In almost all works of literature, readers see the story through the actions and speech of gallant and morally good protagonists. In turn, books also contain quite cruel and despicable villains to combat the hero. When a cruel act happens by the hands of the antagonist, it functions to instill a sense of emotional hatred towards that villain, which further allows for readers to be emotionally engaged in rooting for the hero's defeat of the villain. Such cruelty always reveals the villain's true evilness, which enhances the protagonist's character development when the evilness is defeated.
This elimination of cruelty to enhance the readers' admiration to the hero is successfully demonstrated in Aravind Adiga's novel, The White Tiger. The book's main character is Balram Halwai, a poor, but determined boy in India. He faces cruelty by an oppressive Indian body of rich oligarchs, who make the poor even poorer by cruelly taking their money. Adiga portrays the despicable regime's actions on the poor with emotionally charged images of the affected, which stimulates readers' emotions of hatred and disgust for the oppressive Indian government.
This is where Balram enters.
Balram, a victim of cruelty, strives to exit his life of poverty and oppression. Once a servant for a rich patron, Balram used his wit and determination to escape. As the story progresses, Balram has increasing feelings of rebellion. Because he achieved his ultimate plan of attacking the corrupt government's oppressive leash, the story ends with satisfaction. This satisfaction can be revealed only through the incorporation of a cruel villain. Readers of The White Tiger learn about the corruption of the central Indian government and feel horrified by its cruel acts. This cruelty highlights the need for the pursuits of the protagonist to stop the villain. Balram's confidence to rebel against the Indian status quo wins the support of the readers, who already understand the negative consequences of inaction. The cruelty drives the development of the protagonist as a character that is admired. Once he escapes oppression, Balram reveals himself as a true hero, the only person that can and will defeat the evil force. Cruelty reveals Balram's confidence and determination, attributes that readers may want to have for themselves.
Cruelty to the protagonist drives character development and readers' emotions, which lead to readers wanting to learn from the revealed character attributes of the protagonist.
Essay Score: 3.5
3x3 Chart:
Three Sentence Thesis:
In The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, the oppression by an impoverished lifestyle and negligent government encourages Balram Halwai to seek advancement in India by any means necessary. Although Balram lives most of his adolescence in humble submission, his eagerness to learn paired with his abhorrence to cruel economic disparity initially causes him to partake in his own journey of cruelty through a merciless lust for power. The same cruelty of societal oppression, however, ultimately transforms Balram into an elite with compassion for his fellow man. By depicting Balram as both a villain and hero, Adiga exposes how cruelty can bring out both the bad and the good out of someone.
Draft #2:
In The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, the oppression by an impoverished lifestyle and negligent government encourages Balram Halwai to seek advancement in India by any means necessary. Although Balram lives most of his adolescence in humble submission, his eagerness to learn paired with his abhorrence to cruel economic disparity initially causes him to partake in his own journey of cruelty through a merciless lust for power. The same cruelty of societal oppression, however, ultimately transforms Balram into an elite with compassion for his fellow man. By depicting Balram as both a villain and hero, Adiga exposes how cruelty can bring out both the bad and the good out of someone.
Balram's slow transition into cruelty begins with his awareness of the harsh function of the rich elite in his society. A landlord nicknamed the Buffalo, although plenty rich already, forcefully takes large sums of money from residents of Laxmangarh, who don't have enough to feed their families. Balram directly sees this oppression by observing the the harsh treatment of his father, a poor rickshaw puller, by the Buffalo. By contrasting the excessive and brutal ruling of the elite with the meek and famished demeanor of his father,
Adiga successfully emphasizes the desensitization of Balram's view of his country as fair to all.
In regards to the cruelty of his society, Balram claims, "There's no reward for entrepreneurship in most of India, Your Excellency. It's a sad fact." At this point in the book, Adiga paints Balram as utterly resentful to all of India. The ruthlessness of the rich is the force that drives Balram to abandoning all potential hindrances to a successful life, including family and colleagues.
Despite various setbacks, Balram actually does succeed in finding a fruitful job as a master's servant. Although he receives more money than he ever would have made in Laxmangarh, his prior experience of the cruel elite has molded in him an indestructible desire for more and a single goal: To become an elite. Adiga exposes the apex of Balram's transformation into cruelty by vividly describing Balram's killing of his master, saying, "I rammed [the bottle] three times into the crown of his skull, smashing through to his brains." Such detailed and gruesome language fully emphasizes to readers the sheer brutality that a once civil and obedient boy can inherit. By tugging at his inner sense of injustice, the cruelty of society handily molded Balram into a heartless savage.
But just as India transforms Balram into a savage, his cruel society also brings out an inner, humanly sense of change. Now that Balram is at the top of the social hierarchy, Adiga once again transforms Balram, but this time into a man of compassion. By looking back at adolescent life -- constant cruelty by rich landlords -- and his lapses into brutality -- abandoning his family and killing his master -- Balram develops motivation, not to get to the top by any means necessary, but to give a helping hand to his fellow countrymen, especially those who receive the brunt of societal cruelty. Balram wholeheartedly declares, "I don't want to lose contact with the places where I got my real education in life." By Balram's close examination of the immorality of social cruelty, Adiga fully develops him into a mercenary for the social justice of the people who helped him grow up: the affected poor.
The concept of cruelty in The White Tiger acts as the main plot and character device in the book. Vivid descriptions of society's cruelty, of Balram's cruelty, and of Balram's ascent into a combatant of cruelty truly reveal the plasticity of the human mindset. Anyone can be influenced by cruelty to do bad. But those same people have the power to do good as well.
Revised Essay Score: 6
Reflection:
My Draft #1 of the cruelty essay scored a 3.5, and I can understand why. It lacks a number of things. For one, my essay is too short. Such a short essay will not give the AP grader a good impression; he/she will probably think that little thought and effort is going to be put into the essay. Furthermore, my essay has no specific evidence or quotations about how cruelty functions in the book and what cruelty reveals about my character. My writing also lacks a complex thesis and theme of argument. The analysis is incomplete and oversimplified.
At the time that I wrote Draft #1, I felt very nervous about not finishing the essay. Instead of choosing a complex thesis for my analysis, I chose a safe one that was easier to argue. Having completed the book a while ago, I didn't have the necessary skill to write about my book well. In turn, I couldn't think of any specific evidence to use. My Draft #2 essay fixes many of these problems. I feel that this revision gives a more insightful view of cruelty in my book. I more thoroughly reveal how societal cruelty shapes my main character into both an immoral and moral person. I also use more specific textual evidence, like quotations. A more complex topic of interest, specific quotations, and a longer and more insightful essay are more likely to reach a high score from AP graders. And indeed, my second draft increased to a higher score - a 6.
Having experienced this revision my my Draft #1, I feel like I have a better grasp of what AP graders what when they read Open Question essays. I now realize that a complex essay is miles above an oversimplified, but safe essay. I also know that I must provide concrete, specific evidence from my text, which lets readers know that I put a lot of thought into my writing. I must now also be well-versed in the implicit themes of my book so that I can write a longer and more effective essay.
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