STEREOTYPE AS A NARRATIVE STRATEGY IN POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE: A CRITICAL STUDY OF ARVIND ADIGA'S THE WHITE TIGER

Abstract

This paper  examines the strategic use of stereotypes in Aravind Adiga's novel The White Tiger using a postcolonial perspective. Arvind Adiga purposefully uses these stereotypes as a narrative strategy to cater to both the global audiences and the domestic cultural nuances. By looking at the works of Said’s ‘Orientalism’, Bhabha’s ‘Ambivalence’, Spivak’s ‘Subalternity’, and Hall’s ‘Representation’, the paper will ultimately show that Adiga's use of stereotypes, such as poverty, corruption, caste, and globalization, are employed in a similar manner as cliché - that is to say not simply from a critical framework positions  but as intentional narrative strategies in which the contradictions of postcolonial India are best revealed. The novel, through the unstable narration of Balram Halwai, both reaffirms and unsettles Orientalist representations and readers' notions of authenticity, cultural identification, and socio-political reality. The analysis shows that stereotypes in The White Tiger work as both narrative seduction and social commentary: they attract international readers through familiar tropes while simultaneously complicating easy interpretations through irony and narrative ambivalence. This study contributes to a growing conversation in the field of Indian English fiction by positioning stereotype as a purposeful literary device and expanding important discussions around cultural representation and the politics of reception in world literature.