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For Friday: More on Kipling (see below)

For Friday, there's nothing to read--play catch-up instead--but we do have class: we're going to explore some ideas that inform Kipling's India. In other words, I'll bring the reading to class. We'll read the next three stories for Monday with questions to follow.

 For those of you who missed today's class because of OCTE, the in-class writing follows (you can bring it to class or post it here):
Kipling, The Jungle Books

“Servants of the Queen,” “How the Fear Came,” and “The Miracle of Purun Bhagat”

In-Class Response:


Each one of these stories is about the origins of something that has always existed: why animals fight in wars, how fear came to the jungle, and where holy men come from. Also in each story, the knowledge is hidden from man, known only to the animals and to the narrator, who apparently understands the ‘beast language’ (at least in “The Servants of the Queen”). How do these stories challenge or critique the balance between man and animal, OR between Indian and British? Does Kipling use these stories to support the fundamental order of the British empire and the English way of life (the way of “man”)? Or is he critiquing the “laws” the rule the land in favor or more ancient rules—ones that predate anything English or British? 

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 7, 2016 at 8:58 AM

    Elyse Marquardt

    "Servants of the Queen" is a really good example of the balance between Indian and British. Kipling heavily emphasizes the servitude of the animals to their human masters. The creatures discuss how they have no choice but to do their lords' will. (This also echoes the poem "The Widow of Windsor" where we see a soldier resigning himself to his fate of serving his master without a question.) Kipling is subtly critiquing the fact that people are born into a certain lifestyle that they have no choice but to follow. He sees the folly of the caste system, of the servant system, and of the military system; he does not approve, and he makes this clear in his stories.

    Elyse Marquardt

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