Rudyard Kipling’s Kim introduces readers to a world unknown to mainland Britain. He uses detail and imagery that affords the reader the ability to dive into an otherwise unheard of world, allowing one to be mentally placed in the streets of India. Kipling uses Kim, a British colonialist that challenges the boundaries of colonial immersion with his ability to shift between two worlds, as the medium to guide the audience through the foreign landscape. Kim was one of the few fictional novels Kipling had written in his career, which invited a wide range of reviews and critiques. Of these critics is Irving Howe who analyzed the form used by Kipling, putting emphasis on the notion of pleasure within the novel. Howe’s critique that Kim is a novel without evil or struggle overlooks and underestimates Kim’s internal struggle of self-discovery, meanwhile, Noel Annan’s critique adds to the notion of Kim’s struggle as one compounded by discovering his place in the life of the Lama.
Howe argues that Kim lacks evil and over emphasizes pleasure, however, this neglects the internal struggle of the main character, Kim. Howe states: “Kim evokes and keeps returning to sensations of pleasure, a pleasure regarded as easy, natural, and merited” (Kipling 329). Howe description places Kim among that of fairytales and other ‘feel good’ stories and novels. In this light, Kipling creates a disillusioned world, one that focuses on enchantment instead of flaws and one that is “undeterred by odors, bulges, wrinkles, scars” (329). Howe, however, has neglected the inner struggle of Kim in his journey. Kim is caught between two worlds: that of the Sahib and native Indian. Throughout the novel, Kim had crossed between his two lives, being immersed in both cultures and learning the ways of each. This tug of war between worlds, one may assume, contributed to his lost sense of identity and caused him to question his own existence. Take, for instance, Kim’s remarks in Chapter seven: “Who is Kim? He considered his own identity, a thing he had never done before, till his head swam. He was one insignificant person in all this roaring whirl of India, going southward to he knew not what fate” (101). Kim is at a point in his life where he is coming of age, determining who he is and who he is to become. This novel is the journey of one boy in answering those questions, and it brings with it pain, frustration, and struggle, characteristics Howe claimed as absent. Ultimately, Kim is a novel telling one boys struggle of answering the ultimate coming of age question: “who am I?”
Furthering Kim’s complication on his road to discovering his identity is his relationship with the Lama. Both the Lama and Kim share a special connection that grows throughout the novel; each is on their own, distinct path of discovery: the Lama is searching for nirvana while Kim is searching for his identity. Noel Annan states that “Kim has to discover the exact slot into which his own tiny personality must fit in the bewildering variety of human beings who pass their transitory lives,” to include, primarily, the Lama (326). As Kim ventures down his own path a conflict arises: “The conflict is born of the loyalty of Kim and the Lama to their separate vocations and of their love for each other” (327). This conflict is exemplified in the final moment of the novel. In this scene, the Lama has found what he had been searching for, he had found the river. In doing so he had fulfilled his goal in life, he reached nirvana. However, something caused him to reenter his human consciousness and leave the state of liberation. The Lama said: “What shall come to the boy if thou art dead?’ And I was shaken back and forth in myself with pity for thee; and I said: ‘I will return to my chela, les he miss the Way” (239). Here, the Lama returns for his beloved chela. He freely entered into the world of suffering for Kim. Their opposite roads in life had, again, created conflict and added to Kim’s internal struggle, for he not only was searching for his identity, but also, his place in the lives of those he loved.
Kim is a coming of age story that takes the reader through Kim’s process of self-discovery. Kim is a character caught between two conflicting worlds of the sahib and Indian culture. This presents the character with an internal struggle, one that is complicated by his Sahib education and role in the “great game.” His struggle is further complicated by his relationship with the Lama, whose life search is far different than that of Kim’s. This presents Kim with a deeper struggle on his road of self-discover, for he must learn not only who he is but, also, where he fits in the lives of those around him.

 

Works Cited
Kipling, Rudyard. Kim. Edited by Zohren T. Sullivan. W.W. Norton and Company, 2002