Absurd Nihilism in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53103/cjlls.v6i3.274Keywords:
Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger, Absurd Nihilism, Postmodernism, Neoliberalism, Ethics, Class, SubalternityAbstract
This paper contends Aravind Adiga’s famous debut novel, The White Tiger, in the light of absurd nihilism, a kind of philosophy in which social existence seems to be irrational; ethical legitimacy becomes fragile; and one’s own philosophy becomes violent and ironic. While absurdism searches for the meaning of life in its own unknown world, nihilism foregrounds the transcendental value of life. Adiga emphasizes the materialistic postcolonial life of India. So, the novel is dramatized mainly with the character of Balram Halwai, expressing the phenomenon of corruption and creating the perspectives of social corruption and alienations that are deeply embedded in institutional complexities. In course of discussing these attributions, this novel focuses on the matter that nihilism is really absurd. This matter, however, turns into political logic and proves that this world is not meaningless; rather, it harbors the silent proclamations of values in democracy, justice, and morality that are interpreted through the mask of satirical consciousness. To ground this matter into real, Adiga brings in this manner of modern literary practice relating to the downtrodden and their emancipations under the black umbrella of capitalism, which is unavoidable.
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