Question: Some characters in fiction are somehow familiar and naturally believable; others are unlike anyone we have ever encountered. How have at least two writers in your study made exotic or even previously unimaginable characters both interesting and credible?
Building upon the depth of key or noticeable characters within various forms of literature is difficult but overall piques the interest and curiosity in readers. There are many characteristics and personality types from which a writer can base their characters upon and thus expand on. In a way the character could have this preset personality of ‘short tempered’ or ‘outgoing’, from these writers could morph or even deform the character into something genuine and imaginative. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is a book that centers on the intriguing self-proclaimed social entrepreneur Balram Halwai; a character that with all certainty is like no other. Balram’s life and personality contrast greatly from yet another unique character, Anton Steenwijk of Henry Mulisch’s The Assault who is constantly running from the past.
‘In any jungle, what is the rarest of animals – the creature that comes along only once in a generation? The white tiger. That’s what you are in this jungle.’ (p. 35) This quote emphasizes how different Balram was, even at a young age, from all the other children in his class. The jungle that is referred to is the masses of unintelligent kids who not like Balram. The inspector questioning him on various things acknowledges Balram as being one of a kind and as someone with potential. This is what could be said as the start of Balram’s uniquity, he’s offered a real education but such hopes are quickly shot down in the Darkness.
‘The Rooster Coop was doing its work. Servants have to keep other servants from becoming innovators, experimenters, or entrepreneurs … The coop is guarded from the inside.’ (p. 193) The coop symbolizes India as a country; the chickens in the coop are the people themselves. The masses of India, including Balram at a time, just kept pulling each other down further into the coop. Not one of them could become anything more than just a servant; they all unwittingly obstruct each other’s desire or motivation to do more in life. The one thing that ties down people from carrying on is as Balram says; ‘… the Indian Family.’ The majority of money Balram makes is sent back to his family to help them, it’s seen as a must do in Indian society. Family comes first within the mindset of the people. There is one such rarity that alters their mindset though, one such exception that flew the coop.
‘Can a man break out of the coop? … That would take no normal human being, but a freak, a pervert of nature. It would, in fact, take a White Tiger. You are listening to the story of a social entrepreneur, sir.’ (p. 177) Balram the White Tiger, the social entrepreneur, is that freak and pervert. He himself states how it’s possible to break out. Saying how ‘… only a man who is prepared to see his family destroyed … can break out of the coop.’ (p. 176) The moment Balram kills his master, he stops being a slave and sees how beautiful the world is, thus escaping the coop.
Balram is a social entrepreneur. He’s the White Tiger. He’s either the only or one of the far few who has escaped the rooster coop. Balram has been through a lot in The White Tiger and through his experiences readers gain a sense of how intricate and perplex his character and his mindset are. The main character of The Assault, Anton, starts off as a 12-year-old boy whose innocent family is brutally executed. He goes through life constantly avoiding situations regarding his past, forcing him to forget by trying to live normally.
'... a gray mountain rose up, a tidal wave that broke all around him ... The rock broke through the plaster and through his brain.' (p. 155) Anton's memories throughout the book are symbolized by stone. This giant gray mountain that assembles and towers before him during his attack are all of his built up memories that he's been trying to hard to keep hidden and submerged. It suddenly attacks him all in this single moment.
‘… But he knew if he once began taking tranquilizers he would never stop.’ (p. 156) A doctor had given Anton a prescription for Valium if he were to ever go through another hallucinatory anxiety attack. He quickly tore it up believing that if he started resorting to drugs to dull the pain then he would always be stuck with it. Maybe a small part of Anton’s conscious desired him to know more about his past and therefore making him stay away from tranquilizers.
‘He had no desire to know.’ (p. 57) This short and simple sentence sums up the rest of Anton’s life, constantly avoiding the pain from the past, to the point of even becoming an anesthesiologist. Anesthesia is a drug injected into patients before surgical operations to desensitize the patient from all pain. Anton could have become a doctor but he thinks that doctors are pure butchers; cutting up people and causing pain.
Within these two books The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and The Assault by Harry Mulisch, there are two complex and powerful characters Balram and Anton. They live in two different time periods and have been exposed to completely contrasting stories but the writers have still portrayed to them well.
