"Kim"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the relationship of the main protagonist of Kim to his Indian environment and to his status as a member of the British Empire is comfortably resolved for the author Rudyard Kipling, by the end of the novel, but not for a modern reader. It analyzes how Kim's fulfillment of his quest for a stable identity in the face of his personal social instability are paralleled throughout the novel with the political instability of the Indian subcontinent and the spiritual quest of the lama whom he befriends early in the novel's narrative. It shows how only after his friend the lama also comes to the end of his spiritual quest, Kim is able to find a answer as to who he truly is as he is perceived by the outer world, by a class and caste confused society.

From the Paper:

"Kim's search for identity cannot be framed in terms of an uncomplicated pairing of India versus England. Kim is the son of an Irish man, and thus at best occupies only a marginal status as an Englishman, even if he were to dwell England itself. When Kim experiences his first period of confusion, it is not in the face of Indian treachery, but in the narrow understanding possessed by those attempting to civilize him as a purely white man at St. Xavier's. Later, Kim realizes in his training for the British Secret service, that he must make use of both his native tools of strength of mind as well as his British training in mathematics. Only by using both unique attributes in combination can he resist the test for becoming a spy he submits to be the mystic Lurgan. Lurgan marvels at the boy's uniqueness of mind, a uniqueness confirmed when Kim is comforted by a 'bairagi' during one of his crisis points of identity."

More papers on "Kim":

• Term Paper # 135000 : "Modernity in Kim Whanki's Work"
• Analytical Essay # 38951 : "Kim"
• Book Review # 116420 : "Rudyard Kipling's 'Kim'"

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