The Art of Carnivalization in “The White Tiger”

Presented by Riddhi Jani

Roll no: 23

Paper 13, The New Literature

Semester: 4rth

Year: 2014-’15

Submitted to: Smt. S. B. Gardy Department of English

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

What is ‘Carnivalization’ ?• Mikhail Bakhtin- the term ‘Carnivalesque’.

• Subverts the dominant style of writing through humor.

• “Feast of Fools” “Feast of Circumcision”.

• Burlesqued sacred ceremonies.

• “The natural lout beneath the cassock”.

• Similarity with Manippean Satire.

• Images of Carnivalization

• Images of “Feast of Fools”

Carnivalization in the Novel

Familiar and free interaction

between peopleEccentric behaviour

Carnivalisticmisalliance

Sacrilegious

Bakhtin’sfour

catagories

• Poignant situation of our country is shown in subverted way.

• Resistance, subversion and role-reversal.

• Balram’s resistance toward his granny and also his masters.

• Subversion of religion:

“Do you know about Hanuman, sir? He was the faithful servant of the god Rama, and we worship him in our temples because he is a shining example of how to serve your masters with absolute fidelity, love, and devotion.”

• Role reversal:

“I stopped the car, and then moved to my left, and he moved to his right, and our bodies passed each other (…) and then he became driver and I became passenger.”

• At the end of the novel we see Balram as master.

• He is the real “LOUT” in the veneer of “CASSOCK”.

• The position is also subverted with the change of the situation.

“The Stork himself came out to see Vijay, and bowed down before him, a landlord bowing before a pigherd's son! The marvels of democracy!”

• Popular becomes prime and fools and wise are replaced with each other.

“On her birthday, for instance, he had me dress up as a maharaja, with a red turban and dark cooling glasses, and serve them their food in this costume.”

• Alternate identity.

“I found the fellow selling T-shirts. "No," I kept saying to each shirt he showed me—until I found one that was all white, with a small word in English in the center. Then I went looking for the man selling black shoes.”

• Dialogism is an important part of Carnivalesquetechnique.

• The novel is a conversation of narrator with an non-present listener.

• It seems like a dramatic monologue in humorous way.

• Profanity can be seen here as a part of carnivalization.

• God’s mightiness is challenged here in satirical way.

“God says: I am powerful. I am huge. Become my servant again. Devil says: Ha!”

• So, in this way carnivalization proceeds in this novel.

Work Sitation

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivalesque

• (Zacharia)