White Tiger Assessment (pages 273-274)

Slumdog Millionaire and White Tiger have similarites between the two of them. They both protray the struggle of a poor Indian on his way to becoming successful. But White Tiger is different for Balram does several bad things while the hero of Slumdog is extremely virtrous. White Tiger and Slumdog both show similarly and differently escaping the misreable life of a poor man in India, and the difference between poor and rich.

In the movie and the book, it shows the desire to create a new life for oneself. In the quote from pages 273 and 274, Balram dreams "....humans can live with humans and animals live with animals. A new Bangalore for a new India." This confirms that Balram wants to be sepreate from the "animals" he once lived with, and be part of a new and growing city. The hero of Slumdog however, never really loses his humility. Balram also murders and steals to get somewhere in life. In Slumdog, the brother goes down a similar route and stays in a horrible state. In the end of the stories, Slumdog and Balram create new lives for themselves and step into the light.

In the book, the author uses binary oppostions to clearly show the two sides of India and creates contradictions within the story. In the movie, there is really only one ironic thing that the story is based on. Slumdog. in the movie, makes it out is that the most succesful person in that movie was a poor man would never did anything wrong compared to the men in gangs. White Tiger uses the binary opposition between light and darkness to show where Balram started, in the darkness of the Ganges where you slowly float to a rotting death, and where he wanted to go, in the light where no one would expect him to be. This, Balram says, is the reason why he hadn’t gotten caught yet for he didn’t hide in the darkness where policemen would think he would be. Also White Tiger uses symbolism in the name “white tiger”, a strong and special creature rarely born that is raised in the jungle. Balram was recongized as the White Tiger in his youth, and would led people to think he is so above everyone else. And even though he is on top at the end of the story, he had to act even more like a tiger or animal then his primitive backgrounds were. So even though he’s special, he is still an animal.

In conclusion, between White Tiger and Slumdog Millionaire similarites can be found. But the main difference is that the movie says that good can come from bad backgrounds, and the book says good can come from bad actions. A slumdog could be a millionaire, and a something white can be a tiger.