ENGLISH LITERATURE II.

RESPONSE PAPERS: KIM + JB

PAULA SANTOS NAVAJA

KIM and The Jungle Book

As the following paper will develop, these two novels have a point in common, which is
closely linked to the personal life of the author, Rudyard Kipling. It is about the feeling of not
belonging to one place or another, and being torn between two nationalities or having to
choose between two paths.

Kim, published by Rudyard Kipling in 1901, tells the story of Kimberly O’Hara, an orphan
boy who lives in Lahore but is of British descent, Irish to be exact.

To understand the novel, it is essential to know the context in which it was written. It is
important to know that the novel is set in the Victorian era in Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistan is
located in Central Asia, a place for which the British and Russian secret services maintained a
strategic rivalry, "The Great Game".

Once with this information, and going back to the book, Kim, a poor and orphaned boy,
meets a Tibetan lama. This is where the theme that is going to be developed in this writing
begins, which I gather is the most relevant theme of the novel: the feeling of not belonging.

As mentioned, Kim meets a lama and is to become his disciple. The lama is going on a
journey in search of enlightenment and Kim accompanies him. We begin to see that despite
being a child without resources, Kim is an intelligent and very capable child.

This is when the British, who recognize Kim as the son of a British soldier put him under
protection by placing him in a school. He has to be separated from the lama and although he
refuses, the lama convinces him that it is the best thing for him. This is very important. The
British secret services see the boy's abilities so they decide to educate him in espionage. Kim
serves as a spy and collaborates with the Secret Service on the “Great Game”.

As we can see up to this point in the novel, Kim has two paths to follow. First, there is the
spiritual path he takes with the lama in search of the Arrow River. Then his duty is to serve
his country of origin by staying with the British.
 ENGLISH LITERATURE II. RESPONSE PAPERS: KIM + JB
PAULA SANTOS NAVAJA

In this story, Kipling puts much of his own biography, although he was born in Bombay, he
was sent to London to get a good education. He spent his life debating between his
Indo-British origin, the same thing that happens to Kim. He feels different in Pakistan. That's
why he has two paths, which would come to represent his problem of not feeling from one
place or the other.

Something similar occurs in The Jungle Book. Kipling introduces us to Mowgli, who is the
protagonist of the first three chapters. In the rest of the chapters, he tells us independent
stories that are related to the coexistence between animals and humans. These four stories
show the harshness with which animals have to put up. Because humans exploit and hunt
them. The last story, in which the animals of the British Empire talk about this, captures the
overall message very well and makes the reader empathize with the animals.

But let's delve into the story of Mowgli. The boy was abandoned by his parents who were
escaping from Shere Khan, a Bengal tiger. The father of the wolf pack heard that something
was happening and went to help the baby. From that moment on, he was adopted into the
pack.

In Kim's book, we are introduced to a protagonist, who ends up being part of a group to
which he does not belong. It is true that the wolves treat him as one more, but Mowgli is still
human. One moment when he feels that his family does not support him is when another pack
leader is needed, and they all seem to agree to choose Khan, who wants to kill Mowgli. At
this point, Mowgli feels he has been turned away, so he returns to the human village. But
Mowgli also has no feeling of belonging to his biological family. That is to say, as it
happened to Kim, he is immersed between two worlds that belong to him, but at the same
time do not.

In short, although different, the two novels implicitly present us with the reality of the writer
and of all colonized people in general. In my opinion, these novels can be interpreted from an
imperialist point of view. In the colonies of the British Empire, in India, the colonized may
have felt that way too. Belonging to two realities at the same time, thus feeling themselves to
be strangers.
Characters: 4205