has born earlier. In this study, the writer deals

with two concepts that are related to globalization: imperialism and colonialism.

a. Imperialism

In its most general sense, imperialism refers to the formation of an empire,

and, as such, has been an aspect of all periods of history in which one nation has

extended its domination over one or several neighboring nations (Ashcroft,

1998:122). Moreover, Edward Said used imperialism in this general sense to

mean “the practice, theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center

ruling a distant territory’ a process distinct from colonialism, which is ‘the


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implanting of settlements on a distant territory” (Said, 1993: 8). On the same

hand, Vladimir Lenin, a communist leader, stated that imperialism is the highest

stage of capitalism as he put it in his book, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of

Capitalism. Lenin stated that there are five characteristics of imperialism in this

world. Nevertheless, only one out of Lenin’s five characteristics that can be

applied in this thesis: “the concentration of production and capital developed to

such a stage that it creates monopolies which plays a decisive role in economic

life” (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/ 1916/imp-hsc/ch01.htm).

b. Colonialism

In the book Introduction to Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory,

Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman defined colonialism in its relationship with

globalization.

The conquest and direct control of other’s people land, is a particular phase in the history of imperialism which is now best understood as the globalization of the capitalist mode of production, its penetration of previously non capitalist region of the world, and destruction of pre- or non-capitalist forms of social organization (Williams, 1994: 3).

Williams’ statement above shows that there is a relation between colonialism

and globalization. His statement’s proofs that globalization is a transformation of

colonialism in the present time. Williams’ statement is also similar to Ania

Loomba’s statement. In her books Colonialism/Postcolonialism, Loomba stated

that colonialism is not just the result of domination from the outside and not only

the operation of forces in cooperation, but also because of the use of old system

which is previously copied from the inside and is used as a new


16

version.”Colonialism was not an identical process in different parts of the world

but everywhere it locked the original inhabitants and the newcomers into the most

complex and traumatic relationships in human history” (Loomba, 1998: 2).

The statement above provided an affirmation that colonialism still

continues until the present time. The emphasis of colonialism concept is not

merely identical in its relationship between the East and the West, but it becomes

a relationship that involves two main subjects: the original inhabitants and the

newcomers, whoever they are. On the same hand, Bill Aschroft said that there is

no society who gets full freedom from the colonizer for free.

It is significant that no societyever attained full freedom from the colonial system by the involuntary, active disengagement of the colonial power until it was provoked by a considerable internal struggle for self-determination or, most usually, by extended and active violent opposition by the colonized (Aschroft, 1998: 49).

Form Aschroft’s statement above, Aschroft emphasized that colonialism ‘never

stops’. In other words, he emphasized that the full freedom could only be gained

through a resistance to the colonizer. Then he also said that the freedom always

begins by a ‘pioneer’ that provokes the society to realize about the real condition

of being colonized and who does a resistance.

Moreover, Ashish Nandy in his book The Intimate Enemy (1983) stated

two forms of colonization: the first is a physical conquest of territories and the

second is the colonization of theminds, selves and cultures. The first mode is

violent, transparent in its self interest and greed. The second mode is that of the

rationalists, modernists and the liberals who claim to have the responsibility of

civilizing the uncivilized world.


17

This colonialism colonizes minds inaddition to bodies and it releasesforces within colonized societies toalter their cultural priorities once andfor all. In the process, it helps togeneralize the concept of the modernWest from a geographical andtemporal entity to psychological category. The West is noweverywhere, within the West andoutside; in structures and in minds (Nandi, 1980: xi).

Nandi’s theory above shows that the practice of colonialism is not fixing

only in one method, but it has a different method with same subject pattern and

same purpose. In other words, Nandi said that the physical conquest has been

change to be mind conquest, and it still involved the West as the main subject of

the colonialism practice.

Besides, colonialism has a close relation to orientalism. Orientalism means

”a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction

made between “the Orient” and (most of the time) “the Occident” (Said, 1979:

2). Said identified European cultural tradition of 'Orientalism', as a particular and

long-standing way of identifying the East as 'Other' and who inferior to the West.

The Orient, he said are featured in the Western mind 'as a sort of surrogate and

even underground self (Literature in the Modern World, ed. Dennis Walder, p.

236). This means, in effect, that the East becomes the repository or projection of

those aspects of themselves which Westerners do not choose to acknowledge

(cruelty, sensuality, decadence, laziness, and so on).

At the same time, and paradoxically, the East (Orient) is seen as “a

fascinating realm of the exotic, the mystical and the seductive. It also tends to be

seen as homogenous, the people there being anonymous masses, rather than

individuals, their actions determined by instinctive emotions (lust, terror, fury,

etc.) rather than by conscious choices or decisions” (Barry, 1995:192).


18

On the other hand, Occident is considered superior over the Orient and

furthermore, as Said stated, “what gave the Oriental’s world its intelligibility and

identity was not the result of his own efforts but rather the whole complex series of

knowledge manipulations by which the Orients was identified by the West” (Said

1993: 2, 40).

c. Globalization in India

India (Republic of India) is a country in South Asia continent. This country

got its independence from British colonizer in 15 August 1947. The British also

had left India with a rudimentary industrial and scientific base; great poverty; a

large and growing population; social cleavages along caste and economic lines;

and contentious territorial boundaries that have led to armed conflicts against

Pakistan, China, and numerous insurgent groups (Library of Congress – Federal

Research Division, 2004).

The economic globalization of India was started in 1991. It happened after

India experienced economic crisis in early 1990. India’s Minister of Finance at the

time (who now becomes India’s current Prime Minister), Manmohan Singh, made

an economic policy which had changed the economic system in India from

socialist into capitalist. It meant that the modern India’s capitalist free enterprise

economy started to replace Nehruvian Socialism (Wolpert, 2009: 461). Since that

time, India grew up into an economic giant in South Asia. Also, India got

advantages from the system change, such as: exports rocketed by 25 percent,

industrial production jumped over 10 percent, and the inflation fell to little more


19

than 6 percent in1995. Some ‘world wide’ Western investors like Pepsico, IBM,

and Xerox, started to build their factory in India because of the cheap labor wage

applied in India.

On the other hand, the globalization increased disparities between the rich

and the poorest, making those differences more disconcertingly glaring. The

minimum wage made labors and poor people could not improve their well-being.

The effects were the rise of urban social problems like urban slum, bogged down,

as well as squalor that rose along with the economic growth. Besides, the effect of

imbalanced system caused country disaster such as famine and flood.

For India's most impoverished 300 million landless peasants and urban slum dwellers bogged down in mud and squalor, at the mercy of monsoon rains bringing famine and flood, however, Manmohan's reforms brought little relief and less comfort. The daily drudgery of village India's bullock-cart economy remained as precarious as it had always been, while the wretched crowding of mega polis slums in Bombay, Calcutta became more painful to those who labored to erect palaces of urban prosperity without earning enough to feed their families (Wolpert, 2009: 465).

In the same time, the population growth went hand in hand with the

economic growth. The uncontrolled population growth made India has the world’s

largest youthful population with more than 600 million under age 25. In 2011,

total population in India had been over than one billion

(approximately1,216,728,000). This condition made India becomes the second

most populated country after China. Besides, because of the complexity of

language, race, religions, etc. India also grows into becoming the largest

democratic country in the world.

Joseph E. Schwartzberg, Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of

Minnesota, said that India remains one of the most ethnically diverse countries in


20

the world. He said that apart from its many religions and sects, India is home to

innumerable castes and tribes, as well as to more than a dozen major and hundreds

of minor linguistic groups from several language families unrelated to one

another. Then, he also said that religious minorities, including Moslems,

Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains, still account for a significant proportion of

the population; collectively, their numbers exceed the populations of all countries

except China (www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India).

One of the impacts of globalization in India is the development of

Bangalore city. Bangalore, renamed as Bengaluru in 2006, the state capital of

Karnataka, is a megacity located at the south of India. Since the 1980s, from 1981

to 2004, its population had doubled to about six million. In 2007, Bangalore was

categorized as the fifth largest city in India after Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and

Chennai (Dittrich, 2007: 45).

During the 1990s, Bangalore had developed into a preferred location for

high-technology industries such as electronics, information and communication

technology (ICT), and IT-enabling services, and it had emerged as a globally

integrated center of high technology research and production (Fromhold-Eisebith

2001; Dittrich 2003, 2004; Heitzman 2004). This city got labeled as the

'Electronics Capital of India' and 'India's Silicon Valley', which represents one

particularly positive showcase of the new opportunities for Newly Industrializing

Countries to benefit from recent trends in economic globalization (Dittrich, 2007:

46). In the correlation with India’s culture, globalization has impact to some

India’s cultures such:


http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India

21

i. Caste

Caste is a traditional India’s system of social order and control. Caste is

the most elaborate form of social stratification ever known. It has dominated the

Indian sub-continent for about three millennia, and is also the most obnoxious of

all exclusionary systems. “Caste-exclusions are explicit in traditional society.

Membership and status are determined by birth; there is a hierarchy of social

precedence among the castes; there are restrictions on social and cultural

intercourse between castes; castes are segregated and stratified with regard to

civil and religious privileges; occupations are caste determined with relatively

little choice allowed; restrictions on marriage outside one’s sub-caste help

maintain the system” (Ghurye, 1979: Chapter 1).

Nowadays, caste still continues to play an important role in Indian life. In

rural areas, movement out of caste specializing occupations and access to

resources is still difficult and slow for the lower castes, but in urban areas, caste is

now a less significant part of daily life. Although discrimination on the basis of

caste has been outlawed in India, caste has become a means for competing for

access to resources and power in modern India, such as educational opportunities,

new occupations, and improvement in life chances (Sekhon, 2000: 45). The higher

castes, which exploited the lower castes for centuries, continue to discriminate

against them both socially and economically today. The present Indian society is

moving from its closed systems towards a state of change and progression marked

by the assertion of the human spirit irrespective of castes and creeds (Velassery,

2005: xii).


