Reading 1001 discussion

7. Discuss Balram's reasons for the murder: fulfilling his father's wish that his son "live like a man," taking back what Ashok had stolen from him, and breaking out of the rooster coop, among them. Which ring true to you and which do not? Did you feel Balram was justified in killing Ashok? Discuss the paradox inherent in the fact that in order to live fully as a man, Balram took a man's life.

The class system, government, etc is such that there is no fairness or opportunities. Murder is murder. The end does not justify the means. But his argument is pretty convincing. It is a story of freedom.

Balram's father wanted him to escape a life of servitude. He killed Ashok to steal his money and justified it to himself by thinking that the poor are always exploited by the rich. Murder is never justified. Balram was rationalising his actions.