In ‘The White Tiger’, Aravind Adiga explores the contrast between light and darkness and uses both in literal and metaphorical ways, giving each a different meaning and significance in the story. He also constantly mentions chandeliers, which are physical manifestations of several themes in the story.
From the beginning, we see that Adiga speaks through Balram and describes what Light and Darkness is. He explains that the Light is the part of India near the coasts, and that, no matter how holy, the land around the Ganges is the Darkness, including his hometown, Laxmangarh. However, this divide is not only down to the fact that the Ganges, 'river of death' flows through it, but also many other things such as the poverty of the people in those parts and the extreme corruption of the few rich who do live there. An example of this is his use of animals. This is seen multiple times in the first two chapters, such as The Animals, who were the four men who were landlords of Laxmangarh, explaining that, even Balram, a young child, was forced to leave school and break coals to pay off his family's debt to one of them. Also, the monkeys in the Black Fort are meant to represent the government, as seen through the eyes of Balram, and no doubt the others from the Darkness. They are the sole inhabitants of the Black Fort, a great symbol of power on a hill looming over Laxmangarh, just as the government and its foolish, monkey-like politicians tower up above the Darkness.
In addition to this, the writer uses the themes of Light and Darkness to represent the moral aspect of India and the inner workings of Balram's mind. He shows that as Balram progresses towards the Light, his morals become twisted and warped. He begins to see himself as the devil, defying the Rooster Coop. However, conventional views of the devil are dark, as opposed to light. Further emphasizing this, we see that the only way to get from the Darkness to the Light is, for Balram, to kill his master. This is an extremely immoral decision on his part, and truly goes to show how distorted the idea of the Light and its morals are. Another such example is that in which his drunk masters run over a child, and yet he is forced into appropriating the blame by those who were in the Light. The whole book is full of similar examples where we see the immorality of those who either are, or strive to be, in the Light, as Adiga shows that in India, there can only be so many powerful people.
Balram is a very complex character, who could be classed as psychopathic. He is obviously very ambitious and this means that he will do anything to have his way. His definitions of Light and Darkness are based on power and wealth. The only aim he has in life for the majority of the story is to leave the Darkness for good, and he does so by sacrificing others. This does, in the end, attain him reasonable wealth and power, but he is not truly happy even in the Light. He feels some element of dissatisfaction because the death of Mr. Ashok seems, in a way, to haunt him. Nevertheless, his chandeliers make him feel that he finally made it to the Light, and he has little to no regrets about having caused the probable death of his whole family.
Balram has an obsession with chandeliers, since he sees them as a symbol of wealth, power and, both literally and symbolically, light. Perhaps his most prized possession is the chandelier in his office. The midget fan on it represents both the distorted Light he sees and the power he craves to be able to manipulate the Light and Darkness. However, it also can be seen as a manifestation of the barrier which prevents Balram from truly being fully in the Light, since not only is it already far too small for the room, but it is also, as Pinky Madam said, 'tacky' to have a chandelier. The whole false grandeur of the chandeliers is equivocal to the power and wealth of the well-off, both fake and wrongly accumulated. Balram's chandelier in his bathroom is in a sense meant to show how Balram is above Ashok, since Ashok wanted one but never got it put in place, but also shows how scared he is. He says earlier on that his only fear is of lizards and that lizards are afraid of the light. In this case, lizards may actually represent fear in general and the fact that he has a chandelier in his bathroom is meant to make him feel safer.
In the book as a whole, Adiga has used Light and Darkness and their contrast to represent a variety of different things, from the Indian social hierarchy to Balram's morals and how he sees the world. Chandeliers, although perhaps not a major part of the book, play a similar role, depicting Balram's aspirations, his shortcomings and his successes. Balram's unwillingness for selfsacrifice got him very far indeed, but, in a country with such distorted ideas of Light and Dark, it was unavoidable that he would, in the end, find himself unable to progress furthe