22

ii. Dowry

According to J.P Singh in his article Problem of India’s Changing Family

and State Intervention, dowry, or the bridegroom price, refers to

“A lump sum of money with or without some tangible assets constituting an essential part of the wedding settlement, which is transferred by the bride’s household to that of her prospective spouse before the actual solemnization of marriage. Sometimes dowry also accompanies or follows the marriage of a daughter” (Singh, 2010: 6).

Singh argued that dowry has gained social legitimacy across all

communities and regions. He said that marriage negotiations tend to break down if

there is no consensus between the bride's and bridegroom's families regarding the

mode or amount of payment of dowry (Singh, 2010: 6).

3. Hybrid Identity

Hybridity commonly refers to the creation of new transcultural (This term

refers to the reciprocal influences of modes of representation and cultural

practices of various kinds in colonies and metropoles, and is thus ‘a phenomenon

of the contact zone (Ashcroft, 1989: 233)) forms within the contact zone produced

by colonization (Ashcroft, 1989: 118). Hybridity has frequently been used in post-

colonial discourse to simply mean cross-cultural ‘exchange’. It means that the

term hybridity is a combination of two cultures or more as a result of colonization.

Next, identity is defined as something relational and incomplete as Stuart

Hall in his article The Local and the Global: Globalization and Ethnicity, identity

defined as “a structured representation which only achieves its positive through

the narrow eye of the negative” (Hall, 1991: 21). From the definition above, it


23

seems that Hall’s argument indicates that identity construction is built on

fundamental differences rather than on what the similarities between individuals

are. In other words, the construction of someone identity through what someone is

not.

Then, talking about process, Barry said that identity can be classified into

‘the process of cultural adaption’. In which, individuals can be classified into four

possible categories based on their acculturation attitudes, as depicted by Barry and

colleagues’ seminal work (e.g., Barry, 1990): assimilation (identification mostly

with the receiving culture), integration (high identification with both cultures),

separation (identification mostly with the culture of origin), or marginalization

(low identification with both cultures). On the same hand, Frantz Fanon in his

book The Wretched of the Earth argued that the first step for colonized people in

finding a voice and an identity is to reclaim their own past. The second step is to

begin to erode the colonialist ideology by which that past had been devalued

(Barry, 1995:192).

C. Theoretical Framework

There are three major theories that have been written above to analyze the

three problem formulations in this study. The first is to find the characterization of

the main character, Balram Halwei. Murphy’s theories of character and

characterization will help the writer of this research find out the characteristics of

Balram Halwei. The writer also uses Murphy’s theory about character

development. In one of his theory, M.J. Murphy said that to show the


24

characteristic of a character the author usually put a character on a situation and

give a certain reaction (Murphy, 1972: 161-173). What is meant by reaction is

how the character deals with the problems he is facing. So, the writer will identify

the characteristic of Balram Halwei from his perspective in dealing with his

problems and his interaction with other people in this story.

The theory of globalization will help the writer find out the second

problem formulation. The writer will apply some theories of globalization that has

been arranged. And the last, the writer will combine the answer of problem

formulation one and two with the theory of hybrid identity to find out how the

hybrid identity as the response of globalization is revealed through the main

character.


25

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of The Study

The object of the study is a novel entitled The White Tiger. This novel is a

debut novel by an Indian author, Aravind Adiga. The novel was written in English

and published by Harper Collins in India in 2008. This novel consisted of 318 with

and seven chapters. This novel has won the Man Booker Prize 2008. The version used

in this thesis is published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc in 2008.

It is a paperback edition and consisted of 276 pages.

The White Tiger is categorized as an epistolary novel. An epistolary novel is a

novel in which the narrative is carried forward by letters written by one or more of

the characters (Harmon, 2009: 205). Moreover, The White Tiger is a novel about a

poor Indian villager; Balram Halwei. He is the main character in this novel. Actually,

this novel consisted of a series of Balram’s confession letters to Wen Jiabao, the

Premier Minister of China, when he visited an India for official assignment. The

letters are the stories about Balram’s journey to become a great entrepreneur in India.

He described his life experiences from the darkness to the light of success through his

own perspective.


26

B. Approach of the Study

The writer uses postcolonial approach in this thesis. This approach is most

compatible to answer the questions which are formulated in the earlier chapter.

Although this novel was published in 2008 and categorized as a contemporary novel,

the issues of this novel still have close relation with resistance to the colonization.

According to Barry there are four characteristics of postcolonial criticism. The first

characteristic is an awareness of representations of the non-European as exotic or

immoral 'Other'. The second is language. The third is double or hybrid identity, and

the last is ‘cross-cultural’ interaction (Barry, 1995: 193-195).

Besides, the main character’s consciousness of colonization that work at him

and his environment is the main key in relation to postcolonial criticism. As Barry

says: “One role of postcolonial critics does is to develop a perspective, not just

applicable to postcolonial literatures, whereby states of marginality, plurality and

perceived 'Otherness' are seen as sources of energy and potential change” (Barry,

1995: 198).

From the quotation above, it seems that the postcolonial critics emphasize to

the development of the perspective. The perspective meant here is a perspective in

seeing the colonization practice and effects. In The White Tiger, the perspective

comes from the colonized people that are represented in the main character as a

native Indian who also responds to the globalization. Besides, this novel also raises

the issue of marginality, plurality, and also the relationship between the Western and


27

the Eastern. Bressler’s statement about the birth of postcolonial theory also supports

the selection of this approach:

Born out of the colonized peoples’ frustrations, their direct and personal cultural clashes with the conquering culture, and their fears, hopes, and dreams about the future and their own identities, postcolonial theory slowly emerges (Bressler, 1999: 266).

From the quotation above, it is understood that the postcolonial approach also

gives a point on subject’s culture clashes with the conquering culture. Then, in the

side of colonized people, it grows as a find out of his identity. Because of that, this

statement supports the writer topic about the hybrid identity as a response to

globalization

C. Method of the Study

This thesis uses library research method. The data are obtained from books

and texts related to the topic. The writer uses two kinds of data, primary and the

secondary data. The primary data used in this thesis is the novel The White Tiger by

Aravind Adiga. The secondary data are some books of theories, articles from the

internet, historical data, and other studies related to the work.

In analyzing the work, the writer applies some steps. The first step was doing

a close reading to the novel. The second step was collecting supporting data from the

some book of theories, articles from the internet which has correlation with the topic.

The third step was analyzing the element of the novel. The final step was drawing a

conclusion of the whole analysis.


28

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the problem formulations which are mentioned in the first

chapter will be answered. The theories written in chapter two and the method of the

study will be applied to analyze the problem formulations. To understand the research

clearly, this chapter will be divided into three parts. The division is based on the

numbers of the problem formulations in the first chapter. The first part will identify

the character and characterization of Balram Halwai since it is the main object of this

study. The second part will analyze how globalization is presented in the novel, and

the third is how Balram Halwai represents the hybrid identity as a response to

globalization.

A. The Characterization of the Main Character (Balram Halwei)

In this discussion, the writer of this research uses the theories of E.M. Forster

and M.J. Murphy to analyze the characterization of the main character, Balram

Halwai. Nevertheless, not all of the ways of characterization can be used in this

section. Generally the characterization of the main character can be understood from

the main character speech. It happens because this novel is categorized as an

epistolary novel, means that this novel consists of letters and the main character takes

role as the narrator. In this novel, the main character tells about his life, his past life


29

and his present life. So, the characterization of the main character can also be seen

from the description of his past life, as Murphy’s stated: “The author can give out

clues to the reader that shape a character’s nature through his or her past life in

order to get some ideas about the his or her thoughts, behaviour, and action”

(Murphy, 1972: 166). Moreover, the main character’s past life consists of some other

ways of characterization ways, such as: personal description, character as seen by

another, conversation with others, reaction, thought and habit. Because of that,

Balram will be the main point of this research. As the object of this study is an

epistolary novel, it shows Balram as the narrator and also the main character of the

story. Based on Murphy’s theory, in the terms of importance, it indicates that Balram

is the major character in the novel. He becomes the main focus in the story because

the story tells about him and his life.

In terms of quality, Balram can be categorized as a round character. Forster

said that the term ‘round’ shows the fullness of the characters’ behavior. The fullness

can be shown on Balram’s life phases: from he was a poor boy until he had become a

great entrepreneur. Some events in his lifetime had affected his way of thinking, his

attitude, and also his personality. The phases indicate that the main character’s

personality developed during his life.

I was a servant once, you see (Adiga, 2008: 3). When you have heard the story of how I got to Bangalore and became one of its most successful (though probably least known) businessmen, you will know everything there is to know about how entrepreneurship is born, nurtured, and developed in this, the glorious twenty-first century of man.(Adiga, 2008: 4).


30

The quoted paragraph above is the evidence that Balram has a round

character. He told about two different phases in his life: a servant and an entrepreneur.

This last sentence of the paragraph above becomes an indication that he has

experienced processes to become an entrepreneur. Logically, the process of a servant

into becoming an entrepreneur is not an easy process. It is assumed that he has to

struggle to become an entrepreneur. The last sentence of the paragraph is an

indication of an entrepreneur thought. His statement about the origin of entrepreneur

showed that he had struggled to become an entrepreneur. The experience of Balram

as a servant and an entrepreneur showed the fullness of Balram’s character.

Moreover, as Forster said, round character may have conflict of its own in

making decision. It is proved by Balram when he wanted to kill his master in order to

take revenge. Think, Balram. Think of what the Buffalo did to his servant's family

(Adiga, 2008: 232). The quotation above showed that Balram has an inner conflict

when he got a plan to kill his master, Ashok. He got an indecisive situation inside

himself. He said to himself that there was a consideration before he decided to kill his

master: his family. Nevertheless, at the end of the story, he kept on working on his

plan and decided to kill his master. In this research, the characterization of Balram

itself can be divided into two parts: the physical characteristic and the non-physical

characteristic. The physical characteristic refers to the physical appearance of Balram,

while the non-physical characteristic refers to his personality, including his thought

and his attitude that affects his behavior.


31

1. The Physical Characterization of Balram Halwei

According to Murphy, the first way to know the personality of a character is to

get the information about the character’s personal description or his physical

character. So, at first, the writer of this research explores as much as possible

information of the physical character of Balram Halwei.

