MOCKERY OF THE SYSTEM: THE SATIRICAL USE OF STEREOTYPES IN ARVIND ADIGA'S FICTION

Abstract

Arvind Adiga is an acclaimed Indian author writing in English. His novels have received attention and gained popularity widely for their satirical quality, revealing the paradoxes, fractures, and systemic injustices of people, often marginalized, in contemporary India. Viewed through the frameworks of class, caste, politics, or urban aspiration, Adiga deliberately applies stereotypes to his texts that caricature the concerns to some extent and make a mockery of the entire system, leaving the readers with a sense of a derision. This sardonic view often emerges not from the exaggeration itself or extended exaggeration, but from the significant realism captured in the exaggerated form. In addition to their entertaining quality, Adiga's use of exaggeration leverages satire and as such, satirizes a number of larger structures of power while provoking a critique of the celebratory narratives of economic progress, neoliberal policy, and ultimately the experiences of the inhabitants on the margins of contemporary life. The aim of the study is to explore how Adiga’s fiction, reinforcing cultural stereotypes and employing his narrative techniques, reflects contemporary social and political issues, with a view to portraying a nuanced, multidimensional image of India and Indian identity in a satirical way, revealing the tensions, inconsistencies and contradictions.

Arvind Adiga is, arguably, one of the wunderkind authors from India writing in English. He won the Booker Prize for his debut novel The White Tiger in 2008. His extraordinary ways of narrating his stories make him a prominent voice in contemporary literature in English. Aravind Adiga uses satiric sentiment and stereotypical characters to expose the contradictions and failures of modern Indian society. Society is always changing and negotiating new developments which serve as the backdrop for Adiga's exaggeration of recognizable character types, representative of national social and moral tensions. By deploying these stereotypes—corrupt elites, the opportunistic middle-class aspiring to ascend—and a voiceless yet observant subaltern, Adiga draws attention to life's entrenched inequality and moral failures.