VISTAS

HANDOUT 1 : THE TIGER KING

An Analysis

The story ‘The Tiger King’ is satire on the conceit of those in power. Most of the time the rulers are not
interested in serving the people or work for the welfare of the public; instead they spend their time in
foolish pursuits. Even the coteries who surround these power centers are interested in taking
advantage of the proximity for their own welfare. One of the ways in which these most powerful
people show off their waywardness is through game-hunting. They are callous and indiscriminately
destroy the natural habitat. The story conveys the message that what is important for today is a new
awareness about ecology i.e. a realization that the earth is not our inherited property but we have
borrowed from our future generations. Conservation of wild life is therefore very necessary. There is
a growing awareness of the necessity of conservation and preservation of wildlife. Grass root
environmental consciousness is also on the increase, and more and more people are stepping in
towards contributing to the conservation of wildlife. This story arouses a renewed interest in us
regarding the preservation of ecology.
The important literary device used in the story is that of dramatic irony. Dramatic irony means that the
audience or reader is aware of something important, of which the characters in the story are not
aware.
Challenging death on the basis of prediction by astrologers is as good as a wasted effort. Even after
the monumental task of killing ninety-nine tigers, the hundredth tiger escaped being shot by the
king’s gun. Unaware of this, he dies merely because of a “tiny little wooden tiger” and not by any
ferocious living creature like tiger. Thus, the dramatic irony surfaces strongly at the end of the story
when the readers realise what the king never does.
Kalki
Genre : Satire
The story is a satire. A satire is piece of writing that makes use of ridicule, irony and sarcasm to
expose the folly or vice of a system or an individual. The story ‘The Tiger King’ has the following
features of the satire:
a) A humorous attack on rulers and politicians: The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram goes to
the ridiculous extent of killing hundred tigers to evade death. His pompousness and conceit
is a subject of mockery. He even marries a woman whose father has a kingdom with forests
inhabited by tigers. He is surrounded by ‘yes-men’ like the Dewan who are too scared to give
the correct advice. Similarly our politicians are governed by personal gains rather than by
concerns of public welfare. They are surrounded by sycophants (flatterers) who further misguide
them. The king is whimsical and raises and lowers taxes depending upon his state of mind.
He has no idea about what is going on in his own kingdom. The shopkeeper who quotes the
price of three hundred rupees for something that costs a few annas is an example of the
corruption in the state.

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Class XII
 The king is made fun of through the description of how he misses the hundredth tiger though
it is right in front of him. The description of how the Dewan procured the old tiger from the zoo
is aimed at revealing how official machinery is misused for the personal gains of politicians.
The British officer who wants to pose with his feet on the carcass of a tiger is another example
of the conceit of rulers. Such false notions of heroism were responsible for the large scale
killings of tigers and their vastly reduced numbers. His wife’s greed is made fun of as she
accepts diamond rings worth three lakh rupees.
b) Language and style grand and elaborate: The King’s title His Highness Jamedar -General,
Khiledar Major, Sata Vyaghra Samahara etc creates a larger-than-life figure of a king who is
very small in stature in real life. The grand manner of description of a king who is not fit to be
a ruler serves to highlight his flaws. This grandness of style is a special feature of a satire.
When it is used to describe something small in stature it brings out the flaws of the person or
thing described. The King does nothing illustrious in his entire career as a ruler. He only
indulges in his obsession of killing tigers.
Another example of the grand style is the astrologer’s prediction ‘The child will grow up to be
the warrior of warriors, hero of heroes, and - champion of champions.’ This hero is actually a
scared man who wages a war against the poor tiger. The tiger is no match against a violent
human bent upon wiping out the former’s very existence.
C) Use of Dramatic Irony: The king with the grand title and the so called ‘warrior of ‘warriors,
hero of heroes’ dies an insignificant death. His death is caused by a small wooden tiger that
costs only two annas and a quarter. The tiny little wooden tiger has been carved by an unskilled
carpenter. Tiny slivers of wood pierce his hand and he dies of the suppurating sore that causes
a fatal infection. Thus death defeats the one who sought to become stronger than death.

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Class XII