The author of this novel described the physical character of the main

character through the description by the main character itself (Balram). Balram’s

physical appearance is described through a comparison of two phases in his life,

which are before he became a successful entrepreneur, as a poor native Indian and

also a servant, and after he had became a successful entrepreneur. The physical

characteristic before he became a great entrepreneur can be seen from the fugitive

poster that was made by the police in a train station in Hyderabad:

Assistance Sought in Search for Missing Man General Public is hereby informed that the man in the picture namely Balram Halwai alias MUNNA son of Vikram Halwai rickshaw-puller is wanted for questioning. Age: Between 25 and 35. Complexion: Blackish. Face: Oval. Height: Five feet four inches estimated. Build: Thin, small (Adiga, 2008: 10). The quoted paragraph above is one of a characterization through personal

description. As Murphy said, Adiga described the characters’ appearance directly. The

author used fugitive poster as a medium to give personal description of Balram. The

poster was made after Balram killed his master and fled. The description that police

made was based on Balram’s physical appearance when he was still a servant. His

name, Balram Halwei, is an Indian name. The phrase ‘son of Vikram Halwai

rickshaw-puller’ indicated that he came from poor family. Although his father worked


32

as a rickshaw puller, the clan name Halwei meant sweet maker. Furthermore, the clan

name showed that he came from low caste.

The poster described the impression of people when they saw Balram for the

first time. The word “blackish”, “thin”, and “small” gives a deeper image that

emphasizes on Balram as a weak man. It can be assumed that his life as a servant is

not really good. Perhaps it was caused by his burden or because he had never got

enough nutrition for his body. The physical character description convinces the reader

that he is a poor man. Other evidence that Balram was weak man physically is seen

from the dialogue between him and the truck driver when he sought a job in the

center of the town in the darkness.

"Everyone!" he shouted. "Take off your shirts! I've got to see a man's nipples before I give him a job!" He looked at my chest; he squeezed the nipples—slapped my butt—glared into my eyes—and then poked the stick against my thigh: "Too thin! Fuck off!" (Adiga, 2008: 46). This characterization of Balram is categorized as a past life through the

conversation between the main character and the other. In the quoted paragraph

above, Balram does not tell his physical appearance directly. Nevertheless, it comes

as the story of his experience. The reaction from the truck driver indicates that

Balram did not have a strong power to do a cobble. The truck driver used the physical

appearance as an indicator to select the job seeker. Balram’s flat chest is an indication

that he had never done a hard job.

Moreover, it adds to the reader’s belief that Balram is a weak man, physically.

This is the physical impression that people got when they met Balram. However, the


33

physical characteristic of Balram had changed after he became a great entrepreneur in

Bangalore:

Well, that's not exactly right anymore, sir. The "blackish face" bit is still true—although I'm of half a mind to try one of those skin-whitener creams they've launched these days so Indian men can look white as Westerners—but the rest, alas, is completely useless. Life in Bangalore is good—rich food, beer, nightclubs, so what can I say! "Thin" and "small"—ha! I am in better shape these days! "Fat" and "potbellied" would be more accurate now (Adiga, 2008: 10).

The quotation above drives an assumption that Balram has changed in his

physical characteristic. He changed his physical characteristic with the stolen money.

Besides developing his business, he also made over his physical appearance over. It is

assumed that it was his way to hide from the police’s chase. The Western/city life

style also gave big influences to him. Rich food, beer, and night clubs are a

representation of rich man’s life. Also, he had been able to get enough nutrition for

his body. His complexion looked brighter and his body had been fatter than before.

The phrase ‘Blackish face’ means that he had still kept his face as an Indian man,

although he had changed his life style according to the style of Western people.

The most specific physical characteristic of Balram is the series of pink spots

in his ear. This mark was made by the owner of the tea shop when he worked as a

table wiper in Laxamargh. It happened when he was caught loafing and spying the

customers during his work. The owner of the shop chased him and hit him with the

ladle which had been used to stir the sugar. The burning sugar syrup left pink print on

his ear.


34

The burning syrup singed me wherever the ladle touched, and left a series of spots on my ears which people sometimes mistake for vitiligo or another skin disease; a network of pink by which you can still identify me, although the police, predictably, missed it (Adiga, 2008: 30). In this case, Adiga described the main character through the story from the

main character (character speech). The pink spot is the special physical appearance of

Balram that was not recognized by the police. Actually it was an important thing of

Balram’ appereance. Fortunately, the police did not recognize it, and they did not put

this characteristic on the fugitive poster, which became an advantage for Balram. He

made use of this situation to hide from the police, although he did not attempt to

dismiss it with plastic surgery.

Literary, the ‘pink spot’ can be analyzed as a depigmentation of a skin. It

means that the spot of human skin is brighter than the other. Then, the different color

can be interpreted as a sign that Balram has integrated to the brighter things.

Moreover, the ‘pink spot’ is placed on Balram’s ear, so it can be interpreted that he

has heard a lot of information that then became enlightenment for him.

2. The Non-physical Characterization of Balram Halwei

This part will explain the non-physical characterization of Balram Halwei. As

it is said in the earlier chapter that character is the person in a narrative work who

endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in their speech and

their action. It means that there are two important things that are related to the

qualities of a character: moral and dispositional. Moral is an indicator of goodness


35

and badness. Whereas dispositional is preferred to personality of the character: his

habit and behavior. With these qualities, the physical characterization will be

analyzed.

In this part, the writer of this research use Murphy’s theory of characterization

to analyze the personality of Balram Halwai. Mostly of the characterization of Balram

can be proved by his speech. Moreover, it can be revealed through his past lives also.

This way becomes the main way because the object of the study is Balram’s

confession letters about his past life before he became a great entrepreneur. Murphy

said that the author can give out the clues to the reader that shape a character’s nature

through his or her past life in order to get some ideas about the his or her thoughts,

behaviour, and action. “This can be done by direct comment by the author, through

the person’s thought, through his conversation or through the medium of another

person” (Murphy, 1972:166).

a. Conscious

Adiga characterizes Balram as a man who has a high consciousness.

According to Dictionary of Sociology, “conscious” means aware. In this case,

Balram’s awareness is an awareness of social condition around him. His experience

lived in poverty and the condition of the environment around him stimulated his

social consciousness. Specifically, Balram social consciousness is started by a class

consciousness. A class consciousness means awareness of one’s class position.

According to Dictionary of Sociology, class consciousness means an awareness of the


36

difference existing between one’s class position and that of some other individual or

individuals. This awareness is also generally accompanied by certain attitudes

towards those occupying other class positions.

In this case, Balram’s class consciousness is started when he was child. The

moment when he quitted his school because of his grandmother’s force is the

beginning of his consciousness. Then, because of his disappointment at not being able

to continue his education raises his curiosity to know the cause of it. Then, Balram

understood that his grandmother, Kusum forced him to leave his school because she

put Balram as a part of a deal that Kusum had made with Stork, the land lord.

The family had taken a big loan from the Stork so they could have a lavish wedding and a lavish dowry for my cousin-sister. Now the Stork had called in his loan. He wanted all the members of the family working for him and he had seen me in school, or his collector had. So they had to hand me over too (Adiga, 2008: 31). From the quotation above, it can be seen Balram realized that there were

something that went wrong with his cousin-sister wedding. He understood that he

was used by his grandmother as a part of a deal between his grandmother and Stork.

He realized that he was trapped in a system that had made by Kusum. In this moment,

Balram’s class consciousness is raised. He began to understand that he was born as a

poor man and low class man. It means he understands that he was an inferior in the

society. He understands that he has no option to do and he must obey the system

made by the upper class that in this case, was represented by Stork.

Furthermore, Balram realized that the Indian marriage system has led him and

his family into suffering. Because of this thing called dowry, his family had to borrow


37

some money to Stork, and he must quitted his school. From this moment, Balram

must burry his dream to get good education and started to work to earn some money.

The moment of Balram’s quitting school becomes an important moment in his life.

When he grew up, Balram realized that his incomplete schooling is a general

phenomenon in his country, India, especially for native poor Indian like him. This

consciousness could be seen from the following speech.

Me, and thousands of others in this country like me, are half-baked, because we were never allowed to complete our schooling. Open our skulls, look in with a penlight, and you'll find an odd museum of ideas: sentences of history or mathematics remembered from school textbooks (no boy remembers his schooling like one who was taken out of school, let me assure you), sentences about politics read in a newspaper while waiting for someone to come to an office, triangles and pyramids seen on the torn pages of the old geometry textbooks which every tea shop in this country uses to wrap its snacks in, bits of All India Radio news bulletins, things that drop into your mind, like lizards from the ceiling, in the half hour before falling asleep (Adiga, 2008: 8). The quotation above is a way of indicating the characterization from the

character’s thought. Here, Balram states his thought about the half-baked

phenomenon in his country, India. Reflected of his experience, he realizes that he was

a victim of a bad system in India, especially economic and education system in India.

He realizes that he lives in a country which many poor people do not have any chance

to get good education, and he becomes part of them. Balram realizes that he cannot

escape from poverty. The phenomenon above also leads him to recognize about his

country’s condition.

Balram realizes that his country was not getting the real freedom. He realizes

that there was a lot of people in India that was not get good life. Finally, Balram tried


38

to conclude the phenomenon in a sentence: “(For this land, India has never been free.

First the Muslims, then the British bossed us around. In 1947 the British left, but only

a moron would think that we became free the)” (Adiga, 2008: 18).

The quotation above shows Balram’s thought about the real condition of

India. He has a disagreement about the common statement of India’s freedom. In this

sentence, Balram realized that his country has not been really getting their freedom.

