Considering Balram's actions in The White Tiger, does he live "like a man" as per his father's wish? What additional point can support the thesis?

If being a man constitutes an individual who is able to utilize his own freedom of choice to be moral and honest with others and themselves, then Balram is a character that does not live like a man in the novel The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Balram decides that his own personal freedom and his chance to escape his humble origins to eventually live the life of a wealthy entrepreneur seem to justify murdering his master, Mr. Ashok, which causes the death of his family. He lives with the knowledge that he has committed murder and that he has likely caused the murder of his own family.

I think what is missing within your thesis statement is an acknowledgement that Balram lacks a sense of accountability for his actions and ignores the consequences of them—or, at the very least, he disregards those consequences. This should ideally be your final point for your five paragraph essay. I would also make an adjustment to your thesis so that it ends with a "so what?" point. You say Balram is showing "immorality," so a reader will then ask, "so what?" You must be able to answer this question. Why is it significant that Balram behaves immorally? How does that weigh or not weigh on his conscience? How does it weigh on his identity as a man?

In your introductory paragraph, you've suggested that being "a man" means that one must use their own freedom of choice to uphold a moral code and to be honest with oneself and others. You've also made the distinction that Balram misappropriates the freedom he has attained in order to violate the general accepted code of morality and to advance his own agenda. 

We can clearly conclude from what you're arguing that you don't see Balram as "living like a man." You've clearly stated that in your introduction. I would drive that point home once more in your thesis while still addressing one of the primary questions: "Is personal freedom necessary for a fully human life?" 

From what you've written, it would seem that you think that it is necessary; thus, you must account for how Balram abuses that freedom which would otherwise make him human. 

So, in my opinion, your new thesis should read something like this:

Although Balram believes that he is living like a man, his actions throughout the story show immorality and demonstrate that he consistently neglects the consequences of his own actions; his selfishness and lack of accountability for his behaviors may be byproducts of his new ability to exercise his freedom, but they also mark him as "less than a man" and, perhaps, even a bit inhuman.

I would then reference in the paragraph how Balram neglects the consequences of his behaviors. You could talk about how he does this on the behalf of others. For example, think of all the times Balram exercised free will to help his boss do something less than appropriate: he assists with the cover up of the murder of the beggar child, the boss's visits to the prostitute, and so on. Balram may have been under pressure in these situations, but he still had the opportunity to say no; he simply would have had to face the consequences of doing so. Instead, he was a participant. 

You may also talk about how Balram neglects the consequences of behavior he is not pressured into—such as the murder of his boss, his own involvement in clandestine sexual situations, and so on. 

Ultimately, you can consider how Balram is not the victim here but rather an agent of his own choices who consistently chooses wrong. This renders him unlike a man by your guidelines because it emphasizes his lack or morality and his negligence when it comes to understanding his own impact on the world.

I need help writing an essay on whether Balram's father's wish comes true in The White Tiger. Does Balram live "like a man" by the end of the novel?Balram’s father states in The White Tiger, “my whole life I have been treated like a donkey. All I want is that one son of mine—at least one—should live like a man.” (26)

Balram's father is Vickram Halwai, a poor rickshaw puller who wishes for at least one of his sons to have the opportunity to "live like a man." Vickram ensures that Balram is taught to read and to write, despite the fact that this provokes the teasing of people in the village. It is through this education that Balram manages to impress the inspector and earn the nickname of the "white tiger" because he is "an intelligent, honest, vivacious fellow in this crowd of thugs and idiots."

Although Balram has to leave school to support the family, his father's death prompts him to move to Dhanbad, where he finds work as a driver for Mr. Ashok. It is at this point when Mr. Ashok and his father quiz Balram about his caste that we receive insight into what Balram's father meant when he said he has been "treated like a donkey" and what exactly it means to "live like a man." We learn that up until the British departure from India in 1947, the Halwais had been sweet makers; without British infrastructure in place, the Halwais fell into poverty due to the corruption of the new government. Balram reveals to his new employer that he is of the lowest caste, and Balram later learns that Mr. Ashok was actually born in the same village as him. Although it seems that Balram is starting to find his way in the world, he is clearly still beholden to his employer and not yet a free man.

Balram follows Mr. Ashok to Delhi, where he is eventually forced to read a statement that implicates him in the murder of a beggar child, a murder which was actually the result of Ashok's wife's careless driving. Balram manages to escape going to jail merely because the report never makes its way to the police. Ashok's marriage dissolves, and he turns to engaging with prostitutes.

