The Two Faces of Kim: An Investigation into Rudyard Kipling's Kim

2460 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Colonialism academic literature

The Two Faces of Kim: An Investigation into Rudyard Kipling's Kim "I would go without shirts or shoes, Friends, tobacco or bread Sooner than for an instant lose Either side of my head." The Two-Sided Man (Kipling 179) To think of "the two-sided man" is to think of the self-searching protagonist of Rudyard Kipling's Kim. "Burned black" and yet white, Irish and yet 'Little Friend of All the World', British and yet native, ruler and yet servant, Kipling's multi-faceted Kim must find his place in the social order of a society that he resides in but is not truly connected to (51). Moreover, what he must also do is recognize that his two identities do not have to come together to form one; it may be more advantageous to keep the two separate from one another. Thus, his quest to find the "Red Bull on a green field" accomplishes two-fold: it allows Kim to find his identity and Kipling to convey his feelings on imperialist presence in India (49). It may be argued that Kipling chooses England over India, elevating the righteousness and appropriateness of British rule over the lowly and needy Indian nation. To say this, however, would be incorrect, for Kim also celebrates the beauty and exoticness of India, its native languages and culture, showing that as much as British customs are praised so too is the Indian way of life. Thus, the identity that Kim forges for himself does not value British over Indian ideologies or blend the two into one hybrid mixture. What he does do, instead, is hold each as a separate, equally important entity. To use the term 'postcolonial' in Kim would therefore suggest the need to develop British and Indian identities in a way that the distinct characteristics of each group are retained and yet equally r... ... middle of paper ... ...oughout the contexts of the play, Kim has developed each persona independently, be it through schooling or his interactions with other characters, and done so successfully. The term 'postcolonial' then is indeed a suggestion of the need to maintain both identities in the face of a culturally fragmented society, where one identity is no more important than the other. If Kim were to be an actor in a play, he could masterfully take the stage of the British gentleman one night, and in the next performance, an Indian untouchable. It is this very ability to become English and then in another moment Indian that makes him such a successful spy. In the end, whatever the disguise, Kim's adventure along the Grand Trunk Road of Life and his chase of the 'Great Game,' as spying is called, does go on. Hopefully by doing so, Kim can one day answer his question - who really is Kim?

Show More
Related

  • Guidance In The Chrysalids

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    Early on, Uncle Axel discovered that David and Rosalind were communicating telepathically and decided to be understanding. “I want you to promise me that you will never, never tell anyone else what you have just told me - never. ” (Wyndham 30). Even though, this act was considered negatively in their society he embraced the idea wholeheartedly. This magnifies the friendly and trustworthy bond between them. He decides to accept David for the way that he is, gives him advice and consolation like a best friend. Whereas, Joseph Strorm does not provide any affection to his son. This allows David to assemble other telepaths and establish a group to keep their special abilities a secret. Thus, it has implemented some fears in David and influenced him to take action for corporate self-preservation as a means of survival. Another life lesson is when Uncle Axel lectured David of society’s misconceptions and explained that the definition of man does not exist. “What makes man man is mind; it’s not a thing, it’s a quality, and minds aren’t all the same value; they’re better or worse, and the better they are the more they mean.” (Wyndham 79-80). Wisely, Uncle Axel tries to convince David and justifies that Waknuk’s rules, what he was taught as a child, are wrong. He expresses that a person should be judged by their inner qualities and not their physical appearance. In addition, he explains that it’s okay to question society and develop your own opinions. This taught David to become more educated, see things in new perspectives and make smart decisions. Unlike before, David was confined to his father’s perspective which has gave him a limited understanding. Lastly, Uncle Axel advised David to kill Anne for the sake of his group members and himself. “This isn’t a nice cosy world for anyone - especially not for anyone that’s different...maybe you’re not the kind to survive it, after

    Read More

  • 6 Toes or Telepathy? - Chrysalids Essay

    663 Words  | 2 Pages

    David's deviation makes him more intelligent in many different ways. Through-out the novel David teaches himself how to send thought-shapes. He figures out what to do and starts communicating with the others. Over time David realizes his ability to send thought-shapes is a blasphemy and that he must keep it a secret or he will be sent away to the Fringes. He understands the consequences for his deviation and does everything in his power from getting himself or the group discovered. After Uncle Axel explained to David how his telepathy must be kept a secret David narrates,

    Read More

  • TKM Analysis Essay

    588 Words  | 2 Pages

    This is supported at many points in the text. The major source of agape is Scout’s father, Atticus. Unlik...

    Read More

  • Chang Raea Lee's Native Speaker, By Chang-Rae Lee

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Chang-rae Lee's first story, Native Speaker, the protagonist is jolted by the loss of life of his child and the following departure of his wife into intensification of an ongoing identification turmoil. The book's leading metaphor, judged in Henry Park's career as a spy, skilfully elucidates the immigrant's posture as a vigilant outsider in United States culture. However, Henry's dual lifestyle additionally numbers mostly in his evenly representative endeavours to choose for himself what type of individual he is actually. Being a kid of immigrant mom and dad, Henry is, in Pierre Bourdieu's helpful terms, endowed with a bifurcated “habitus”, a couple of models of culturally triggered predispositions. By novel's conclusion, Henry has accomplished an implicit decision of his dilemma, mainly by determining particular of his very own familiar styles of idea and conduct as ethnic inheritances from his immigrant Korean mother and father, then rejecting all of them.

    Read More

  • A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    David goes through several changes. In the beginning David was a very happy child and had a perfect family. His mom was very loving and took care of them. They would go on family trips and had a good time. Everything changed when his parents started fighting and got a divorce. His father started drinking ...

