The First Night By Kruti Modi Character Analysis

THE WHITE TIGER
Reading Logs
Kruti Modi

1. List of Characters
• Balram Halwai (3): o Story’s narrator and protagonist o Tells his rise from village peasant to successful entrepreneur

• Mr.Ashok (3): o Ashok is Balram's main master (boss), the Stork's son, and the Mongoose's brother o Generally kind and gentle to those around him

• Pinky Madam (3): o Ashok's wife o Unsatisfied with life in India, constantly hoping to return to America o Is generally cruel to Balram

• Mr. Krishna (10): o Balram's teacher in Laxmangarh o Responsible for giving Balram his first "real" name

• Vikram (9): o Balram's father, a rickshaw puller o Works extremely hard to provide for his family

• Balram’s mother (11): o Balram's mother died when he was very
3-26

Short Chapter Summary
• Describes a police poster that details Balram’s portrait and information (9).
• Village is part of the Darkness (10), details the Ganga river
• Clarifying his relationship with the Ganga River, Balram recounts his mother's funeral (11)
• Refuses to go to school, his classmates discovered his fear of lizards, his father went to kill the lizard and hoped Balram would remain in school (18)
• Government inspector visited the school and was impressed with Balram's intelligence and named him ‘White Tiger’ (22)
• Family removes him from school to help pay for loan (23)
• Scared to enter an abandoned structure that sat at the top of a hill, until he returned home while employed as a driver with Mr. Ashok (26)
• Eight months after that visit home, he slit Mr. Ashok's throat (26)

Topics and Themes o Balram’s tone is irreverent and confident (3,6) o Separation between the rich and the poor in India (Social Mobility) (10,16) o Identity (5,9, 10, 22) o Motif and Symbol, For example, the chandelier, the darkness and light, the Black Fort, lizard etc. (5,18,20, 25, 26) o Animal Imagery/Metaphor (16)

Reading Log
116-133

Short Chapter Summary
• Called away because of a serious incident in which a man lost his life (116)
• Drove Ashok to a nightclub at a mall, and Mr. Ashok left the hotel with Ms. Uma (117)
• Eavesdropped on a conversation between his master and her lover to discover that she was not a random pickup, felt guilty for doubting his master's morality (124)
• Drove Mr. Ashok to the minister's house, stopping at several ATM's so that Ashok could make withdrawals for the bribe (125)
• Poured whiskey for the men, eavesdropped on their conversation, which was about the coal business (128)
• Minister’s assistant offered to buy Ashok a prostitute, picked up a blonde prostitute from Ukraine (130)
• Drove alone through Delhi, observed men in the streets, and pondered the prospect of civil war in India (132)
• Returned to the apartment building, found a strand of golden hair on the seat cushion (133)

Themes or Topics o Motif of oppositions and pairs (38, 116, 117, 123, 129, 130, 106)

Reading Log #7
Chapter 7; The Sixth Night
PG. 133-174
Short Chapter Summary
• Employed several techniques to steal money from his master