Student Question
If the tiger in A Tiger for Malgudi could speak, what would it say?
Quick answer:
If the tiger in "A Tiger for Malgudi" could speak, it would plead with Captain to be left alone, expressing exhaustion and a desire for freedom. The tiger would ask Captain to leave, offering gratitude for past care but refusing to perform degrading tasks. Despite its silent pleas, Captain continues to torment the tiger, leading to a fatal retaliation from the tiger.
On page 98, the tiger is being whipped and yelled at by Captain, who refuses to let him lie down. Captain is trying to make the tiger stand on its two hind legs, by dangling a lamb above him. The tiger says that if he could speak he would have said, "Please leave me out of it today. I'm worn out." However, the tiger can "only growl and roar," meaning that its pleas go unheard.
Captain then brings out a new weapon, which the tiger describes as "a novel object, which shot out a tongue of metal." This new weapon makes the tiger feel "blinded with a strange kind of pain and helplessness." The tiger collapses outside of the cage, but Captain refuses to allow him to stay there. Captain whips the tiger on the nose, which angers the tiger further. The tiger shudders "at the idea of going after...
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that elusive lamb again."
At this point, the tiger says that if he could have spoken he would have told Captain:
Go away before any harm befalls you, my good man. After all, you have fed me and protected me. I shall honour you for it. But please go away and leave me alone. I won't be your slave any more, I'll never go back to my cage; that's all, I won't do any of the meaningless turns these foolish men around me want me to do. It was different at the circus, but the present activities appear to me senseless and degrading. I won't go through them. I like this air and freedom. I'm not going to give it up now. Later perhaps, when you have regained your judgement, I'll return to your circus, but please don't drive me back to the cage now. Please understand and leave me alone. Please listen to my advice.
Captain, "drunk with authority," continues to whip the tiger, but the tiger only responds with more growled warnings. When Captain persists, the tiger knocks the weapon from Captain's head and, with a swipe of his forepaw, takes off Captain's head.