On The Discipline And Resistance In The White Tiger

The White Tiger,published in 2008,is the debut of famous Indian writer Aravind Adiga.The novel has attracted the attention of many critics because of its unique plot and perspectives of writing and won the Man Booker Prize.It not only shows the social inequality and the alienation of people’s relationship in India during its rapid development,but also reveals the plight of the underclass and the complex social reality between the dominant class and the underclass in India.Based on Michel Foucault’s theory of disciplinary power,this thesis analyzes the various disciplinary techniques imposed on it as well as their impact on their body,space and discourse,discussing the possibility for the public to resist the dominant power and seek the value of survival under the impact of disciplinary power.In the thesis,the first chapter conducts a detailed analysis of the disciplines exerted on the public’s body and discusses how the dominant powers operate these disciplines to make the individual subject the submissive and obedient object.The second chapter focuses on the operation of disciplinary power on space and analyzes how the disciplinary techniques are operated through the space to make the public under ubiquitous surveillance and restraints and make their living space narrow and cold.The third chapter discusses the operations of disciplinary power in discourse,analyzing how the dominant power uses education to make the impact on the public’s values as well as the common belief and influence the national confidence of the public.The fourth chapter illustrates the resistance of people in a disciplinary society.Although strict discipline leads most people to lose their subjectivity and turn to the docile objects,there are still some people who reject the disciplines and choose to resist.After making a series of resistance,the public not only gradually regains control over their bodies but also escapes from the various restraints through their unique ways of the rebel,affirming their subjectivity.The ubiquitous discipline makes the public submit to the dominant power,but the heavy and endless oppression also arouses the public’s consciousness to resist.Through the analysis and illustration of the manipulations of disciplinary power in people’s life,its impacts on the public,and the resistance of the people in The White Tiger,this thesis reveals that though modern society is always under the ubiquitous disciplinary power,people still could achieve their goal and get the freedom through resistance in the body,space and discourse.