Big Bellies and Small Bellies: Class Conflict and Social Inequality in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger presents a sharp critique of class conflict, social inequality, and the unequal distribution of power in contemporary India. This paper examines how the novel exposes the deep divide between the privileged “big bellies” and the impoverished “small bellies,” represented through the contrasting worlds of the wealthy and the underprivileged. Balram Halwai’s journey from a poor village in Bihar to a successful entrepreneur in Bangalore reveals the structural barriers that restrict social mobility and perpetuate economic exploitation. The novel portrays poverty, caste hierarchy, corruption, political manipulation, and servitude as interconnected forces sustaining class inequality. Through Balram’s transformation from servant to businessman, Adiga questions the moral and social costs of escaping poverty within an unequal system. The study argues that The White Tiger portrays class conflict not merely as an economic struggle but as a wider contest over dignity, freedom, identity, and power in modern Indian society.