From The Wolf Child To The Spy

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was a renowned and important English author in the20thCentury. His works include poems, novels, short stories, journals, essays, memoirs and so on,among which the most famous and successful ones are The Jungle Books (1894,1895) and Kim(1901). However, some of his works were often criticized because of their connection withimperialism. Some call him a brutal and merciless imperialist, while others think he is an idealistand recognize the artistic charm of his works. In my opinion, both opinions have their reasonablestands, but both have neglected the evolvement of Kipling’s imperial ideas. Thus, it is necessary toreturn to the context and find clues in it.The first chapter introduces Kipling and his works as well as Said and Homi Bhabha’spostcolonial theories. Obviously, from Said to Homi Bhabha postcolonial theories have developedits focus. Instead of emphasizing a binary and confrontational method, late postcolonialists likeBhabha are taking on a multiple and integrated view towards Post-colonialism. Thus, there is anecessity for us to reexamine the works of postcolonial writers such as Rudyard Kipling, as hisimperial ideas have also experienced such evolvement. According to the evolvement history ofKipling’s imperial ideas, we can divide his India-themed novels into three stages, in which TheJungle Books and Kim belong to the second and third stage respectively. It is obvious that Mowglias “the Ruler of the Jungle” and Kim as “the Little Friend of all the World” are two differentcharacters created by Kipling in different stages. To some extent, these two characters have allkinds of connections with Kipling. By comparing both characters: wolf child Mowgli and spy Kimas well as with imperial history and Kipling’s India complex taken into consideration, this paperaims to reveal the evolvement of Kipling’s imperial ideas.The following three chapters are the main body of the paper, wolf child and spy both reflectKipling’s different imperial ideas at different periods. To some extent, both protagonists act as twodifferent spokesmen of Kipling’s imperial ideas. In The Jungle Books, Mowgli built up an idealempire, as a man-cub and also the ruler of the jungle, Mowgli acted like a spokesman of Kipling’simperial ideas in the stories. Kipling’s confrontational views can be perceived through Mowgli’swords and acts. In the book, Mowgli’s war against the village can be considered as a clash between different cultures. The antagonistic status of both cultures implies the fact that a war is doomed tobreak out and one culture’s triumph over the other is the only end to it. Why both cultures can notcoexist? Indeed, it is a harsh question for Kipling; luckily, Kipling made the best answer to it bypublishing his last India-themed novel Kim. Different from the confrontational status between thejungle and the village in The Jungle Books, Kim takes on a relative harmonious and warm picture.Though the antagonistic atmosphere can be sensed through the espionage, the end is far less brutaland barbaric than what is in The Jungle Books. Compared with The Jungle Books, Kim represents anew stage when the East meets the West. Behind the reconciliation, there might be the need tomaintain the British Empire, but more importantly it is Kipling’s love for India and reconsiderationof his imperial ideas. Kipling’s vivid description of the Grand Trunk, the splendid Himalayas andIndian people all reveal his attachment to India and his aspiration to reconcile the East and theWest. Harmonious scenes can be found in many places in the novel such as the square in front ofthe Lahore Museum, the bizarre and the Grand Trunk. Instead of exhibiting cultural clashes,Kipling has presented to us harmonious pictures in which the East meets the West.At last, the paper concludes that from wolf child to spy Kipling’s imperial ideas have evolvedfrom clash to reconciliation. Through Kim Kipling has successfully created a reconciled world andturned himself from “the prophet of British Imperialism” into “the Friend of all the World”.