The Jungle Book

Mowgli’s experience in the human village exposes the ways in which human society has many of the same problems that plague animal society, causing Mowgli to feel like an outcast from both places. Mowgli is initially welcomed into human village because of Messua’s compassion, and hence Kipling draws a parallel between Raksha and Messua due to their shared maternal love, which highlights one of the themes of The Jungle Book, Adoption and Maternal Love. Much as he did in the jungle, Mowgli must learn the language and customs of man to survive, feeling “as silly and dumb as a man would be with us in the jungle” (97). Humans are thus depicted as any other new species of animal that Mowgli encounters, which reduces their exceptional status established in the previous stories. Similarly, Mowgli finds that many humans behave in a manner similar to animals, comparing the villagers to the monkeys who pointed and chattered at him. While Mowgli always exceeded the jungle animals in wisdom, he finds that some of the humans in the village hold unreasonable beliefs that mark them as irrational, too. For example, Buldeo, the village hunter, believes that Shere Khan has a limp because he is actually the ghost of a human money-lender, but Mowgli scornfully corrects him, saying that he “limps because he was born ‘lame,’ as everyone knows. To talk of the soul of a money-lender in a beast that never had the courage of a jackal is child’s talk” (104). The superstitions of the human villagers make them less rational than the animals of the jungle, who all know why Shere Khan limps.

The villagers fear Mowgli’s familiarity with animals, causing Mowgli to be driven out of their society. This narrative structure hence mirrors that of “Mowgli’s Brothers,” since the fear that the wolves felt of Mowgli’s humanity also caused him to be driven out of the pack. Mowgli’s hybrid identity as both human and wolf causes him to be alienated from both sides of his heritage, causing him grief. While Mowgli’s human ingenuity and animal-like strength make him a great leader, capable of defeating a tiger, he does not assume command of either the village or the wolf pack. The ending of the tale claims that Mowgli will fully join human society when he gets married, suggesting that he will not fully leave behind his childhood wildness until he reaches sexual maturity, a point that underpins one of the stories’ themes of Childhood Versus Civilization. This presents the climax of the coming-of-age story.

The condition of the wolf pack without Akela in charge signifies Kipling’s belief in the danger of rebellion against the British Empire. When Mowgli returns to Council Rock, the wolves who come are in a poor condition: “[S]ome of them were lame from the traps they had fallen into, and some limped from shot- wounds, and some were mangy from eating bad food, and many were missing” (127). Although the wolves ask Akela or Mowgli to lead them again, Bagheera warns them that they must live with the consequences of their disobedience: “When ye are full-fed, the madness may come upon ye again. Not for nothing are ye called the Free People. Ye fought for freedom, and it is yours. Eat it, O Wolves” (128). Bagheera’s rhetoric implies that those who rebel against ruling powers will suffer from a resultant disorganized society. This attitude is reminiscent of the British Imperial perspective on rebellions in India. Kipling hence implies that colonial rule is for the good of its subjects and uses this anthropomorphic allegory to condemn revolts.