Escaping the Darkness

Balram, a mistreated servant portrays his need for release by relating to Iqbal's poem.
From Balram’s point of view, living in India isn’t all it’s talked up to be. However, Balram knew he was different, even as a small child. He was considered to be a "White Tiger", hence the title of the book. Aware of his greater destiny, he was determined to leave his life in India and never look back. Balram summarizes Iqbal’s poem, in which he sees himself as an underdog, ascending up a black fort: “I think of a little black figure in a wet khaki uniform who is climbing up the entranceway to a black fort. There he stands now, one foot on the ramparts of the black fort surrounded by a group of amazed monkeys.”(75) Balram yearns to leave his oppressing profession, yet his servitude keeps him at the bottom of the social ladder. The amazed monkeys are in awe because they see something no one has ever achieved, no human has ever climbed that high out of the “darkness”, or Laxmangarh. Balram, similar to the little black man is defying the odds against him in order reach the next level of greatness. In the poem God asks the little black man, “Isn’t it wonderful, isn’t it grand? aren’t you glad to be my servant?” The little black man becomes furious with God’s question, “I see the little man in the khaki uniform spitting at God again, and again,” This explains Balram’s rejection of India’s rules and society. He looks around at India’s culture, and wonders what he has to be grateful for? People with wealth are able to do anything they please, from bribing politicians, to stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. How could anyone be content from being raised on the traditions of stealing and lying? Balram and the little black man don’t just want to escape, they need to escape from the darkness of Laxmangarh.