    Read More

  • Process of Scientific Inquiry

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rebecca Skloot’s novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks told the story of the injustice done a a young African American woman, and her family. Henrietta’s cancerous cells were taken from her without her consent, and turned out to be immortal. They were sold all over the world for billions of dollars, while her family, struggling to put food on the table, did not receive a penny of it. Rebecca Skloot uncovers the hidden story of the HeLa cells, and provides a novel not only highly informational, but also with insight to the workings of science. This book outlines the process of scientific inquiry, reveals the contrary forces of altruism and profit that influenced HeLa, and the risks and benefits of profit guiding research as well as the obstacles faced when conducting research for purely altruistic reasons.

    Read More

  • Free College Admissions Essays: Multifaceted Background

    465 Words  | 1 Pages

    I do not consider myself Paki-American. I am too "Americanized" to be Pakistani. (although by birthright, I am American), and I am not quite up to par with the American way of life. So what does all this have to do with my culture, what does a label really matter to cultural identity? It matters much. I believe that this seemingly trivial confusion over labels reveals the even greater confusion that surrounds my cultural identity: Am I a bridge between these two multifaceted cultures, or have I become a mosaic displaying colors from here and there, and elsewhere too? Perhaps both, and I could be a colorful bridge, or perhaps neither. Whatever the case, I cannot seem to separate these absolutely disparate realities within me. Their forces are still clashing, coming together within me, creating a wonderful confusion out of me. I believe that to truly analyze my culture, the roots of this confusion must be explored. In the span of this essay, I must try to encompass the widths of two worlds, their unique interactions within me... which I hope constitute what is called culture.

    Read More

  • Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rudyard Kipling's "The Man who Would Be King" deals with man's ability to rule. The character Dravot's success and failure in ruling derives from the perception of him as a god, instead of a king. Kipling uses the perception of Dravot as a god to show that though a king can rule as a god, he becomes a king by being human.

    Read More

  • Gender And Gender In Imperialism

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender and Race are both used by Imperialist empires to justify their actions. Both of them go hand-in- hand in justifying the ability of an imperialist nations to interfere with and take over other cultures. In Kipling’s White Man’s Burden, Forster’s Passage to India, Silko’s Ceremony, Limerick’s Legacy of Conquest, and Kent’s Gender and power in Britain , 1640-1990, Gender is used as a justification to defend a gender in another country, and to “teach” them how to “live”. Additionally, Race is used as justification managing another country; the reason to keep races and minorities separated, and as justification for actions during ethical incidents. Race and Gender are used as justifications for intervention and takeover of other nations by

    Read More

  • A Killers Cousin

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    To start, David is a sympathetic character, and has really no fear. He is trying to help out his aunt and uncles relationship. Pg90 "mom says that you should speak ups people can hear you". First, David is an important role in this story. He allows Lilly to have someone to pick on and be there. Next, David is trying hard to make an effort to help Julia and Vic out. Vic and Julia's lack of mature behavior doesn't help ...

    Read More

  • Is King David A Villain

    291 Words  | 1 Pages

    David had many good and bad characteristics of himself. He wanted to do well and please everyone. But at times he would fall short in order for his self-gain.

    Read More

  • Nanotechnology For Regenerative Medicine

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tissue engineering uses nanotechnology for tissue regeneration in order to fix damage tissue. In order to succeed tissue engineering utilizes two different methods: in vivo or in vitro regeneration of living tissue. Both methods use Nano scale scaffolds that are loaded with cells in order to regenerate a damage cell in the organ system. The scaffold can also be loaded with different molecules to assist in cell function lik...

    Read More

  • Comparing the Black Album and Rushdie's The Satanic Verses

    2541 Words  | 6 Pages

    The quest for identity in Indo-English writing has emerged as a recurrent theme, as it is in much of modern literature (Pathak preface). Indeed, often the individual's identity and his quest for it becomes so bound up in the national quest for identity, that the individual's search for his identity becomes allegorical of the national search (Pathak pr...

    Read More

  • Vain Personalities in Karma by Kushwant Singh

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    “’You are so very much like everything else in this country, inefficient, dirty, indifferent,’ he murmured”. (P. 178 l. 6-7). Sir Mohan Lal is the protagonist in Singh’s short story “Karma”. He appears very selfish; he likes to look himself in the mirror, and praise himself. He is a well-educated man, with a tie from the University of Oxford. He makes sure that there is a copy of ‘The Times’ next to him, so if passers should doubt that he is British, the English paper will surely convince them. He is determined to be as clean as possible, by using both soap and eau de cologne. He is not a man, who wants to smell like the rest of the mob. He is yearning for the British to come to him, so they can realize that he is as articulated as them. He is certain that he resembles a true English-man, and can see no difference between him and them. As a graduate from Oxford, he must be in their league, so he assumes that whomever he meets will accept him, and take him as an educated man. Sir Mohan Lal have been to England for five years, and in that time, he attended the University of Oxford. He has grown very fond of England; he sees it as a more sophisticated country than India. He identify India with filth, and feels pity towards the country, due to lack of elegance and finesse.

    Read More

  • Hybridity and National Identity in Postcolonial Literature

    2599 Words  | 6 Pages

    Postcolonial authors use their literature and poetry to solidify, through criticism and celebration, an emerging national identity, which they have taken on the responsibility of representing. Surely, the reevaluation of national identity is an eventual and essential result of a country gaining independence from a colonial power, or a country emerging from a fledgling settler colony. However, to claim to be representative of that entire identity is a huge undertaking for an author trying to convey a postcolonial message. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique amalgamation of history, culture, language and tradition. Only by understanding and embracing the idea of cultural hybridity when attempting to explore the concept of national identity can any one individual, or nation, truly hope to understand or communicate the lasting effects of the colonial process.

    Read More

More about The Two Faces of Kim: An Investigation into Rudyard Kipling's Kim

Open Document