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Close reading

The White Tiger

ANSWERS

The time needed to do the web quest in groups is approximately one hour. Students work in groups of 3 or 4 and they may choose between the three themes. Students are supposed to have read the book. The excerpts are used for close reading in order to guide the students along the story of Balram. The purpose of these tasks is to show the conflicting desires which come with the binary oppositions in post colonialism literature. The oppressed wants to become the oppressor and betrays his own people. The betrayal comes with feelings of isolation and alienation and a sense of loss. The main character learns that winning comes with losing. The main character struggles to find his own identity at the cost of others.

Theme I
Task
A

Loss of identity

The timeline of Balrams development from a village boy into an entrepreneur Optional answers

Age

Young boy School

Working School in a teashop Balram was his father s plan

At older age

Young man

Adult

Adult

Events Mother died

Bullied by use of a lizard

Inspector Servant acclaimed for the him the Stork White Tiger as he was the best in class

A driver

Balram became Ashoks driver, and killed him

Owned his own car and became an entrepreneur

Caste

Caste of teamakers

Caste of Caste servants of drivers

Caste of entrepreneurs

The period which is decisive for the forming of Balsams personality as an adult is his time at school when he is acclaimed the White Tiger and the time he works as a driver for Mr Ashok whom he considers his Western based role model. He realizes he stands out from the people

around him and he develops a desire to break out of the rooster coop to become a White Tiger. C Any picture of an Indian driver expressing his pride will do. As for a subtitle the following information can be used: He was not just a driver. He was an educated driver in the Western way. He feels content with his own world and keeps aloof from the other native drivers. Balrams motto was: What a fucking joke which is what he learned from Pinky Madam. Balram eventually finds his identity and he is happy with it. I am tomorrow. I never finished schoolWho cares. I am a self-taught entrepreneur ( P6). He feels free nor does he feel a victim anymore. Binary opposition: The oppressed and the oppressor

D E

Theme II
Task A

The landlords are described as four animals. See for their characteristics p 24 and 25. They are cruel, greedy and merciless for their victims. One has to be a white tiger and one has to become as cruel and greedy as the four landlords to conquer them. The landlords belong to a high caste and Balram belongs to the caste of tea makers, the Halwai. The landlords keep his family hostage to make him work for them. Whenever he does something wrong they will punish his whole family. The oppression will go on from generation to generation. What is Balrams opinion on the traditional system of castes in todays India? Find a quotation to support your answer. Balram feels the world around him is changing. He wants to be a man and that takes a struggle: the struggle not to take the lashes your father took, not to end up in a mound of indistinguishable bodies that will rot in the mud of Mother Ganga (p 318).

Theme III
Task A

Alienation

Create two pictures which express how Balram transforms from a regular Indian into a white guy .

A regular Indian wears printed and colourful clothes and sandals and spits paan reads rape- and -murder magazines

A white guy Wears a t-shirt mostly white with just one word on it p 151 and black shoes Has white teeth Does not scratch his groin

Balrams mood diagram which relates to his caste

Feels fine Born into a tea makers caste he now drives in an air- conditioned car

Feels down Born into a tea makers caste his father did not get any help when he got ill and died.

Characters in The White tiger

Task
Draw a Mind map to describe the characters

Pinky Madam, Balrams dream woman

Kusum, his grandmother, oppressor of the women , opponent

Balram village boy, smart, self educated

Mr Ashok, his role mode from a higher castel, sweet though egocentric

His mother whose pale jerking foot was a symbol of resistance, helpphelper

Motifs in the White Tiger

Post colonial elements : the use of English language versus the use of native language to enhance the theme of binary opposition of brown and white. Why did I grow up breaking coals and wiping tables, instead of eating gulab jamuns and sweet pastries when and where I chose to? Why was I lean and dark and cunning, and not fat and creamyskinned and smiling, like a boy raised on sweets would be? (p63). Post colonial element : the binary opposition in the use of poetry Speak to me of civil war, I told Delhi (p 220) and the the darkness and the light The Letter to the President enhances the theme of the binary opposition of the powerful and the powerless. You know who the Tamils are? Negroes. Were the sons of the Aryans who came to India. We made them our slaves. And now they give us lectures. Negroes (p 272). Balrams thoughts printed in italics give an insight of Balrams personal struggle with society. But the door is always open ( p 273).