Balram starts to lose his loyalty to Ashok when he realizes exactly how much the man has cost him; he begins to steal, engages in debauchery of his own, and plans to murder Ashok. Balram murders Ashok by pretending that there is an issue with the car he drives and then smashing a Johnnie Walker Black bottle over Ashok's head, leaving him on the side of the road to die just like the beggar child.

Thus, Balram's true freedom is born. With his now dead employer's money in tow, he takes off to Bangalore to embrace his independence, despite the fact that he is also now a fugitive from the law. With this in mind, we can now answer your question: yes, Balram's father's wish did come true by the end of the novel, albeit perhaps not in the way that Balram's father would have envisioned. Certainly Vickram would not have been pleased with the idea of his son becoming a criminal and a murderer, but in the dog-eat-dog political climate of India, this was Balram's clearest route to "living like a man."

If the Halwais had taken a similar path when the British left India, they may not have wound up in the bottom caste. Because of the injustice in how these castes were formed and the rampant nature of poverty, we can argue that Balram did not have much choice in how he obtained his manhood; he could remain pure and languish away in poverty like his family, or he could take justice into his own hands in order to climb outside the confines of his upbringing. In choosing the latter, he was able to escape his caste (largely through the accumulation of money) and to become responsible for his own fate: two qualities which seem to define manhood in India at this time. He is no longer faced with the destiny of his father; in killing Ashok, he has risen up against the act of being used "like a donkey" by another human being.

Unfortunately, this means that Balram did fall into a different kind of trap. His actions mirror Ashok's behaviors. He is a "man" by the end of the novel, yes. However, is he a good one? To that point, we might then answer your other question: "Is personal freedom necessary for a fully human life?"

Given the suffering that those who do not have freedom experience in the novel, the answer to that would certainly be "yes, personal freedom is necessary for a fully human life." Balram's parents die in poverty, as does the beggar boy who is hit by the car. Balram suffers at the hands of Ashok until he kills him and is able to escape his abuse.

You alone can decide if Balram is truly free. That is a matter of personal opinion. What does freedom mean to you? For me,  the weight of living with a crime as heinous as murder would be unbearable and would not feel like freedom; living a life as a man wanted for a crime and pursued by authorities would not feel free either. However, I'd argue that Balram does see himself as truly free.  

I need help with an essay on The White Tiger. Does Balram's father's wish for his son to "live like a man" come true by the end of the novel?

Based on the quote you provided above, it can be argued personal freedom is necessary for a fulfilling life.

Ideally, the thesis statement should appear in the first paragraph. It should clearly describe your position and briefly explain why readers should care about your argument. If personal freedom is necessary for a fulfilling life, what does that life look like? That's an angle worth exploring. Essentially, to be free, one must have autonomy: the ability to decide one's course in life. 

Consider whether Balram has autonomy. Sure, he takes matters into his own hands, but does he have autonomy by the end of the story? Is the freedom he "purchases" through his murder of Mr. Ashok worth the risk of arrest? Or will Balram have to live the rest of his life looking over his shoulder and bribing the right people to preserve his freedom? In such a case, it can be argued Balram does not have the kind of freedom that allows him true autonomy. He may have acquired financial freedom and even freedom from a tyrannical master. However, he cannot live a life of authenticity; his present behavior is subject to his past immoral actions.

By killing Mr. Ashok, Balram achieves financial independence. However, he must live with the possibility that members of his family were murdered to avenge Mr. Ashok's death.

To get back to your thesis, here are some ideas (with suggested vocabulary):

While it is true that freedom is necessary for a fulfilling life, true freedom/independence/autonomy/self-determination cannot be secured by immoral actions.

Although Balram's murder of Mr. Ashok leads to his financial independence, his unprincipled/unethical/corrupt actions prevent him from achieving true freedom/independence/liberty/self-determination.

After deciding on your thesis statement, you can then use the body of your essay to expound upon your main idea. Refer to the text to discuss what unprincipled actions Balram resorts to in order to earn his financial freedom. Here are some ideas:

1) Balram kills Mr. Ashok and steals his money.

2) Balram leaves his family to deal with the consequences of his actions. From the text, we get the idea that he does not seem overly concerned about this. Balram seems to believe that the end justifies the means.

3) Balram has to bribe the police in order to maintain his new, privileged life in Bangalore.

Expand upon (1), (2), and (3) in separate paragraphs. In your last paragraph, explain why Balram does not really have true autonomy/freedom. While Balram rationalizes that all his actions have been worth the risk of getting caught, we get the idea that his newfound liberty is a precarious one. To protect his wealth and place in the "Light" of industrialized India, Balram must continue to resort to unprincipled/unethical actions. Based on such a shaky moral foundation, it can be argued that Balram's freedom is merely a facade.