Digital Modernity and Human values in Arvind Adiga's Fiction

Abstract The advent of the digital age has significantly reshaped human relationships, modes of communication, identity formation, education, culture, and literary creation. In the Indian context, the proliferation of the internet, social media, smartphones, digital publishing, and artificial intelligence has revolutionized not just daily existence but also how literature is produced and consumed. Indian English literature, traditionally responsive to societal transformations, has increasingly addressed the conflicts arising from globalization, technological advancement, consumerism, urbanization, social disparity, and evolving patterns of human interaction. This paper explores how human values are portrayed and reconfigured in contemporary Indian English literature within the framework of digital modernity. It contends that literature remains a crucial ethical domain for interrogating issues such as dignity, empathy, equality, truth, identity, liberty, responsibility, and interpersonal relations. Representative works including Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger and Selection Day are analyzed to understand the interplay between technological progress and human values. Furthermore, the paper examines the growth of digital literary forms in India, such as digital literature, blogs, online literary forums, social media writing, and electronic literature. The study concludes that while digital technology has broadened the scope of Indian English literature, it has also introduced new ethical dilemmas. The enduring relevance of literature resides in its ability to keep human dignity and moral inquiry at the heart of technological change. The advent of the digital age has significantly reshaped human relationships, modes of communication, identity formation, education, culture, and literary creation. In the Indian context, the proliferation of the internet, social media, smartphones, digital publishing, and artificial intelligence has revolutionized not just daily existence but also how literature is produced and consumed. Indian English literature, traditionally responsive to societal transformations, has increasingly addressed the conflicts arising from globalization, technological advancement, consumerism, urbanization, social disparity, and evolving patterns of human interaction.