Then, indirectly, Balram tried to send message to the reader that India is still being

colonized until this day. Balram realized that the process of colonization is still

continued. He knew that the colonization was still happening, but it has changed into

different shape. Balram’s statement above emphasizes that Balram is a conscious

man. His life experiences and the social condition around him had led him to a

consciousness about India’s social condition. The consciousness was the basic

characteristic that brought Balram to fight against the colonization in his country

through his hybrid identity.

b. Intelligent

Balram is also described as an intelligent people. In Longman Dictionary of

Contemporary English, an intelligent means a person who has a high level of mental

ability and is good at understanding ideas and thinks clearly (Longman, 2004: 846). It

means that Balram was characterized as a native intellectual who has high

intelligence. This characterization can be seen in some ways: the first is through the

character as seen by another, the second is through character’s action, and the last is


39

through the character’s thought. Although Balram came from poor family, it does not

stop him from being curious. Basically, Balram is a man who has big curiosity of

something new. This curiosity led him to be intelligent person. He was described as a

native intellectual. Adiga tries to describe Balram as an intelligence person naturally.

It means that Adiga characterized Balram as a man who born to be an intelligent

person. As the evidence, Balram’s intelligence had been detected since he was in

elementary school. It had been known by the local inspector when he was in

elementary school.

The inspector wrote four sentences on the board and pointed his cane at a boy: "Try Balram, sir," the teacher said. "He's the smartest of the lot. He reads well." …You, young man, are an intelligent, honest, vivacious fellow in this crowd of thugs and idiots. In any jungle, what is the rarest of animals— the creature that comes along only once in a generation?" "The white tiger" "That's what you are, in this jungle." (Adiga, 2008: 29). The two conversations above are the descriptions of Balram’s character as it is

seen by another. This is the indication that Balram’s intelligence is gained since he

was child. The teacher’s statement indicates that Balram loves reading. The phrase

‘read well’ is the author’s indirect clue to describe the main character with his habit to

the reader. The inspector recognized that Balram was different from the common

students, he was a genius one. His knowledge about white tiger indicates that he has

an extensive knowledge. As it known, that white tiger is found through out the Indian

subcontinent are incredibly rare as their coloration is dependent on a defective.

(http://a-z-animals.com/animals/white-tiger/). The idiom ‘white tiger’ that the


http://a-z-animals.com/search/find/indian/

40

inspector given to Balram also indicates that Balram is a unique character and rare in

the world. In other words, the inspector called Balram a local genius. From the last

speech, the inspector has predicted that Balram has a talent to be a great person. This

statement had become Balram’s belief and also raised his passion to fight against the

oppression that worked at him.

Balram also learned a lot about India’s government from his master life. In

some case, Balram’s intelligence characteristic has changed to be clever. According

to Longman Dictionary of English, clever (Adj.) means “being able to use your

intelligence to get what you want, especially in a slightly dishonest” (Longman,

2004: 275). This characteristic is the characterization from moral quality perspective.

Morality means beliefs or ideas about what is right and wrong and how people should

behave (Longman, 2004: 1067).

Actually, he used his knowledge that he has to reach his purpose. For

example, he used the information from the politician that he took in the car to build

his business in Bangalore. He used his chance as a driver to overhear the passenger’s

conversation. It could be seen on one of his experiences in taking his master’s

relatives who are politicians. From those politicians’s conversation, he knew about

the real political condition in India and its treatment. From this moment, Balram

figured out that money has a big power to make a deal with the government or to

obtain permission from the authority for some important accesses in India. So, he

applied this method when he started to build the taxi business in Bangalore. There, he

bribed the local police inspector to launch his project.


41

"Gratitude for what?" the inspector asked in Hindi, peering into the bag with one eye closed. "For all the good you are going to do me, sir." He counted the money—ten thousand rupees—heard what I wanted, and asked for double. I gave him a bit more, and he was happy. I tell you, Mr. Premier, my poster was right there, the one that I had seen earlier, the whole time I was negotiating with him. The WANTED poster, with the dirty little photo of me. … I called up the nice woman at the Internet Company who had turned me down, and heard a shocking tale. Her taxi service had been disrupted. A police raid had discovered that most of the drivers did not have licenses. (Adiga, 2008: 257-258) The quoted paragraph above shows Balram’s way to trick the existed Internet

Company to launch his taxi service business. He tricked the Internet Company by

bribing the local police. The conversation between Balram and the police above

indicates that the police in Bangalore were corruptive. They did not notice that

Balram is a fugitive although there was a poster of Balram on the wall. They had been

excited when they received the bribe instead of catching the fugitive. On other hand,

his effort was successful. It indicates that his taxi business grew up well from a tricky

way. From personality perspective, what Balram had done was shows the quality of

ability: smartness. Nevertheless, in the term of morality perspective, what Balram had

done is shows negative thing. However, what he did is only a response to the

situation around him. Overall, those actions are the evidence that Balram is genius.

c. Open Minded

According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, open minded

means willing to consider other people’s idea and opinions, etc (Longman, 2004:


42

820). In the characterization way, Balram’s open minded characteristic could be seen

through character’s speech. Adiga characterized Balram as a man who has big

curiosity. His lack in school has closed one source of knowledge. Then, this condition

raised his curiosity to know about new ideas. Because of that, the curiosity led him to

be open minded to new ideas. This characteristic could be seen when he still worked

as a table wiper in the tea shop.

And it was at the tea shop in this city built by coal, while wiping a table and lingering to overhear a conversation that my life changed. "You know, sometimes I think I did the wrong thing in life, becoming a miner." "Then? What else can people like you and me become? Politicians?" "Everyone's getting a car these days—and you know how much they pay their drivers? One thousand seven hundred rupees a month!" I dropped my rag. I ran to Kishan, who was cleaning out the insides of an oven. (Adiga, 2008: 44) … Kishan and Cousin Dilip lifted me up from the ground, big smiles on their faces. Great news! Granny had agreed to let them invest in my driving classes. (Adiga, 2008: 47) The quotation above shows Balram’s open minded characteristic. With his

smartness, he overheard the customers’ conversation in the teashop. From his

response, it seems that Balram gave fast consideration and give a fast response to that

idea. It means that he was interested in the idea that the customer’s discussed. He

interested in the job as a driver which promised big salary. Nevertheless, he had not

had the ability in driving a car. Because of that, he asked to his brother to put him in a

driving class. Balram’s response to that idea is a representation of his passion. It

seems that he did not want to stay in poverty, and he wanted to make his life changed

to be better.


43

Balram’s open minded characteristic could also be seen when he had become

a great entrepreneur in Bangalore. Balram was characterized as a man who has an

interest in new technology. Bangalore, the city of technology, has influenced him to

respond to the innovation of technology happened in the city. Balram’s open minded

characteristic grew up when he had become an entrepreneur in Bangalore.

The Bangalorean life influenced him to be a modern man. He changed his

habit from a poor native Indian to a modern people with the innovation of technology

in Bangalore. Besides, Balram also used the money that he had stolen from Ashok to

make himself over. He changed himself from a naïve “village” man into a modern

“city” man.

See for yourself at my Web site. See my motto: "We Drive Technology Forward." In English! See the photos of my fleet: twenty-six shining new Toyota Qualises, all fully air-conditioned for the summer months, all contracted out to famous technology companies… …You could stare at the screen of my silver Macintosh laptop and see photos of my SUVs, my drivers, my garages, my mechanics, and my paid-off policemen (Adiga, 2008: 258-259). The two quoted paragraphs above indicate that Balram had become a modern

Indian entrepreneur. His web site proved his ability to access the internet. Then, his

new cars represent his property. The first quoted paragraph above shows that Balram

pays much attention to development of car technology. His position as an

entrepreneur drives him to develop his knowledge about technology. The laptop that

he used indicates that he insisted on using one of the best laptop in the world. This

characteristic grows up hand to hand with his passionate and his smartness.


44

d. Passionate

This characteristic of Balram can be examined with some ways. The first is

from his speech, as Murphy explained that “Whenever a person speaks, whenever he

is in conversation with another, whenever he puts forward an opinion, he is giving us

some clues to his character” (Murphy, 1972: 164). The second one is from his habit.

The passionate characteristic is seen after he left his school because of his

grandmother’s force. Basically, Balram is described a person who has big curiosity of

something new. However, he could not continue his school because his grandmother

had forced him to quit his school for work. From this moment, Balram’s passionate

characteristic had grown. He kept his passion to get good education although he

would have to achieve it through an alternative way. He used any chances to improve

his knowledge. The example is when he worked as a table wiper in a tea shop, where

he made use of his job as a table wiper to spy and overhear any information from the

customers in the tea shop.

Instead of wiping out spots from tables and crushing coals for the oven, I used my time at the tea shop in Laxmangarh to spy on every customer at every table, and overhear everything they said. I decided that this was how I would keep my education going forward—that's the one good thing I'll say for myself. I've always been a big believer in education—especially my own. (Adiga, 2008: 43). The quotation above shows the characterization of Balram from his habit. His

habit of spying the customers in the tea shop represents his passion to enrich his

knowledge. For common people, Balram’s action might look so strange and impolite.

However, this is just his only way to enrich his knowledge. He realized that it is the


45

only way to get information in such situation, so he is had no other way. It can also be

said that he could educate himself. However, because he got the information only

from the customer’s dialogues, it is assumed that the knowledge that he got are just

information about the practical things or the daily life in his country, and not about

such theories he would have found in books or literature. The fact that he did not

finish his school did not stop him from studying. He did not give up reaching his

dream. He did this thing because he realized that education is important and it might

bring him to escape from the system that had oppressed him.

Besides enriching his knowledge, Balram also trained a new skill by joining

driving class. He practiced driving because he thought that this skill is interesting and

he might use it to find a job as a driver. Nevertheless, his “sweet-maker” caste did

not hold him back from learning new skill.

For every hour I spent in the car, he made me spend two or three under it—I was made a free repair mechanic for all the taxis in the stand; late every evening, I emerged from under a taxi like a hog from sewage, my face black with grease, my hands shiny with engine oil. I dipped into a Ganga of black—and came out a driver (Adiga, 2008: 47).

The quoted paragraph above shows Balram’s never give up spirit. Although

his instructor blamed him and often bullied him, he never stopped improving his

driving skill and kept improving on his knowledge about car parts. Balram

understood that all of the ‘temptations’ from the instructor might be considered as a

sacrifice he would have to do to master the driving skill.

