Nicholas Carpenter
ERH 205WX; 25 March 2020
Help Received: Spellcheck, article itself
Article Summary – Fussell
The article by Paul Fussell, Jr, starts off by describing what sort of writing Kipling was best at. Fussell says that Kipling struggled to create long stories, and thus his long novels were “predestined to be disappointments.” However, Kipling had mastered shorter prose and irony.
Fussell writes about instances of irony in The Man Who Would Be King, most importantly and broadly that two common people become kings only to be deposed by the very power they created. Fussell describes more specific passages of the novel, such as Peachey and Dravot’s disguises to sneak into Kafiristan. These future kings pretended to be a priest and servant, and also adventurers disguised as holy men. All the while, the narrator makes a distinction between Peachey and Dravot and “real” kings.
Fussell’s next main point is that Peachey and Dravot’s story is a subtle parody of the Bible. At first their story mirrors the Old Testament, with the pacification of the tribes and issuing laws. Dravot once says “Go and dig the land, and be fruitful and multiply,” which is of course a paraphrase of a line in Genesis. Nearing the end of their reign, the parody switched over to the New Testament. The dialogue makes references to the Bible while the characters try to determine the right course of action. The natives crucify Peachey, but he is “resurrected” the next day when the people find him still alive.
The last great point of irony in the story is that the narrator sees Dravot’s head and crown, which Peachey carried back with him. However, the head and crown get lost on the way to the asylum, meaning the narrator is forced to continue reporting on boring “real” kings on a different continent, while the more interesting story must go unreported.
The second section of Fussell’s article discusses Masonic references in The Man Who Would Be King. The third and final section discusses Kipling’s idea of the “Law,” which Fussell writes was based on hierarchy and reciprocal obligation.