Symbols in the White Tiger

Choose one task.
Symbols represent abstract ideas or concepts. Symbols can be objects, characters, colours, figures or natural elements (New Voices, N. van der Stap, 2012) Explain what the role is of the following symbols in the story. A B C Indian Dowry : is a means of making career and of moving upwards in the caste system. the Pomeranians are Mr Storks children which are more worth to him than human beings. the rooster coop is a metaphor for the caste system in India.

Setting in The White Tiger

Choose one task.
A The writer uses time to structure the novel. What main events are described in the actual clock time. The First Night Balram writes about his success story to the Chinese president Mr. Jiabao; Balram stays up all night, he is an entrepreneur. Balram writes the story about how he got his job as a driver employed by his exs p 46, Mr Ashok and his wife Pinky Madam. In his letter Balram tells how an authority made him 18 years so he could vote. Balram had to give away his vote to the landlord. Balram writes about how he becomes servant number one. p 109 The Fourth Night Balram writes about him getting white like a white man . He had to take the blame of the hit-and-run of Pinky madam after she hit a child on the road. Balsam writes the story about the Great Indian Rooster Coop. The trustworthiness of servants is the basis of the entire Indian economy ( p 175) Balram writes about how the enterprising driver can earn some money by cheating on his master, but realizes how the rich always

The Second Night

The Fourth Morning

The Fifth Night

The Sixth Night

get the best things in life, and all that we get is their leftovers (p 233) The Seventh Night Last stage of his success story. Balram went to the house of the boy which was hit by his car and found redemption in raising his nephew.

Any picture will do as long as the student explains the choice of it.

List of References
Adiga, Aravind. (2008). The White Tiger. Winner of the Man Booker prize 2008. Atlantic Books. Clays ltd, St Ives plc. Collins (1998). Cobuild English Dictionary, William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-make-a-timeline retrieved 30 -10-2012 Picture The white tiger retrieved 31-10-2012

http://www.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=http://bali24.pl/var/userfiles/images/Wycieczki%2520i%2520a trakcje/whitetiger.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bali24.pl/atrakcje-nabali&h=403&w=325&sz=31&tbnid=mqZPPbdn_LyfQM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=73&prev=/search%3Fq%3D white%2Btiger%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=white+tiger&usg=__pVHo84MU421vz892 9bClEdNhEgg=&docid=ED3Mb9h7wOPFyM&hl=nl&sa=X&ei=qhSRULehKcOo0QX45oGYDw&sqi=2&ve d=0CEgQ9QEwBA&dur=454 Picture Pomeranians retrieved 31-10-2012

http://www.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/XdJVjqpDEzg/TooDe9akzUI/AAAAAAAAK9k/yAaruc2pyA/s1600/167099_10150096112093254_80329313253_6188378_7520031_n.jpg&imgrefurl =http://thesecretgardenslaboratory.blogspot.com/2011/10/dierendag.html&h=430&w=575&sz=27& tbnid=VIT-SdOx6GQEM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpomeranian%2Bkopen%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo% 3Du&zoom=1&q=pomeranian+kopen&usg=__u114kpx78Lb7UroYsEjKPJxOSI=&docid=al_eji4vUirJ1M&hl=nl&sa=X&ei=2xiRUJ_ZAXS0QX_voCYAw&ved=0CGwQ9QEwCQ&dur=11 Picture Indian dowry retirerend 31-10-2012 http://www.google.nl/webhp?source=search_app#hl=nl&gs_nf=3&cp=11&gs_id=16&xhr=t&q=india n+dowry&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psyab&oq=indian+dowr&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=fe772ce09b633599&bpcl=3660 1534&biw=1680&bih=935 You tube Mind map in the classroom retrieved 31-10-2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZLCtArhAzE Picture Delhi streets

http://www.google.nl/imgres?q=the+white+tiger+setting&hl=nl&sa=X&biw=1680&bih=935&tbm=isc h&prmd=imvns&tbnid=ZJpfTssJY7WSaM:&imgrefurl=http://www.bookdrum.com/books/the-whitetiger/9781843547228/setting.html&docid=nYgTEeIwqzfGnM&imgurl=http://www.bookdrum.com/i mages/books/166080_m.jpg&w=500&h=375&ei=UCGRUN7NNOa0QWLr4GIDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=182&vpy=512&dur=53&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=123&

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