Balram’s passionate characteristic is also shown when he tried to take revenge

to Stork, the land lord. By becoming a driver and also a servant in Stork family,


46

Balram kept on looking for the right chance to take revenge to Stork. At one point, he

eventually killed Ashok, Stork’s son who was also his master. Balram had been not

only a driver, but also a servant for Ashok. Although he experienced ups and downs

during that moment, passionately he had waited for the right time to kill Ashok. He

did it as revenge to Stork who caused his suffering in his earlier phrase of life.

The family had taken a big loan from the Stork so they could have a lavish wedding and a lavish dowry for my cousin-sister. Now the Stork had called in his loan. He wanted all the members of the family working for him and he had seen me in school, or his collector had. So they had to hand me over too. (Adiga, 2008: 31) From the quotation above, it was known that Balram realized that he was only

a victim of Stork’s rule. He and his family could not get better life because they had

to work to pay back their debt to Stork. It was almost impossible for them to reach a

better life, means that they would always stay in poverty. Hence, he was always

passionate about taking revenge to Stork. The quotation above is the main reason why

he killed Ashok, his master, the Stork’s son. Stork’s rule changed his life. Because of

his command, Balram quitted school and work in forced.

Why didn't I gag him and leave him in the bushes, stunned and unconscious, where he wouldn't be able to do a thing for hours, while I escaped? … The first possible reply is that he could always recover, break out of his gag, and call the police. So I had to kill him. The second possible reply is that his family was going to do such terrible things to my family: I was just getting my revenge in advance (Adiga, 2008: 245). The quotations above shows that Balram realized what he had done. In the

second paragraph he said it clearly: “The second possible reply is that his family was

going to do such terrible things to my family: I was just getting my revenge in


47

advance” (Adiga, 2008: 24). The moment when he killed his master shows the

climax of his passion. In this moment, he had successfully taken revenge to Stork. In

the quotation above, Balram honestly admitted that he killed Ashok as revenge to

Stork. He did not care what Stork family would do to his family. Balram took

advantages from it. It means that he also takes revenge to his family. The possible

reason why he takes revenge to his family was because of his family’s bad treatment

to him. It means that he never felt happy about his family, especially after his parents

passed away. The absence of his parents became his consideration in letting the rest

of his family gets into trouble as the impact after he killed his master. He thought that

by doing this, the revenge that might be made by his master’s would come to his

grandmother’s family who had done bad things on him.

e. Integrated

Balram is also characterized as an integrated-man. According to Longman

Dictionary of English, Integrate (v) means to become part of group or society and be

accepted by them (Longman, 2004: 846). Balram’s open minded is a factor that

makes him easy to be integrated. According to Barry, the integration means high

identification with both cultures. In Balram’s case, the cultures are Indian culture and

Western culture. At first, the integration was started with his assimilation to the

Western’s culture when he has become a great entrepreneur in Bangalore. His success

made him assimilated to Bangalorean life style which has influenced by Westerner

life. The assimilation could be seen through his life style in Bangalore. “Life in


48

Bangalore is good—rich food, beer, nightclubs, so what can I say! "Thin" and

"small"—ha! I am in better shape these days! "Fat" and "potbellied" would be more

accurate now” (Adiga, 2008: 10).

From the quotation above, it seems that Balram left his old habit (as a servant)

and entered a new habit (as an entrepreneur). He absorbed Bangalorean’s high society

culture, which praised liberation and hedonism, then adopted it in his life. It can also

be assumed that Balram’s changes was his way to get a recognition from Bangalorean

society and also his employees. Then, Balram’s adaptation to the Westerner’s life

style indicates that he had received and has influenced by Western’s culture.

Moreover, his use of English is a representation that he has assimilated to

Bangalorean’s life style. Nevertheless, Balram was not leaving his local culture as

Indian. He was still faith to his belief. This condition could be seen through his

statement about Mahatma Gandhi when he came to the police office in Bangalore.

We sipped cup after cup of steaming coffee under a calendar that had the face of the goddess Lakshmi on it—she was showering gold coins from a pot into the river of prosperity. Above her was a framed portrait of the god of gods, a grinning Mahatma Gandhi (Adiga, 2008: 266). From the quotation above, it shows that Balram idolized Mahatma Gandhi. It

means that he did not ignore all the Indian culture; he still paid attention to his local

figure. Balram’s last sentence represents that he gave a big respect to Mahatma

Gandhi. It can be assumed that Gandhi is a figure that has influenced Balram in his

life struggle. Then the integration could be seen from Balram’s statement about his

dream to build a school in Bangalore. “After three or four years in real estate, I think


49

I might sell everything, take the money, and start a school—an English-language

school—for poor children in Bangalore” (Adiga, 2008: 275).

Balram’s statement above indicates his integration. The statement above

indicates that in thought, Balram was still affected by the sense of belonging to India.

He did not only enter a new life that offered a comfort zone, but he was still thinking

about the development of his country, in this case is the education system in his

country. Balram statement’s reveals his thought that Indian children need a proper

education for their future. In other words, actually he wanted to say that education is

important for human life. Overall, the integration is the final characteristic of

Balram’s hybrid identity.

B. The Description of Globalization in The Novel

In this second part of the analysis, the writer will make an analysis about

globalization that is presented in the novel. It was stated in the earlier chapter that

“globalization is the process whereby individual lives and local communities are

affected by economic and cultural forces that operate world-wide” (Ashcroft, 1994:

111). From the definition above, it seems that Balram’s story is an example of

globalization’s effect in India. His life process from an Indian poor servant to a great

entrepreneur is an effect as well as a response to the phenomenon of globalization in

India. From a general perspective, in the novel, the condition that has been stated

above could be seen in some places in India.


50

On the one hand, globalization is described through the positive effect of it. The

positive effect of globalization can be seen in some big cities in India such as

Bangalore and New Delhi. As it is stated in the novel, Bangalore is a city which

becomes a center of industrial companies around the world. Balram stated this

phenomenon in one of his journey when he drove around Bangalore city.

When I drive down Hosur Main Road, when I turn into Electronics City Phase 1 and see the companies go past, I can't tell you how exciting it is to me. General Electric, Dell, Siemens— they're all here in Bangalore. And so many more are on their way. There is construction everywhere. Piles of mud everywhere. Piles of stones. Piles of bricks (Adiga, 2008: 273).

Balram’s description above shows that Bangalore is a city which became an

industrial city in India. It is true that this city had been affected by economic and

cultural forces that operate world-wide. Some of world-wide companies had built

their factory companies in this city. General Electric, Dell, Siemens are the examples

of the companies. Moreover those companies also become a representation of

economic growth in India. Besides, what Balram had described above was also

similar to the theory that stated in the earlier chapter: Bangalore got labeled as the

'Electronics Capital of India' and 'India's Silicon Valley', which represents one

particularly positive showcase of the new opportunities for Newly Industrializing

Countries to benefit from recent trends in economic globalization.

On the same hand, this condition also happens in Delhi. Delhi, as a capital city in

India is described as a big city whichis full of great building inside.

Now, Delhi is full of grand hotels. In ring roads and sewage plants you might have an edge in Beijing, but in pomp and splendor, we're second to none in


51

Delhi. We've got the Sheraton, the Imperial, the Taj Palace, Taj Mansingh, the Oberoi, the Inter Continental, and many more (Adiga, 2008: 169).

In Balram’s description above, it is seen that Delhi is one of the big cities in

the world besides Bangalore. The great buildings in Delhi indicate that this city has

been globalized.It means that the growth of economic field in India has influenced the

development of the city. In other words, the great buildings in Delhi are the

representation of the good economic growth in India. As it said in the earlier chapter,

that “globalization is the process whereby individual lives and local communities are

affected by economic and cultural forces…” (Ashcroft, 1994: 111). Moreover, it

knows that Delhi is a India’s capital city. So, the great buildings in New Delhi has

represent India’s power to the world.

This condition in Delhi indicates that Delhi has some interesting places in

India that attracts foreign tourists to come there. The place that has described above

indicates that Delhi is a city that lived by high-class society. It happens because

Delhi is the capital city of India. As the capital, it becomes reasonable when Delhi

have many great buildings inside. On the other hand, the author of this novel also

described some places in India that represented the negative effect from globalization

in India. The descriptions rose through Balram’s description about the Darkness in

India.

I am proud to inform you that Laxmangarh is your typical Indian village paradise, adequately supplied with electricity, running water, and working telephones; and that the children of my village, raised on a nutritious diet of meat, eggs, vegetables, and lentils, will be found… Electricity poles—defunct. Water tap—broken.


52

Children—too lean and short for their age, and with oversized heads from which vivid eyes shine, like the guilty conscience of the government of India. (Adiga, 2008: 16) ..but there is no hospital in Laxmangarh, although there are three different foundation stones for a hospital, laid by three different politicians before three different elections (Adiga, 2008: 39).

The quotations above show how the globalization in India through Balram’s

description above represents an imbalanced situations caused by globalization. The

descriptions above show that the globalization also has a negative effect for India in

this novel. Balram’s description above is the representation of a people’s voice. His

life experiences as a poor people in India made him to be a witness and also a victim

of the process of globalization. Balram’s description of Ganga River and

Laxmangargh represents his position as a witness of globalization. Besides, the death

of his father emphasized his position as a victim of the globalization itself.

Next, it is assumed that all the Indian society cannot get the benefit of

globalization in India. By the presence of Bangalore, it is assumed that India has

become a country that fulfills human technology tools all over the world. Logically,

this condition makes India, as a country, gets a lot of benefits of it, specifically in the

term of economy. But, the benefit is only enjoyed by several parties, such as the

India’s government and the middle-up class society in India, meanwhile the low-class

society can not enjoy the benefit of the development technology in India.

From the explanation above, according to Nandy’s theory, the globalization

phenomenon in India can be categorized as a kind of colonialism. It means that; by

building some companies and by employing Indian people to work at their companies


53

for their sake, the Westerns has colonized India through the colonization of the minds,

selves and cultures of India. In the name of the development of technology, the

Western has conquested India by using India’s human resources to build and develop

their company. Whereas, from Balram’s explanation about Laxmangarh, it is proven

that India does not get same benefit from the process of cooperation with the Western.

