Review of Rudyard Kipling's "Kim"

Rudyard Kipling's Kim is the entrancingly colorful bildungsroman of a resourceful Irish orphan coming into his own in the politically and racially charged atmosphere of India under the British Raj. Political intrigue, daring international espionage, and cunning disguises set the pace for this exhilarating, action-filled tale of two curiously conflicted kindred spirits on their journey of self-discovery and cultural exploration. A mosaic of culturally enriching encounters, diverse characters, and charming anecdotes round out this intricate portrait of India's 19th century social landscape, which celebrates the distinctly multitudinous nature of Indian history at every turn, examining the delicate relationships between race and class even as it blurs the lines between them.

In the story, Kimball "Kim" O'Hara is a racial hybrid, with easy access to numerous native languages and cultural identities, but with a white ancestry which puts him in a favorable position to subvert anti-British sentiments, and wear down cultural barriers of resistance to what some critics at the time saw as a necessary and benevolent British monopoly on "proper" education in India. At the same time, however, Kim quite clearly undermines these notions in its protagonist's talent and necessity for deception. Kim is most successful, for example, when he is able to masquerade as a member of different classes and cultures and fully tap into their various talents, and widely varying cultural wisdoms. Though Kipling depicts Kim manipulating certain characters for his British masters, he goes little further than depiction; Kim does not actually try to anglicize the individuals he encounters, but to learn from their distinctive features to enhance his own understanding of Indian relationships and better function in the society in which he lives. In this sense, Kim, while certainly not envisioning a revolutionary India throwing off the bonds of its oppressive British overlords, does more subtly challenge the flawed notions arguments about the power of language in depicting an India where a close-understanding of local customs, linguistic and otherwise, rather than a complete dismissal of them as meaningless, is in fact the real basis of power.

In his quest to unravel the mysteries and prophecies surrounding his own young life, Kim moves seamlessly among all levels of British and Indian culture, acting as both spiritual guide and disciple to his gentle and compassionate companion, a Tibetan Lama seeking spiritual enlightenment far from his homeland. Through the labored pilgrimages of the two unlikely companions, we are forced to grapple with deeper conflicts of dual identity, between the material and the spiritual, the colonial and the native, the individual and the national, raising the stakes for both the characters and the reader, right up until the end. Kipling masterfully composes every scene of this movingly majestic story of self-discovery and loyalty which is utterly captivating and spiritually rewarding from start to finish.