Kim Essay, Research Paper
Kim
The book, Kim, was written by Rudyard Kipling. It is a story about a poor, Irish boy named Kimball O Hara, shortened to Kim, who travels around colonial India seeking adventure. He is an orphan and has lived all his life in this British colony. Kim later meets a lama, a monk of a religion similar to Bhuddism, and searches with him for a holy river that cleanses all sins. One day, he met the people in the regiment his father, who had passed away long before Kim was born, used to work in. He was sent to school to learn and to be transformed into a sahib, another word for a master. After his schooling was over, he learned many skills from people, such as manipulating minds. The cunning boy also knew how to steal, lie, cheat, and to beg for food and housing. With these skills the British Secret Service sent him on a mission to capture the maps, letters, notes and diagrams of Russian spies in the Himalayas. At the end, he accomplishes his mission and the lama, who had been searching unsuccessfully in vain, found his river quite on accident.
Now that I have read the book, I wish that I could learn more about colonial India and its different cultures. It may sound boring, but Rudyard Kipling writes it in such a way that it becomes extremely interesting and it makes people yearn to learn more about the Indian culture. Some examples of Indian culture are how people are categorized. The upper-class people are called sahibs. Another interesting term is babu. This word means an educated native person speaking English. What is funny about this is that this is a rude way of addressing a person and it was also used to poke fun because of their broken English and strange accent. The British were racist towards the natives. Not only is this what makes the book interesting, but also how the people lived in India. Unlike America where there are many middle-class people, India had mainly two different types of people. They were the extremely rich people and the extremely poor. The wealthy had many servants and had expensive clothing such as those made out of silk. Also, meats were quite expensive, so usually the wealthier people could only afford to buy them. Poor people usually only had a tiny bit of meat and some rice. These people generally lived on the streets or stayed in small shelters. There are many more interesting traditions in Indian culture that were included in Kim.
Kim made me realize the immense differences in this world. I never actually thought that people lived much more differently than we Americans do. Even though I knew that many people were less fortunate in Asian countries, I wasn t aware that there was this big a difference. The story gave many details as to how the native Indians lived. These people got sick easily and did not have the technology as advanced as we did back then. Also, I ve never heard of monks traveling around to find a holy river. I thought that that only happened 600 years ago when people tried to find strange miracle-doing objects such as the water in the Fountain of Youth . Mainly, in most religions, people just worship their god or travel to a holy land, but people searching for a holy river just doesn t make sense to me, especially when this story took place in the early 1900s. All throughout the story, this book points out the many differences between how we live here in America and how the Indian people live.
The lama and Kim kept on trying to find the holy river. It took them years to find it, but, at the end, they did find the river. From this, I decided that, in life, I should try harder to accomplish my missions. Trying harder doesn t mean that it will definitely obtain what I want, but at least I would put an effort into it. Some people work extremely hard, but don t do it smartly, which isn t good. On the other hand, some people don t work hard, but they work smartly. That doesn t work either. So I learned from this book that I should work smartly and try harder to accomplish my missions
The end of the story did not explain much, so I wonder what happened to Kim. Kim was free from sin at the end after washing in the holy river, but the book did not tell what happened to him later on. Kipling only wrote that he would go on with life, but what would he do? Would he become a lama or a spy? This ending did not explain much, so I don t know what happened to Kim.
I see that perseverance obtains what is wanted. The lama in the story kept on searching for more than a year for the holy river. Even though he was sick, weak, and tired, he still walked on with confidence that he would find his river. Nothing happened for an remarkably long time, but sure enough, his reward came. The lama was not strong and he had to lean on Kim for support during the journey. So when the lama and Kim stopped at a town to restock on food, Kim got weak and tired from supporting the lama. Kim had to rest. While he was doing that, the lama went by a river to meditate. The lama was frustrated because he had traveled from the plains of India to the hills and back. As the lama meditated for over two days, his soul started to remove itself from his body and, after a little while, a voice cried The River! Take heed to the River! When the lama opened his eyes, he saw the river he had been looking for all this time. From this, I saw that perseverance is rewarded with what is wanted.
I believe that there is symbolism in this book. Even though they might not be similar in all ways, I think that Rudyard Kipling probably wrote about himself. The story is centered around a boy who was born and raised in India and knows the Indian culture. Rudyard Kipling is similar to that. He isn t Irish, but he was born in India just as the boy was and he knew the Indian ways of life. I can tell that he knew about Indian culture pretty well because it is shown in his other books, some of which are How the Leopard got its Spots, How the Camel got its Hump, and Just so Stories. In these stories he includes a bit of Indian culture. From these facts, people can deduce that he understood the Indian culture. It is probably true that the boy resembles Kipling because of their same characteristics.
I feel that Kipling is a great author. He knows what makes books interesting. In Kim, there was tricking going on everywhere in the story. The characters in the book constantly attempted to trick Kim and Kim was tricking other people. This was one of the wonderful ideas that came up in the story which made it amusing. Also, he wrote parts about dangerous missions. Kim even saved his friend s life by spying on conspirators. Books can be written easily, but the hard part is to make it interesting and addictive. Kipling is an incredibly talented and creative writer. My belief is confirmed by the fact that he was the first English writer to receive the Nobel Prize, which happened in 1907. Again, Kipling is probably one of the best writers in the world.
I hope that the real world would not be like the story. It would be much better if there was worldwide peace where there is no need for spies, lying, cheating, and stealing. There would be no arguments at all. In the book, there is spying, lying, cheating, stealing, racism, and much more. If only this world would be at peace it would be better for the environment, animals, and, most of all, the human race. I hope that, in this world, everybody would agree and become friendlier towards each other to form peace.
I think that, overall, this was an excellent book. Kipling did an excellent job writing Kim. This book will probably capture any reader s attention making it hard to stop flipping the pages. Kipling included many details that were important to make a book interesting and he also wrote about the Indian culture, which was a vital part of this book. I would recommend this book to anyone because this is one of the best books I have ever read!