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Title: The colourful novel of a journey and a quest
Review: Throughout this novel, one senses that R. Kipling was a loyal British subject though he was born in Inda. He believed in the imperial authority of his queen and country and his defence of the British rule in India gave rise to controversy at the end of the 18th century. Interestingly enough, as one progresses through "Kim", one feels the author's passion for his beloved India, a country he nevertheless believed should be ruled by white men since, in his view, they are superior. In fact natives are routinely depicted as inferiors but Kipling's racial stereotyping was not outrageous more than a hundred years ago.Like Mowgli in "The Jungle Book", Kimball O'Hara in "Kim" is a self-reliant and resourceful boy called "little friend of the world" and the author perhaps equates the brutal indignities he suffered in his boyhood with the humiliations inflicted upon the natives of India.
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