Alenor G.

Maitum
BSA 2-2A

Activity 2
The ‘White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga was played by the protagonist named “Balram
Halwai” who is a successful entrepreneur that started from nothing. He lived in a rural area
where he grew up being dictated in his every move by his own family, especially his
grandmother. Although he was an active student, his grandmother pulled him out of school and
let him work instead. One day, a rich family came into his town and his eagerness to get out of
that lower-caste life grew stronger. He decided to learn how to drive and apply for a job in that
certain rich family. He is hired as a second driver but throughout his journey, many experiences
had influenced the way he thinks. Due to the insult and belittles he went through; he makes use
of his brain and ingenuity to escape poverty and rises to the top of the business world. There’s a
major event that happened in the movie that changed him completely and drive him to the
betrayal he made to his employer. It started when Balram’s employer and his wife went to a
party, they are drunk but due to lack of inhibition, his employer’s wife drives the car and met an
accident where they killed a child. The next day after the incident, Balram’s employer make him
sign a statement of confession to take all the responsibility for the accident happen. Since then,
Balram’s way of thinking has been affected and made him wiser. Later part of the movie, when
he knew that his employer is looking for a replacement, he made a plan to murder his employer
and took his money. Accordingly, the film is not based on a true story. However, it is said to be
influenced by the experiences of many working-class folks. The writer reveals himself that he
would frequently hang around at stations and strike up talks with rickshaw pullers to learn bout
their daily life.
The white tiger movie seems to be a realistic film for me. Although I don’t have any
experience in the country India or anything to relate myself to how they live there, the movie
points out some controversial issues that all of us know exist like the concept of corruption and
betrayal. First, let me talk about corruption, we all know that it is very rampant even here in our
country Philippines. Do you also wonder why rich people is the only one who gets richer and
poor people only get poorer? Well, it is all to blame for how government works. Since the movie
shows a glimpse of taxation, let’s talk about train law. In my perspective, train law is not fair,
and just even though they lessen the percentage rate of tax for those people who are employed,
how about for those unemployed people? They extend the burden of tax up to the people who
can’t earn yet just like me, a student. Whenever I went to the grocery to buy my needs, I can feel
the increasing prices of goods which makes it harder to supply my needs completely. Second, let
me discuss the concept of betrayal portrayed in the film. No matter what the reasons for anyone’s
betrayal, this action can never be justified especially if it leads to a crime. Betrayal may come in
any form. It can be in a form of treason, being unfaithful to betray a friend, to reveal without
meaning to betray or to tell in violation of trust like telling other people’s secrets. The number of
reasons why people betray someone is present like having excessive ambition, greed, lust, or
passion. In the movie, betrayal occurs due to the main reason of Balram’s excessive ambition. He
shows an extensive willingness to get out of the lower cast life no matter what will be the
consequences are. Spending time in his workplace made him greedier and wanting for
something more. As a result, He has done multiple actions that are considered immoral and
unlawful. There is one situation I can relate to with this concept. It is based on what my sister-
in-law experienced. She has been a cashier in a certain establishment for years then one day
she is accused of stealing some of the day-to-day sales of the firm where she didn’t do such a
thing. The higher rank report her to the organization and decided to fire her. As a result, the
higher rank who reported her got promoted and benefited from the lies she said to improve her
position in the business. It is a sample of how people make use of their knowledge about
motivation or skills in the manipulation of people without considering the sake of other people
or human welfare in general.
To sum it up, the movie “White tiger” points out so many notions that we can see in
reality. First, was mainly the symbolization of the white tiger itself which is the power in East
Asian cultures wherein it refers to freedom and individuality. The film wanted to show how
industrialization affects the spirituality of Asian people. People in the past, live their life just
like a pyramid figure wherein people, are ranked from a higher class to lower class. These
lower-class people are more likely to be a servant and don’t have freedom even for their
rights. As modernization exist, this caste system began to disappear and more Balram existed
in the present. Although Balram did the crime for his freedom, he treated people around him
the way he wanted to be treated. The movie serves to be a social reflection on the
repercussions of India's vast economic disparity between rich and poor people. This vast
disparity produces instability, which frequently leads to morals being sacrificed for personal
benefit. In addition, this film shows the essence of observing proper ethics and guidelines on
keeping employee-employer relationships works morally and lawfully.