An Ecocritical Reading of Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger

Why choose this novel for ecocritical investigation? Connections, that's where an ecocritic begins. Thematically the novel investigates how representations, from the Vedas to 'Sting', connect with, and influence actions in the material world. Extratextually (outside the novel) Aravind Adiga, the author of The White Tiger (2008), was born in Madras, in 1974. And as the target readers for this essay are students situated in Chennai, this novel seems likely to stimulate students' interest because of its author's place connections. On a practical note, a book by an Indiar, author of international fame (the novel won The Man Booker Prize in 2008) is likely to be available in Chennai. In keeping with accessibility for the students, and with the. novel's mischievous use of technology and web connections (see http:// www.whitetiger-technologydrivers.com/) this essay will include: source information from the internet. In addition, Adiga has Australian citizenship, which is where I come in. Connections. Interrelationships. Interdependencies. Ecocriticism, then, encourages connections between regions, histories, cultures, languages and so on, but always, it examines the way in which 'nature' is represented.