Jungle Book Research Paper
English III
November 30, 2012
Uncovering the Allegories in The Jungle Book Over time, children learn to gain wisdom through important individuals in their lifetime. This teaches them to be more persistent in their goals. In The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling uses the story of Mowgli’s journey to manhood in order to reveal hidden messages in life today. Mowgli does not resemble the ordinary child. Raised in the jungle by wolves, he learns everything he knows from a couple of animals he stumbles upon. Mowgli makes friends with most of the animals in the jungle, but some of them do not like Mowgli. The tiger of the jungle, Shere Khan, has a taste that does not appeal to Mowgli. That is, his taste for a friend; his taste for food contrasts. The mighty tiger looks for trouble constantly. He discovers that some of Mowgli’s former companions have killed a few animals of the jungle. This disgusts Shere Khan, and he tries to cause trouble for Mowgli. Mowgli acquires some safety from the Law of the Jungle:
The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his children how to kill, and then he must hunt outside the hunting grounds of his pack or tribe. The real reason for this is that Man killing means, sooner or later, the arrival of white men on elephants, with guns, and hundreds of brown men with gongs and rockets and torches. Then everybody in the jungle suffers. The reason the beasts give among themselves is that man is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him. (Kipling 9)
The Law of the Jungle represents the animals’ techniques in being straightforward. Their simplistic and honest ways of teaching Mowgli can be seen throughout the novel. The Law of the Jungle “settles all scores” so that it ends the constant “nagging afterwards” (79). The animals help Mowgli learn about survival techniques. Not only do they teach him about
November 30, 2012
Uncovering the Allegories in The Jungle Book Over time, children learn to gain wisdom through important individuals in their lifetime. This teaches them to be more persistent in their goals. In The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling uses the story of Mowgli’s journey to manhood in order to reveal hidden messages in life today. Mowgli does not resemble the ordinary child. Raised in the jungle by wolves, he learns everything he knows from a couple of animals he stumbles upon. Mowgli makes friends with most of the animals in the jungle, but some of them do not like Mowgli. The tiger of the jungle, Shere Khan, has a taste that does not appeal to Mowgli. That is, his taste for a friend; his taste for food contrasts. The mighty tiger looks for trouble constantly. He discovers that some of Mowgli’s former companions have killed a few animals of the jungle. This disgusts Shere Khan, and he tries to cause trouble for Mowgli. Mowgli acquires some safety from the Law of the Jungle:
The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his children how to kill, and then he must hunt outside the hunting grounds of his pack or tribe. The real reason for this is that Man killing means, sooner or later, the arrival of white men on elephants, with guns, and hundreds of brown men with gongs and rockets and torches. Then everybody in the jungle suffers. The reason the beasts give among themselves is that man is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him. (Kipling 9)
The Law of the Jungle represents the animals’ techniques in being straightforward. Their simplistic and honest ways of teaching Mowgli can be seen throughout the novel. The Law of the Jungle “settles all scores” so that it ends the constant “nagging afterwards” (79). The animals help Mowgli learn about survival techniques. Not only do they teach him about
Cited: Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Book. New York: The Century Company, 1894. Zott, Lynn. “Rudyard Kipling 1865-1936.” Gale. Gale Group Inc., 2003. www.gale.cengage.com Works Consulted Gilbert, Elliot L. “What happens in Mrs. Bathhurst.” JSTOR. Vol. 77. Modern Language Association, 2011 Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Book. New York: The Century Company, 1894. May, Charles E. “Rudyard Kipling.” Magil’s Survey of World Literature. Vol. 3. Pasadena: Salem Press, 2005. 1414-1420. Sandison, A.J. “Rudyard Kipling.” Gale Virtual Reference Library. The British Council, 2011. Stewart, John Rao, K. Bhaskara. “Rudyard Kipling.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Vol. 4. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1898. Raskin, Jonah. “Kipling.” Twentieth-Century Literacy Critiscism. Vol. 17: Oxford University Press, 1988. Zott, Lynn