Kipling's Jungle
Colonial writers struggle to balance their role as guardians of truth in a conquered land. Rudyard Kipling takes a different approach in Jungle Book.
Mowgli, a baby boy, is reared by wolves and other animals in the richly diverse Indian jungle. He is inadvertently assimilated amongst the monkeys. This news infuriates Mowgli's bear tutor, hence the following passage illustrating Kipling influenced by Indian social customs,
"Listen man-cub. I have taught the laws of the jungle
to all the peoples of the jungle - except the monkey
folk. They have no law. They are outcastes...they boast
and chatter and pretend they are great people about to
do great affairs in the jungle, but the falling of a
nut turns their mind to laughter, and all is forgotten."
Kipling also attributes sociological status to Shere Khan, a powerful lion, who vows to one day kill Mowgli. Shere Khan is strong but old and undisciplined,
"unable to fast for the sake of revenge." This weakness of austerity, a trait honored in Hinduism, debilitated Shere Khan and ultimately led to his demise. This passage suggests lingering overtones of Islamic subjugation, especially in some jungle states.
Apart from these few obvious nods to his colonized home, Kipling remains more intent on telling a good story, using objective insight whilst allowing subjective material to be part of the story framework.
Kipling shows keen eye and intuition in ascribing amusing personality traits to animal characters, based on observed behavior.
Communication barriers create tension between species, including humans, adding a further dynamic to the story. The Jungle Book illuminates a vanishing ecosystem hastened by colonial expansion, and exchanged for cultural and ideological artifices of Europe. Kipling tells a rich story, primarily from the vantage point of the most oppressed and easily displaced, the animals.
In this book colonial influence is sensed and felt encroaching from nearby, rather than from the tale itself. Kipling writes appreciatively and with awe for the beauty of nature, while understanding the fight for survival. In some ways, The Jungle Book is an account of ecological breakdown on the Indian sub-continent.
Kipling views from an external prism, as a colonist amongst Indians, and as a human being encroaching on the natural environment. Thus the story is illuminated, while subjective understanding colors the story with background and context.
The semiotic approach of Ferdinand de Saussure becomes guesswork in ascribing language to animals. Kipling instead employs an approach of multiple possibilities of meaning.
Kipling gives equal voice to all characters, human and animal. The Jungle Book expresses the unspoken resistance of the oppressed, in a story where juxtaposed opinion and motivation of jungle characters is reflected in ourselves.
End
Mowgli, a baby boy, is reared by wolves and other animals in the richly diverse Indian jungle. He is inadvertently assimilated amongst the monkeys. This news infuriates Mowgli's bear tutor, hence the following passage illustrating Kipling influenced by Indian social customs,
"Listen man-cub. I have taught the laws of the jungle
to all the peoples of the jungle - except the monkey
folk. They have no law. They are outcastes...they boast
and chatter and pretend they are great people about to
do great affairs in the jungle, but the falling of a
nut turns their mind to laughter, and all is forgotten."
Kipling also attributes sociological status to Shere Khan, a powerful lion, who vows to one day kill Mowgli. Shere Khan is strong but old and undisciplined,
"unable to fast for the sake of revenge." This weakness of austerity, a trait honored in Hinduism, debilitated Shere Khan and ultimately led to his demise. This passage suggests lingering overtones of Islamic subjugation, especially in some jungle states.
Apart from these few obvious nods to his colonized home, Kipling remains more intent on telling a good story, using objective insight whilst allowing subjective material to be part of the story framework.
Kipling shows keen eye and intuition in ascribing amusing personality traits to animal characters, based on observed behavior.
Communication barriers create tension between species, including humans, adding a further dynamic to the story. The Jungle Book illuminates a vanishing ecosystem hastened by colonial expansion, and exchanged for cultural and ideological artifices of Europe. Kipling tells a rich story, primarily from the vantage point of the most oppressed and easily displaced, the animals.
In this book colonial influence is sensed and felt encroaching from nearby, rather than from the tale itself. Kipling writes appreciatively and with awe for the beauty of nature, while understanding the fight for survival. In some ways, The Jungle Book is an account of ecological breakdown on the Indian sub-continent.
Kipling views from an external prism, as a colonist amongst Indians, and as a human being encroaching on the natural environment. Thus the story is illuminated, while subjective understanding colors the story with background and context.
The semiotic approach of Ferdinand de Saussure becomes guesswork in ascribing language to animals. Kipling instead employs an approach of multiple possibilities of meaning.
Kipling gives equal voice to all characters, human and animal. The Jungle Book expresses the unspoken resistance of the oppressed, in a story where juxtaposed opinion and motivation of jungle characters is reflected in ourselves.
End