Rajiv Joseph's book Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is a story about transcendence. Believe it or not, Tigers or not, the book revolves around the question of God's existence. At the very beginning, the Tiger is killed by Kev during a patrol. The Tiger wakes up in a spiritually enlightened state in his after life. He is able to interact with other dead characters and spends his time learning all he can about his previous life.
After meeting a little dead girl, the Tiger remembers eating a girl and her brother who was similar to this girl. He questions why God created him with a violent, bloodthirsty nature. Later, the Tiger meets up with Musa after witnessing him shoot Tom in the stomach. The Tiger concludes that Musa is God and tells him as much. Musa denies it. Confused and frustrated, the Tiger abandons his faith in God in favor of relying upon his own inner wisdom.
Karma plays an interesting role in the narrative as well. Since Tom loses his arm because of the Tiger attack, he secretly blames Kev for the incident. Kev ends up losing his mind and trying to cut his own arm off as well. The attempt goes horribly wrong, and he dies. Although karma destroys one life, it also saves another. Uday is responsible for raping and murdering Musa's wife. After killing Tom, Musa tries to kill himself. Musa shows up to congratulate him on his recent kill, but the memory of Uday's despicable deeds inspires Musa to ensure he never sinks as low as his enemy and so he doesn't follow through with his suicide attempt.
