![]() ![]() Kipling makes countless other rash and biased generalisations about India and its people (for more examples see Said p.28-9) which come from the adult narrator, and not from Kim himself. But we cannot allow the adult Kipling to hide behind his child hero's viewpoint, particularly as the novel is littered with patronising comments such as: 'The Curator smiled at the mixture of old-world piety and modern progress that is the note of India today.' (Ch.1 p.59) which are clearly from his viewpoint, rather than Kim's. Perhaps we can accept that Kim, like Kipling himself, was born in India under British rule and so, as a child, would have encountered this situation as a 'given', something which was just there, with no obvious reason why it should be questioned. a rich and absolutely fascinating, but nevertheless profoundly embarrassing novel. ![]()
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