Actually, this condition is the evidence that the benefit of globalization is

enjoyed by the Western (as the capitalist and the owner of the companies). Then the

phenomenon has proven Lenin’s statement about the imperialism process: “the

concentration of production and capital developed to such a stage that it creates

monopolies which plays a decisive role in economic life”

(http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/ch01.htm).

Next, when seen from the subject of globalization, it seems that the middle-

upper class society in India is the ones who get the result/positive effects of

globalization, while the low class cannot enjoy the good result of globalization. It

means that the capital power is taking a rule in this system. This phenomenon is the

same as what Ashcroft said, “globalization is that global culture and global economy

did not just spontaneously erupt but originated in and continue to be perpetuated

from the centers of capitalist power” (Ashcroft, 1994: 111).

Furthermore, it was also said that the globalization is a transmutation of

imperialism: “The globalization demonstrates the transmutation of imperialism into

the supra-national operations of economics, communications and culture” (Ashcroft,

1994: 112), which means globalization is a new form of imperialism. In this novel,


54

the writer found that the process of colonialism is represented by the oppression of

Kusum and Stork to Balram and their environment.

Kusum, Balram’s grandmother, was a woman who became a house holder in

Balram’s family. She controlled all of her family member and forced all of them to

obey her rule. It was seen when she took the entire dowry in Kishan’s marriage,

“After the wedding, Kusum Granny took the five thousand rupees and the Hero cycle

and the thick gold necklace” (Adiga, 2008: 42). The quotation above shows that what

Kusum did was similar to what the colonizer did to the colonized people. She

controlled and exploited her family members to give advantages for her. Her position

as householder made her feared by the family member. Balram knew that he had also

become the object of exploitation done by his grandmother. Nevertheless, he had no

power against his grandmother’s rule while they were still living under the same roof.

His small physical build and his position as an orphaned made him an inferior in his

family.

On the same hand, Stork was a landlord who forced all the member of

Balram’s family to work to payback their loan money to him. Actually, what he had

done to Balram’s family can be categorized as a practice of colonization. He

colonized Balram’s family by forcing all of his family members to work to pay their

debt. In this case, Stork represented the colonizer while Balram’s family represented

the colonized. It means that Balram’s family was bound to Stork’s rule, so they could

not escape from the Stork’s rule until they had paid the loan money back.


55

The family had taken a big loan from the Stork so they could have a lavish wedding and a lavish dowry for my cousin-sister. Now the Stork had called in his loan. He wanted all the members of the family working for him and he had seen me in school, or his collector had. So they had to hand me over too (Adiga, 2008: 31). From the quotation above, it can be seen that Stork had a power of authority

in the district. With his authority power, he oppressed the inhabitants in the area.

Besides, the authority power of Stork can also be seen through Balram’s description

of him. Actually, the name ‘Stork’ was not his original name. The name ‘Stork’ was a

name that Balram had given to him because of his habit and attitude. Stork’s habit to

cut off every catch of fish caught by the local fisherman is the reason Balram called

him ‘Stork’.

The Stork was a fat man with a fat mustache, thick and curved and pointy at the tips. He owned the river that flowed outside the village, and he took a cut of every catch of fish caught by every fisherman in the river, and a toll from every boatman who crossed the river (Adiga, 2008: 21-22). From postcolonial perspective, the characteristic of Stork is a representation

of the imperialist in the modern era. It is the same as Said’s theory: imperialism

means “the practice, theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan centre

ruling a distant territory” (Said, 1993: 8). His action represented a monopoly practice

in the river area. The river was the representation of the concentration of production.

He used his capital and authority power to monopolize the river area. He exploited

the fishermen and the boatmen to enrich him, whereas it gave no advantage to the

river and the boatmen self.

This evidence proves the theory of imperialism by Lenin: The concentration

of production and capital developed to such a stage that it creates monopolies which


56

play a decisive role in economic life

(http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/ch01.htm).

So, both Kusum and Stork are the representation of colonizer. What they did

is a practice of colonization, although it happened in a little scope, actually it is a

form of colonialism. As Loomba said, “‘colonialism’ is not just something that

happens with the collusion of forces inside, but a version of it can be duplicated from

within” (Loomba, 1998: 23).

The colonialism was also influenced by Orientalism thought. This thought

was shown by Ashok, Balram ex-master. As Said states, Orientalism means a style of

thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between

“the Orient” and (most of the time) “the Occident” (Said, 1979: 2). In this case,

Balram is representing the Orient and Ashok is representing the Occident. It means

that Balram became a subject of Orientalism thought. When he became Ashok’s

driver, Balram got oriental perspective from Ashok.

"Balram, who was the first prime minister of India?" And then: "Balram, what is the difference between a Hindu and a Muslim?" Mr. Ashok leaned back and asked Pinky Madam, "Did you hear his answers?" "Was he joking?" she asked, and my heart beat faster, as it did every time she said something. "No. That's really what he thinks the correct answers are." “… He can read and write, but he doesn't get what he's read. He's half-baked. The country is full of people like him, I'll tell you that. And we entrust our glorious parliamentary democracy"—he pointed at me—"to characters like these. That's the whole tragedy of this country." (Adiga, 2008: 7-8) The quoted paragraph above shows Orientalism thought in Ashok’s statement.

Here, he saw Balram as a representation of tragedy of the country. The words ‘half-


http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/ch01.htm

57

baked’ is a judgment given by Ashok to call Balram’s ignorance. It means that Ashok

saw Balram as anonymous, as an ‘Other’. In this phase, indirectly it seems that Ashok

and Pinky Madam is put as the dominant and Balram as the inferior one. Here, what

Ashok did represents what Occident did to Balram, as the Orient. As Barry stated, the

East is seen as homogenous, the people there being anonymous masses, rather than

individuals, their actions determined by instinctive emotions rather than by conscious

choices or decisions.

C. The Main Character’s Representation of Hybrid Identity as a Response

to Globalization

In the first part of the analysis, the writer of this research has found the

characteristics of the main character, Balram Halwei: conscious, intelligent,

passionate, open minded, and integrated. Those characteristics are a response of

globalization that had happened in his country, India. The writer found Balram’s

mixed characteristic is a representation of hybridity. It was said in the earlier chapter

that “hybridity commonly refers to the creation of new transcultural forms within the

contact zone produced by colonization” (Ashcroft, 1989: 118). Balram’s

characteristics are formed through a long process in his life; from he was a poor man

until he becomes a great entrepreneur. Those Balram’s characteristics are not growing

simultaneously, but they grow through a process of long and inter-related to each

other. Then, the writer will explain six Balram’s characteristics as a representation of

hybrid identity and the relationship of each other.


58

At first, Balram’s consciousness is the first characteristic of hybrid identity.

Basically, the conscious characteristic of Balram is a sign from the author of the

novel to show that the character has a basic power to resist against the oppression.

Balram’s conscious characteristic brought him to enlightenment. Based on his

experiences of life in the Darkness, Balram began to question about the social

condition around him. Living in poverty had influenced him to be aware of social

condition in his place. Then, with his intelligence he found that there were some

external factors that had made him remained poverty. Especially, he realized that

some traditional Indian cultures such as caste and dowry had trapped him in an

oppressed condition.

Balram position as a low caste had made it hard for him to improve himself.

His low caste had made him always get discrimination from the upper caste. For

example was when he was a driver and servant. During that time, he got bad

treatment from his master’s family. He realized that the caste system would lead him

into suffering during his life. On the same hand, the dowry system had also made him

trapped into suffering. His cousin-sister’s marriage had forced his family to borrow

loan money from Stork, the land lord. Because of this, his grandmother forced him to

quit school and to work to pay back the loan money to Stork. From this moment,

Balram realized that he was colonized by Kusum and Stork. He realized that he

would not get his freedom in life.

Then, he thought that he had to do something to escape from that system. His

decisions to kill Ashok, his master, rob his money, and to reborn with his new


59

identity as Ashok were done based on his consciousness. Those actions were his way

to escape from the system that had trapped him for years.

Next, Balram’s intelligent and open minded characteristics are representing a

process of being hybrid. As it was said earlier before, Balram was described as an

intelligent native Indian. At first, he was only an ordinary intelligent young man. But,

after he realized that he was trapped in an oppressive system, he used his intelligence

to escape from the oppression that had trapped him in suffering. Nevertheless, in his

processes to get the freedom, his intelligence has transformed into a clever

characteristic. The transformation was necessary because it was a way to respond the

oppression that came from his grandmother, and Stork’s family. Moreover, the

oppression had changed into a practice of colonialism.

Actually, Balram’s clever characteristic was a characteristic that he absorbed

from the oppressor. The absorption of the other characteristic was a form of Balram’s

open minded mind. When it was seen from moral perspective, this characteristic

could be categorized as a bad personality. However, Balram only showed this

characteristic against the people who had oppressed him, or to the people who had

bad characteristics too. The evidence was his action of killing Ashok, his ex-master

who was also Stork’s son. Although it could be categorized as a crime, it could be

rationalize as revenge to Stork.

Why didn't I gag him and leave him in the bushes, stunned and unconscious, where he wouldn't be able to do a thing for hours, while I escaped? … The first possible reply is that he could always recover, break out of his gag, and call the police. So I had to kill him.


60

The second possible reply is that his family was going to do such terrible things to my family: I was just getting my revenge in advance (Adiga, 2008: 245). The quotation above shows that Balram had a justification in killing his

master. Balram honestly admitted that he killed Ashok as revenge to Stork. He did

not care about the effect for his family. It means that Stork family would seek after

him in his family. Moreover, the possibility was that Stork would kill his entire

family member. In this phase, Balram took the characteristic of Stork: cruel. He

imitated Storks’s characteristic to take revenge to Stork.

Then, Balram took advantages from it, which means that he also took revenge

against his family. The possibility was for him to take the revenge for his family’s

bad treatment towards him. It is assumed that he never felt happy about his family,

especially after his parents passed away. The absence of his parents became his

consideration in letting his family get trouble as an impact after he killed his master.

