The Two Faces of Kim: An Investigation into Rudyard Kiplings Kim Essay

The Two Faces of Kim An investigation into Rudyard Kiplings KimI would go without shirts or shoes,Friends, tobacco or breadso whizr than for an instant loseEither side of my head.The Two-Sided Man (Kipling 179)To judge of the deuce-sided man is to think of the self-searching protagonist of Rudyard Kiplings Kim. Burned black and further white, Irish and yet Little Friend of All the World, British and yet native, prescript and yet servant, Kiplings multi-faceted Kim must find his place in the social high society of a society that he resides in but is not very connected to (51). More over, what he must also do is recognize that his two identities do not have to come together to form whizz it may be more advantageous to keep the two specialize from one another. Thus, his quest to find the Red Bull on a green field accomplishes two-fold it allows Kim to find his identity and Kipling to convey his feelings on imperialistic presence in India (49). It may be argued that Kipling choos es England over India, elevating the righteousness and nicety of British rule over the lowly and needy Indian nation. To cite this, however, would be incorrect, for Kim also celebrates the beauty and exoticness of India, its native languages and culture, showing that as much as British customs are praised so also is the Indian way of life. Thus, the identity that Kim forges for himself does not value British over Indian ideologies or blend the two into one hybrid mixture. What he does do, instead, is hold each as a separate, equally important entity. To recitation the term postcolonial in Kim would therefore suggest the need to develop British and Indian identities in a way that the distinct characteristics of each root word are retained and yet equally r... ...oughout the contexts of the play, Kim has developed each component independently, be it through schooling or his interactions with other characters, and done so successfully. The term postcolonial then is indeed a sugg estion of the need to contain both identities in the face of a culturally fragmented society, where one identity is no more important than the other. If Kim were to be an actor in a play, he could masterfully take the stage of the British humanity one night, and in the next performance, an Indian untouchable. It is this very ability to accommodate English and then in another moment Indian that makes him such a successful spy. In the end, whatever the disguise, Kims adventure along the ideal Trunk Road of Life and his chase of the Great Game, as spying is called, does go on. Hopefully by doing so, Kim can one day answer his nous - who really is Kim?