The Subaltern Cannot Speak: A Study of Adiga Arvinda’s The White Tiger

Abstract

This study examines the claims about Adiga Arvinda’s anti-protagonist’s, Balram Hawaie’s status as representive voice of subaltern, in his controversial novel, the White Tiger (2008), which also gave way to much debate over its ‘authenticity’. By alluding to postcolonial thinkers such as Edward Said, Ghandi, Spivak, and also Giorgio Agamben’s notion of inclusive exclusion, the essay focuses on the evidence from the novel to indicate that there is no space from which the subaltern of the novel can be heard. The research utilizes the precepts of postcolonial criticism to examine the possibility of considering any room for the voice of the subaltern in The White Tiger for being heard. Through a close reading of the text, also, the study addresses the alterations in the character of the protagonist which ostracize him from the league of the subaltern.