This research undertakes a comparative literary analysis of Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s Ark and Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger in order to analyse the manner in which literary representations of systemic oppression articulate ways of liberation. These novels with their divergent historical and cultural backgrounds of Nazi eclipsed Poland and India fragmented by its caste-capitalism. Both novels portray the socio-political oppression of marginalized groups and the inherent moral contradictions in the pursuit of liberation. The research unveils the fight against oppression and ethical ambiguities are not disparities but complementary forces that are part of oppressive systems. This paper involves a qualitative methodology with close reading under the lens of postcolonial theory and subaltern theory. The research examines characterisation, power dynamics and literary representations of oppression. The study proposes that the ethical contradiction seen in the protagonists like Oskar Schindler and Balram Halway is not a character flaw but the reflection of the true nature of resistance. By bridging holocaust and postcolonial literatures, the research contributes to closing the critical gap of isolation of these genres. Through a juxtaposition of Schindler’s Ark and The White Tiger, the study offers a systemic understanding of literary representations of survival and complicity as a morally entangled notion. It pushes the boundaries of scholarly discussions on oppression and liberation within the contexts of power dynamics, subaltern ethics and discursive practices.
Sargunaraj et al. (Tue,) studied this question.