David Lemmink

The Human Condition (001)

Professor Zalar

4/13/17

The Necessities for Freedom

In America, freedom is something that is taken for granted. The privileges granted by the

government are rarely considered because of the high quality of life. There is no deep-seated

oppressive force keeping the poor from becoming successful. This is not the case in The White

Tiger. It paints India as a jungle, a constant battle for survival. It is important, when considering

this novel, to reflect upon what it means to be free. Freedom must be secured by a democratic

government, and, through the providing of basic living needs such as food, water, and shelter,

allow individuals to explore intellectual pursuits not necessary for survival, such as art.

One of the most basic principles of freedom has to do with how a society is governed. In

order for a people to be free under a government, it must be a system that serves the people,

rather than a system that people serve. Democracy, historically speaking, is the ideal form of

government of produce a free society, as people can opt in and make choices about what policies

theyd like to see enacted. However, democracy is not a perfect system. It is susceptible to

corruption. The government in India is a prime example of this corruption. Elections can be

bought and sold. Balram hears this in a bit of eavesdropping on a politicians sidekick: Its a

landslide.Elections, my friend, can be managed in India. Its not like in America (181). Not

only that, but the regime currently in power maintains it through suppression of its opposition. In

the Laxmangarh election, the Great Socialist wins unanimously because of this rigging. The

communists are not able to gain any sort of a foothold. When one rickshaw-puller attempts to
defy the unanimous vote, the police respond accordingly. Vijay and a policeman had knocked

the rickshaw-puller down, and they had begun beating him.they kept stamping on him, until he

had been stamped back into the earth (85). There is no justice for the rickshaw-puller. Later on,

Vijay has made into the Indian capital and has a political career. This kind of injustice is typical

for the system, and Balram himself faces it in two different ways. The first time around, Madam

Pinky runs over a child and Mr. Ashok places the blame on Balram. He recognizes that this is the

typical practice for a middle-class citizen. The jails of Delhi are full of drivers who are there

behind bars because they are taking the blame for their good, solid, middle-class masters (145).

He fortunately avoids jail and at the end of the story has started his own driving company. When

one of his drivers accidently hits someone, he has to pay off the authorities to avoid any charges

for him or the driver. Well say it was a hit-and-run. Another car will be substituted. We keep

battered cars here for this purpose (265). The officer reminds Balram how fortunate he was

that it was only a man on a bike that was killed. If it were someone with anymore status, he

wouldnt be able to slink out of because of the status of the victims family. In an ideal and free

society, one would expect that the government would treat each and every one of the individuals

within its sovereign boundaries the same. If someone commits a crime, they cannot eek out of

the charges using money or other methods of influence, such as blackmail.

A government has certain public services under its control, and different nations treat

healthcare and education differently depending upon tradition and public opinion. In India, the

government is meant to provide healthcare and education to all. There are schools and there are

hospitals, but the quality of the services provided are severely inadequate. Hospitals in the

Darkness do not have any doctors because nobody wants to work there. Now youwill kindly

put one-third of your salary in my palm. In return[y]ou can keep the rest of your government
salary and go work in some private hospital.... Forget the village (41). This kind of mentality is

prevalent in the Darkness and ensures that the quality of life does not improve over time. Beyond

this, Balram discusses the education systems failures. His local school doesnt have enough

money to pay the teacher. As a result, the teacher refuses to teach the students much of anything

and takes the school uniforms and sells them in another town. This stunted growth in childhood

education leads to what Balram describes as a half-baked education. No poor person can possibly

ascend in society because of the decrepit state of schooling. According to Vitiligo-Lips, the best

case scenario for Balram, should he maintain his livelihood as a driver for Mr. Ashok, is that he

could send his son to a good school. He can learn English, he can go to university (171). Not

only did Balram have to work tirelessly for his current position, but in order for this to happen,

he must do even more on the side. Not everyone in the Darkness is capable of ascending the

social ladder like that. In an ideal and free society, individuals should be granted education that

will qualify them for a life-sustaining job. Additionally, a healthcare system should exist that is

able to treat all people, regardless of income.

For an individual to be free, certain living standards must also be met. There must be

access to clean water, food, and shelter. These things dont necessarily have to be provided

through the government, depending on how liberal a society chooses to govern itself, but in any

free society they must be obtainable for everyone seeking them. The Darkness does not meet

these basic requirements. The Ganga River, whose waters nurtured the earliest of Indian

civilization, has become polluted and undrinkable. As Balram says to 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 (12). These waters are not

the kind a healthy society builds itself near. The difference in how the rich and poor eat is
alarming. Balram orders food for Mr. Ashok after he confesses his desire to be a simple man. I

ordered okra, cauliflower, radish, spinach, and daal. Enough to feed a whole family, or one rich

man (203). It should also be noted that none of this food is flavorful in the way a prepared dish

at a fine restaurant is. Its sole purpose is to provide sustenance, not to delight a palette. The

government is ignorant to the problems of the poor, however. There is no water in our taps, and

what do you think people in Delhi give us? You give us cell phones. Can a man drink a phone

when he is thirsty (230)? The government misunderstands the needs of the people, and lets the

living conditions experienced by the poorest citizens persist.

Perhaps the most important of all these requisites for freedom is the freedom of the mind.

Like all the other freedoms, it eludes the poorest in Indian society. To be free in the mind is to

receive stimulus through art, poetry, philosophy, and other areas that deal with interpretation and

creative expression. Many of the poor do not have this kind of freedom because they slave away

day after day to stay alive. Even people like Vijay, who is preoccupied with work and rising up

the social ranks, doesnt seem to have any appreciation for art. Balram recognizes its importance

though. He is drawn to a bookstore and explains the feeling he gets from it: you feel a kind

of electricity buzzing up towards you.what happens is that your brain starts to hum (175).

Being stimulated in this kind of way has a transformative effect on a person. If you taught every

poor boy how to paint, that would be the end of the rich in India (236). Whether he speaks the

truth or not here, the takeaway from this point is that no poor person in the Darkness has found

this mental freedom. There is no inspiration to be found. Ideally, an education would be the first

introduction to the arts, but since there is essentially no educational system in the Darkness, the

availability of books and poetry is severely limited.

 At the end of The White Tiger, Balram has nearly succeeded in freeing himself. He has

found himself on the favorable side of the law, created his own business, and entertains himself

with art and his own writing. However, he is in a way still a slave to the system. Balram pays for

special privileges that allow him to bend the law. These bribes and crimes swept under the rug

could come back to haunt him if the money suddenly dries up. Mr. Ashok was in a similar

position, with him paying into politicians and law enforcement to maintain status. The only time

he mayve ever been free was when he came to America. Here, he was able to find all the

freedoms he sought and was able to avoid the oppressive government system that rules over

India.