Furthermore, Balram’s action of killing his master can not be understood only as a

crime; moreover, this action symbolized the climax of the colonized resistance

against the system. As Fanon said, “the native, after having tried to lose himself in the

people and with people, will on the contrary shake the people” (Fanon, 1979: 179).

Balram’s action of killing his master shocked the reader. It becomes evidence from

the “Orient”, or “Other”, or the “colonized” that they have power to resist the

imperialist system and power.

On other hand, Balram’s open-minded characteristic is a response to

something new/innovation or the other (new) thinking that has a function for him.


61

Balram’s open-minded characteristic is the basic characteristic of hybrid identity. His

ability to welcome the innovation and the receiving culture made him own a lot of

knowledge. His consciousness of being colonized and his passion to escape from the

colonization are the reason why he became open-minded.

Then, Balram’s ability to receive new idea led him to be an integrated-man.

Actually, this characteristic was influenced by his ex-master, Ashok. His experiences

during his work as Ashok’s driver and servant made him influenced by his master’s

culture: thinking and habit. Ashok, who had studied in America, adopted Western

culture when he went back to India. Ashok’s modern fashion style and concept of

liberation that he embraced had inspired Balram to imitate him. As Fanon said that

“… the inspiration is European” (Fanon, 1979: 179), so, in Balram’s case, it can be

seen that the European was represented by Ashok.

Then, Balram’s passionate characteristic is a representation of the struggle of

colonized people against the oppressor power. Balram understood well that he was

born as a colonized people. He realized that he was born as a poor man from low

caste which was influenced by a system. The system had held him back from

improving himself to get a better life. Moreover, this characteristic is a form of

resistance.

This characteristic is a kind of response to the form of globalization that was

done by Kusum and Stork, especially the form of colonization that shown by his

grandmother and Stork, as it has been discussed in the second analysis that what

Kusum and Stork had done to Balram is a form of colonization, and the colonialism is


62

a part of globalization. Passionately, Balram faced all of the oppression from both of

them. Slowly but sure, he kept his curiosity and his passion to escape from the system

that set by Kusum and Stork. It indicates that Balram had already had dreamed and

attempted to get his freedom from that colonization.

Eventually, Balram’s integrated characteristic is the final characteristic of

hybrid identity. This characteristic is the evidence that he had assimilated to the

foreign culture (Western culture) and also the local culture (India). The integration

can be seen clearly after he killed his master and moved to Bangalore. The moment

when he killed his master became a turning point in his life. After he moved to

Bangalore, he buried his old identity as a native servant, and then he built his new

identity as a hybrid Indian.

Next, those characteristics of Balram led him into hybridity. It was said in the

earlier chapter that “hybridity commonly refers to the creation of new transcultural

forms within the contact zone of colonization” (Aschroft, 1998: 118). In Balram’s

case, the transcultural is a combination between his local culture (India/East) and the

modern culture (West). At first, Balram was born as a native India and he grew up

with its local culture and its tradition. Then, because of the influence of Western

culture, he became influenced to it and transformed his identity into a hybrid one.

Overall, the hybrid identity of Balram can be seen from three things: the language,

the attitude and the way of thinking.

First, Balram’s hybridity can be seen from his English ability. Although he

was described as a poor native Indian, but he had a good mastering of English. He


63

learned this language while he worked as Ashok’s driver. He learned it from Ashok’s

daily communication with his wife and his business friend. Then, Balram’s learning

English indicates that he was interest with the West culture. Moreover, he used this

language as his language when he sent the message to Chinese Prime

Minister,“Neither you nor I speak English, but there are some things that can be said

only in English” (Adiga, 2008: 1). The quoted sentence above shows that Balram

mastered English well. He knew the right time when he must use English language.

With his English ability, he`emphasized himself with a new identity, as an

entrepreneur, not as a servant anymore.

On the other side, Balram was not leaving his native language, Hindi

language. He still used Hindi language and performed it well. His English

competence was only used in his conversation with the foreign people. Meanwhile,

he applied Hindi language for communicating with the native Indians. Although it is

not described directly, it is described through Balram’s reaction in understanding

Hindi language. The evidence is when he drove Ashok’s politican friends, “They

really gave it to me that evening. Though their talk was normally in a mix of Hindi

and English, the two brothers began speaking in chaste Hindi—entirely for my

benefit” (Adiga, 2008: 205).

From the quotation above, it can be concluded that Balram also understood

Hindi language well, particularly because he was born as a native Indian. So, Hindi

language became his Mother tongue. By mastering both Hindi and English, Balram

took advantages from that conversation. From that conversation, he knew that the


64

politicians were trying to blackmail his ex-master, Ashok. Actually, the mastery of

both languages, Hindi and English, made it possible for Balram to comprehend the

developments of the social conditions in his country. He tried to master English

because he understood that English is a global language. So, he would get a lot of

advantages by mastering English. In the one hand, by mastering English, written and

spoken, he could understand well about the information around the world that is

usually informed in English. Moreover, he could voice his statement in English so

that the foreign people could receive his message.

On the other hand, by mastering Hindi language, he still could communicate

to the native India. Thus, by mastering Hindi and English well, Balram is considered

as an intelligent man. The assumption is that people would not consider him as an

inferior man. He would be considered as an intellectual man, although in the reality

he lacked formal education. Furthermore, he lived in Bangalore that had been known

as a modern city in India as a great entrepreneur, so with his mastering on both

English and Hindis, he could control his company and survived in the globalization in

India.

The second evidence is Balram’s attitude towards the environment.

Bangalore’s environment demands Balram to get adapted. It was stated in the theories

before that Bangalore is labeled as the 'Electronics Capital of India' and 'India's

Silicon Valley', which represents one particularly positive showcase of the new

opportunities for Newly Industrializing Countries. It means that Bangalore has

developed to be one of global centre in India. Then, hand in hand with the


65

development of technology, there also occurs the development of culture influenced

by Western. As it is stated in the quoted paragraph above, Balram’s appearances in

Bangalore represents an assimilation process. He adopted the Westerners’ life. He

had changed his identity, from a pure native Indian to a native that had adopted the

Western culture.

…although I'm of half a mind to try one of those skin-whitener creams they've launched these days so Indian men can look white as Westerners—but the rest, alas, is completely useless. Life in Bangalore is good—rich food, beer, nightclubs, so what can I say! "Thin" and "small"—ha! I am in better shape these days! "Fat" and "potbellied" would be more accurate now (Adiga, 2008: 10). The quotation above shows Balram’s effort to assimilate to Westerner attitude

in Bangalore. He has assimilated to Bangalorean’s life which is a representation of a

freedom of life. He confessed that half of his mind had been influenced by Western

culture. Although he had become a great entrepreneur in Bangalore,he still held his

physical characteristic as an Indian. He did not change his physical characteristic by

taking a plastic surgery to get a Western’s face, but he only changed his physical

characteristic by gaining some weight and living in a Bangalorean style. This effort is

Balram’s way to hide that he is in fugitive.

And the last, the hybridity can be seen from Balram’s way of thinking.

Balram’s way of thinking had been influenced by his ex-master, Ashok. In this case,

Balram absorbed the Western’s way of thinking that is mirrored in Ashok. The

Western’s way of thinking which emphasizes on the ratio and logic has influenced

Balram. Although he was a native Indian who was close to the traditional cultures


66

and intuition in his daily life, Balram also considered using his ratio in responding

social phenomenon in India. The example is his rejection to the imagery about Ganga.

Now, you have heard the Ganga called the river of emancipation, and hundreds of American tourists come each year to take photographs of naked sadhus at Hardwar or Benaras, and our prime minister will no doubt describe it that way to you, and urge you to take a dip in it. No!—Mr. Jiabao, I urge you not to dip in the Ganga, unless you want your mouth full of feces, straw, soggy parts of human bodies, buffalo carrion, and seven different kinds of industrial acids (Adiga, 2008: 12). From the quotation paragraph above, it is seen that Balram tried to see the

phenomenon with logical perspective. It shows that Balram used a satirical way in

order to criticize the India’s government and the people. By comparing the different

condition between the imagery and the reality, he persuaded the reader to re-think

about Ganga. Although he is a native Indian, he tries to make a perspective from

outside, which means he does not see the phenomenon as a part of it. In the quoted

paragraph above, it seems that he just want to speak the real condition of Gangga.

Actually, by telling the real condition of Ganga, it seems that Balram wanted

to criticize the India’s government and Indian people who cannot keep the cleanliness

of Ganga River’s environment. Besides, he also criticized Indian people because of

their bad habitual in throwing the trash to The River. Balram thought that the bad

habit can bringmany problems. To put it simple, if there is many thrash in the river,

there will be diseases, and the people who do activities there, will be sick. The

situation became Balram’s consideration when he saw Ganga. The quotation above

implies that Balram has better thinking than another native Indians. Here, indirectly,

it is indicated that Balram seemed to pay attention to his country’s condition.


67

Moreover, in the perspective of Globalization as a transformation of

colonialism and imperialism, Balram tried to respond it as a resistance to get equality

as a human being. He was only against the practice of colonialism and imperialism

that had done by Kusum and Stork. Balram was just fighting against the opressor, but

he did not become the opressor, too. Although he had an authority power after

becoming a great enterpreneur, he used his authority wisely. He did not opress his

employee. “Once I was a driver to a master, but now I am a master of drivers. I don't

treat them like servants—I don't slap, or bully, or mock anyone. I don't insult any of

them by calling them my "family," either” (Adiga, 2008: 259).

Actually, the hybridity of Balram is a response to globalization in India. What

he had done is a critique: critique to India’s government and critique to the Indian

people itself. The critique to India’s government is about how they make the system

in the globalizationera for their people. The condition that has described by Balram

shows that the country has a lot of problem to be solved. Poverty, education, and the

environment become the main problem that must be solved. Balram knew that the

globalization in India is only has positive effects for middle-up class society, not for

low class society. By telling his story, Balram wanted to say to India’s goverment that

although India has been experienced globalization, there are some places in India that

remain under poverty and opression. The critique can be seen from the following

quotation paragraph.

