Within many of Rudyard Kipling’s works, how someone is viewed is based on their skin color. In this time of empirical might, Kim’s ability to move between worlds is fascinating for some and appalling to others. Within Martin’s Kim, Invasion-Scare Literature, and the Russian Threat to British India, Kim’s skin color and European politics is looked at. Whether or not Kim is supposed to be a political viewpoint and its effect on the story line has always interested critics. On the other side, Williams’ Kim and Orientalism portrays Kipling’s India as a fantasy world where both the rich culture and empirical might can be celebrated.
Something that has always interested critics is whether Kipling wrote Kim as a political opinion. While some bring up solid points to show that Kim is a coming of age story, “The rhetorical techniques Kipling uses in Kim for representing the alleged menace of Russian aggression in India were entirely of a piece with those authors of invasion-scare literature” (359). Michael Martin wrote this statement about Kim in his article Kim, Invasion-Scare Literature, and the Russian Threat to British India. With Kipling’s past as an imperialist writer in mind, definite lines of political opinion are woven through the novel, even if they were unintentional. Mr. Martin points out that Kipling portrays “the status of the Russians as among the “lesser breed without the Law” (367). While Kipling celebrates British Imperialism on one side, his main character Kim is Irish. This characteristic seems odd until the finer points of the plot are looked at. “He is actually Irish…the fact that Kim flourishes when he is finally placed under British control and in a British school has an unmistakable rhetorical intention” (364).
While Martin focuses on how the political undertones effect the plot, Williams’ Kim and Orientalism looks at how “it is a Utopian portrayal of future racial harmony” (411) and a “representation free of stereotypes” (411). While there might be a political message, Williams’ wants us to look at the story, not focusing on the political side or the plot separately. Because Kipling explains the view of the British as “the representation of the Orient and its inhabitants as static, unchanging, incapable of change” (412) the reader forgets to notice the different races the characters are apart of. Kim moves through the different cultures seamlessly, even changing his skin color when it suits him. Mahbub Ali seems just as capable as Creighton in the “Great Game” as he continuously steers Creighton toward the decision that helps Kim or himself. Williams also points out that “British control is similarly naturalized by the fact that spying is done by Indians” (423). Even though there is a political aspect, the fact that Kipling smears the lines between cultures and allows the reader to forget the strict divides in society seems to point towards the argument that this novel is not solely a empirical statement but one where the natural cultures and British interests can coexist.
Even with all the evidence William’s put forth it is hard to believe that the author of A White Man’s Burden would create a world where British imperial might could be challenged. The strongest argument against Williams’ comes from his own writing when he points out that Kim can be “Little Friend of all the World but also being so unsuccessful at not “contemning” (422). While the little Irish boy can weave between the divides in society, he begins and ends the novel viewing himself as English, pushing the Hindu boy off the cannon and reminding the Hindu servant who the Sahib is.