NIETZSCHE’S UBERMENSCH AND CRIME: AN ANALYSIS OF ARVIND ADIGA’S NOVEL THE WHITE TIGER

Abstract

This paper analyzes the act of crime and its artistic rationalization
through the character of Balram Halwai in ArvindAdiga’s novel The White
Tiger under the theoretical prism of Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Ubermensch.
Ubermensch is a hypothetical character proposed by Nietzsche in his
masterpiece Thus Spoke Zarathustra, who is expected to appear in the future
and will possess some unique features like ‘transcendence over society’,
‘creation of new values and master morality’,‘will to power and
achievement’. The character of Balram is analyzed as a fictional
Ubermensch under the lens of these features using Content Analysis
Technique of Qualitative Research Methodology’, which is considered
suitable for the specific descriptive nature and scope of this study. This
analysis concludes that the embodiment of such features by Balram justifies
his rise as a perfect potential Ubermensch of 21st century, who rejects the
traditional moral system and builds his own system of morality where crime
also seems to be rationalized