After three or four years in real estate, I think I might sell everything, take the money, and start a school—an English-language school—for poor children in Bangalore. A school where you won't be allowed to corrupt anyone's head


68

with prayers and stories about God or Gandhi — nothing but the facts of life for these kids. A school full of White Tigers, unleashed on Bangalore! (Adiga, 2008: 275). The quoted paragraph above represents Balram’s dream to fix the education

system in India. He realized that the education in India has been broken, so he tried to

help the poor children in India by building a school for them. This condition shows

that actually Balram has an attention to the low class people. He tried to fight for

Indian low class people, so they can get a better education for their life. Next, the

sentences above are the key that the moment he killed his ex-master cannot be

categorized as a crime only, but deeper from that, it also has a noble dream: to make

India a better country. He did not want Indian people to be controlled by a local

colonizer with colonial system. Actually, he did not use the robbed money only for

himself, but he also used the money for social life around him. The sentences show

that Balram had an attention to India’s education system. He did not want India’s

next generation to have the same life as his. Besides, it was found that the condition

that has described in the novel has similarity`as the condition in the reality. The writer

will show two different opposite effects of globalization. The first is the positive

effect of globalization:

Bangalore city got labeled as 'Electronics Capital of India' and 'India's Silicon Valley', which represents one particularly positive showcase of the new opportunities for Newly Industrializing Countries to benefit from recent trends in economic globalization (Dittrich, 2007: 46). The quotation above proves that Bangalore which had been described by

Balram in the novel is similar to the reality. From the quoted data above, it seems that


69

India has opportunities (only) in economic field. It was true that Bangalore becomes a

symbol of the develope of economic growth in India. Nevertheless, as an industrial

country, it must have any opposite effect. The data from Stanley Wolpert, a writer of

The History of India, shows opposite condition from the earlier data.

For India's most impoverished 300 million landless peasants and urban slum dwellers bogged down in mud and squalor, at the mercy of monsoon rains bringing famine and flood, however, Manmohan's reforms brought little relief and less comfort. The daily drudgery of village India's bullock-cart economy remained as precarious as it had always been, while the wretched crowding of mega polis slums in Bombay, Calcutta became more painful to those who labored to erect palaces of urban prosperity without earning enough to feed their families (Wolpert, 2009: 465). The data above shows that the real India has the same condition as Balram’s

description in the novel. The quoted sentences above show that India’s government

beyond the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has no significance positive effects for

India low class society. Although India has been growing in economy aspect but it

has not influenced India’s low class society yet. It can be assumed that globalization

in India makes the rich become richer, and the poor becomes poorer. The description

from Wolpert about the India’s condition is similar with Balram’s description in the

novel. This condition gives proof that this novel (The White Tiger) is an

imitation/representation of the reality (mimetic).

At the last, Balram’s hybrid identity can be called as a critique to Indian

people. Actually, he wanted to say that Indian people are still colonized. Specifically,

they are colonized by the system that has been created by the authority of the country.

Then, by telling his story, Balram persuaded Indian people to do their own freedom.


70

An Indian revolution? No, sir. It won't happen. People in this country are still waiting for the war of their freedom to come from somewhere else—from the jungles, from the mountains, from China, from Pakistan. That will never happen. Every man must make his own Benaras (Adiga, 2008: 261). From the quoted paragraph above, it seems that Balram satirized the Indian

people about their concept of freedom. Balram criticized Indian people who consider

that freedom is only to be achieved through the war from outside of the country.

Finally, he just wanted to say to Indian people that there were still a practice of

colonialism and imperialism inside the country. The colonization came from the

government and the local authority in India. In Balram’s opinion, the colonizer was

them. Based on his life experiences, they were the people who have made a broken

system and made India become worse. According to Balram, those problems were the

problems that should be solved firsthand to get their real freedom, or to make India to

be better.


71

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

In this part, the writer will conclude all the answers of the analysis from the

earlier chapter. There several inter related different theories that still interrelated.

From the first problem formulation analysis, it can be concluded that Balram is

described in five characteristics: conscious, intelligent, passionate, open minded, and

integrated. Generally, those five characteristics above can be seen from his speech,

because this novel is categorized as an epistolary novel.

Balram is characterized as a poor native Indian who had self consciousness of

being colonized. He realized that he and almost all the people in India had not been

absolutely free from colonization. He thought that it is only about the colonizer and

the different ways, but the main point is still the same: colonialism. Besides, Balram

also found out that there were Indian traditional cultures that oppressed its society:

caste and dowry.

Then, Balram is also described as an intelligent person among the average

people. It made him called by the name ‘the white tiger’. Although he is an Indian, he

also preferred to use logic and ratio rather than believing the local traditional value

that he considered as local belief. Then, his intelligence led him to respond to the

situation and condition that oppress him. In other words, he is characterized as a man

who had big curiosity of something, which become the background of that his


72

intelligence. Although he had quitted from school, he never stopped learning, and the

result is that he became a great entrepreneur. Then, Balram’s passion is described

through his life process in facing the oppression that was done by his grandmother,

Kusum, Stork the land lord, and his family. In his lack of school, he still kept his

passion to learn about things although he would have to go through the process

uneasily.

Balram’s open minded characteristic is shown through his response to new

culture, especially Western’s Culture. At first, Balram was impressed by the Western

thinking that was shown by Ashok. He felt that the ratio and logic was better than

local belief. Then, Balram was also impressed by the Western life style when he

moved to Bangalore. Afterwards, Balram’s integrated characteristic is described

when he moved to Bangalore. After he moved to Bangalore and became an

entrepreneur, he integrated to be Bangalorean. In this case he had left his old live and

started a new live as a hybrid native Indian.

In the second problem formulation, globalization in India is presented through

two ways: general and specific. The division is based on the concept of globalization

with the relational concept of it. Generally, globalization in India is described through

the social condition in India. The description is based on positive and negative impact

of globalization. In this novel, the positive impact of globalization is described

through the description of Bangalore city social condition by the main character,

Balram. Bangalore is described as a modern city, with full of facilities and modern


73

society. Then the negative impact of globalization is described through the

description of the other places in India such as Ganga River and Laxmangarh district

by Balram. In this context, globalization in India is presented through the relation of

the main character, Balram, with the oppressor people and the working system around

him. This kind of globalization’s concept is presented through the relationship

between Balram with his grandmother, Kusum, and also Balram with Stork, the

landlord. Both of Kusum and Stork oppressed and exploited Balram to get some

advantages for them. Moreover, when Balram worked as a driver for the Storks, they

gave not only driving jobs to Balram, but also made him a servant for their family. In

this context, there was a process of colonialism, although in a little scope.

And the last problem formulation, it has found that Balram’s characteristics

(conscious, intelligent, passionate, open minded, and integrated) had led him to a

hybrid identity, and his hybrid identity is a response to globalization. At first, his

consciousnes is a basic characteristic of a colonized native. Balram’s consciousnes is

the consciousnes of a native who had been being colonized. Then, his intelligence

lead him to understand how the oppression system worked towards him. Balram’s

passionate characteristic is a representation of the struggle of the colonized against

the colonizer, while his open mind is an ability to absorb the foreign culture. In this

case, the foreign culture is represented by Western culture that showed by his ex-

master, Ashok. Then, at the last, Balram’s integration is an ability to integrate with

two cultures: the foreign culture, in this case is Western culture and his local culture,


74

India. He had changed himself into a new creature. He let go off his old identity as a

poor native Indian and adopted a hybrid native Indian. Balram’s hybridity can be seen

from three changes: the language, the attitude, and his way of thinking. He mixed

India’s culture and Western’s culture in his thinking. Nevertheless, he did not take the

oppression concept inside his thinking. What he had done is only a response towards

globalization in his country: a critique to Indian government and Indian people. What

he wanted is only to make his Indian society understand about the real condition of

their country and to change India to be a better.


75

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APPENDIX

A Summary of Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger

The story was about the struggle of Balram Halwei, a native indigenous

Indian fellow against oppression system and in facing thephenomenon of

globalization in his country, India. Balram told his life story through a letter to

Chinese Prime Minister when the prime minister visited India for an official

assignment.

Balram was born as a poor smart people. He was oppressed since he was a

child by his grandmother, Kusum, and Stork, the landlord. His cousin-sister’s

marriage had forced his family to borrow loan money from Stork, the land lord.

Because of this, his grandmother forced him to quit school and to work to pay back

the loan money to Stork. From this moment, Balram realized that he was oppressed

by Kusum and Stork. That means that the oppression is a practice of imperialism and

colonialism that done by both of them.

From this moment, Balram realized that he was trapped in a system made by

Stork and Kusum. Then he sought a way to quit from this trapped system. When he

grew up, fortunately he was accepted as a private driver in Stork’s family. He became

a private driver for Ashok, Stork’s Son, who had come from America for studies.

Then, besides working as a driver, he was also forced to do servant’s work, which

means that he still gets oppression from Stork’s family. At the last of the story,


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Balram killed Ashok. The oppression emphasized Balram’s awareness that he had

been colonized and oppressed by Stork’s family. Because of that, he sought a way to

escape from this system.

Eventually, Balram killed Ashok and robbed his money and ran away to

Bangalore. He used the robbed money to build a taxi company, and then he achieved

success and became a great entrepreneur in Bangalore.The reason Balram

killedAshok was to revenge what Storks had done to him. Balram thought that this

was the only way he could escape from the oppression system that done by Stork’s.

After he became a great entrepreneur, Balram changed his identity. He

became hybrid India-man. Although he had integrated with Western lifestyle but he

still maintained his identity as an India man. Actually, Balram’s hybridity is a

response to the condition that happens in his country, India

In this novel, Balram did not only tell about his life, but he also tried to

describe and portray the dark perspective of India’s class struggle in a globalized

world as told through his perspective.In this context, Balram became a witness of the

imbalance of globalization in India. Balram saw that the globalization only made the

rich became richer and the poor became poorer. At the end of the story, Balram said

that he would sell all his property and build a school for the poor children in India.


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