Imperialism as Savior in Toomai of the Elephants and Kiplings Jungle Book - Essay Example

Imperialism as Savior in “Toomai of the Elephants” and Kipling’s Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling grew up in a time when colonialism and imperialism were strong factors in the Indian way of life. Born in India, he nursed a strong love for the country throughout his life, but not necessarily for the traditional beliefs of the natives. He, like many properly raised British subjects, strongly believed in the superiority of the white man and the unquestionable supremacy of the white man’s culture and civilization. At the same time, he cherished a deep love for the natural things in life, the animals and the wilderness he knew in his youth. As he struggled to maintain an identity in the culturally confusing elements of his early life, Kipling’s thoughts regarding race and class emerged through his stories. Through stories such as those found in the Jungle Book series, Kipling continued to demonstrate a deep understanding of the ways of the animals as well as a need to find himself within the chaotically changing social class system of the late 19th century. In the Jungle Book series, Kipling works to demonstrate not only the effects of imperialism on the native populations, bringing positive change into their world, but also struggles to accept a social system based solely upon the caste system of the parents rather than an accurate measurement of the individual. By examining the chapter entitled “Toomai of the Elephants”, readers can begin to see how Kipling explored ideas of class and caste through the castelessness and the casting of the child. One of the elements of society that Kipling explored in his works was the concept of castelessness. For example, in “Toomai of the Elephants”, Little Toomai is the second youngest of a long line of mahouts, or elephant handlers, more specifically, the keepers of the 47 year old elephant known as Kala Nag, or the Black Snake. Little Toomai’s father has been training him since birth to take over the family duties and Little Toomai has no doubt this is what he will do. However, by the time he is 10 years old, he is with his family in the jungles of India, hunting wild elephants with Kala Nag and other elephants and their mahouts. It is a life he finds he is particularly suited to. “Even a little boy could be of use there, and Toomai was as useful as three boys. He would get his torch and wave it, and yell with the best. But the really good time came when the driving out began … One night he slid down from the post and slipped in between the elephants and threw up the loose end of a rope, which had dropped, to a driver” (Kipling, 1995: para. 14-15). Not only did he work with the elephant hunters, who Big Toomai considers completely beneath his family’s status but he is also allowed to converse directly with the top of the social order, appearing here as Petersen sahib. When the boy is brought to his attention, Petersen sahib tells his father, “A boy who can face a full Keddah at his age does not end in jails” and Little Toomai, “When thou hast seen the elephants dance. That is the proper time. Come to me when thou hast seen the elephants dance, and then I will let thee go into all the Keddahs” (Kipling, 1995: para. 31, 33). While the man is still well above the boy in social standing, it can be seen that Little Toomai exists in a state of limbo regarding just where he will be placed in society. While he had been under the impression that he would have no options other than to be a mahout for Kala Nag, this series of events has opened the doors of possibilities for him. This sentiment of the child being welcomed everywhere regardless of his family’s class ranking is evident throughout the stories in the Jungle Book series. Toomai’s story rather effectively summarizes the progression of Mowgli. Mowgli himself, the wolf child, is accepted into the village as a fellow human, eventually permitted to prove his worth and achieve standing on his own as an enlisted man in the British Raj despite his uncommon wolfly upbringing. A characteristic that is perhaps more telling regarding the concept of a child’s castelessness is Mowgli’s ability to transition between the jungle and the village. Other child characters are also seen to move freely through society into places their parents, as adults, would not be so easily accepted. Explaining the details of Kipling’s early childhood in India, McBratney (1992) explains: “the child Rudyard was in effect uncasted, existing in a state of suspended caste identity that would be validated only later and that, in the meantime, allowed him free and unpenalized passage between Anglo-Indian and Indian realms … Throughout his career, Kipling was fascinated by the idea of castelessness” (282). Kipling treasured the unrestricted access to all levels of society he knew as a child (McBratney, 1992: 283), building characters such as Mowgli and Toomai around the idea. The concept of castelessness is so uppermost in Kipling’s mind that he even describes two characters – Mowgli and Parun Bhagat – specifically as existing outside of or beyond the concept of caste. Coming from this casteless state, a major part of the plot of Kipling’s stories seems to dwell upon the child’s attainment of social positioning within a particular society. In the larger context of the Jungle Book story, this is the main propulsion of Mowgli’s story as he first enters the jungle sparking debate among the animals regarding his status and later as he begins to grow into a man. When Mowgli first enters the jungle, Shere Khan challenges the wolves’ adoption of him and begins a series wide debate regarding how a child is placed within the social system – by blood or by affiliation. It is Shere Khan’s contention that Mowgli is undeniably and irrefutably placed within the company of man by his blood alone. However, the wolves and others argue that Mowgli belongs to the jungle by his association with them. “The disagreement revolves around the status of lineage. For one party that factor determines cultural identity absolutely; for the other it is subordinate to other criteria of cultural make-up” (McBratney, 1992: 285). However, as the boy grows, his place in the jungle becomes increasingly questioned until he leaves for the village, where his place is again questioned. Only in the end, when Mowgli decides to join the British Raj, is Mowgli able to find his place as a forest ranger working for the British yet still able to exist in the jungle. This concept of the casting of children into fields they are particularly suited to is perhaps more efficiently illustrated in “Toomai of the Elephants” as a kind of short story within the work that succinctly parallels Mowgli’s development. Little Toomai seems particularly well suited to the job of the elephant hunters, thrilled by the prospect of what they do and bored with the lifestyle lived by his father. However, this is a life Big Toomai holds in contempt. After Little Toomai demonstrates his ability in this field, Big Toomai scolds his son, saying, “I am angry that thou shouldst meddle in the business that belongs to these dirty Assamese jungle folk … I sit at my ease, as befits a mahout, - not a mere hunter, - a mahout, I say, and a man who gets a pension at the end of his service. Is the family of Toomai of the Elephants to be trodden underfoot in the dirt of a Keddah? Bad one! Wicked one! Worthless son!” (Kipling, 1995: para. 18). However, this low assessment of the hunters’ status is apparently not shared by those of even higher station as Petersen sahib comments, “I did not know of a man among the plains-drivers who had wit enough to rope even a dead elephant” (Kipling, : para. 23) and the boy is encouraged in his interests. This sentiment is echoed later when one of the hunters tells Big Toomai, “a plainsman who lives in a hut knows only the four walls of his hut” (Kipling, 1995: para. 44). Kipling highlights the need for a child to follow his own natural inclinations as he runs after Kala Nag and receives tacit permission not only from Kala Nag but the other elephants as well to be the first human to witness the elephant dance. This permission is communicated in Kala Nag’s turning back to pick up the boy and carrying him to the meeting place and in the way in which “once a trunk came up and touched him on the knee” (Kipling, 1995: para. 65) without Little Toomai being trampled into the dust with the trees and other vegetation. This event, this decision to follow his natural inclinations, concludes with Little Toomai “lying very contentedly in Petersen Sahib’s hammock with Petersen Sahib’s shooting-coat under his head, and a glass of warm milk, a little brandy, with a dash of quinine, inside of him, and while the old hairy, scarred hunters of the jungles sat three deep before him, looking at him as though he were a spirit” (Kipling, 1995: para. 72). Little Toomai has transcended status and caste, in much the same way as Mowgli, to find his own unique space working for the Europeans. Throughout the Jungle Book, Kipling continues to examine the concept of caste and social status in the new world of imperialism. While it was unquestionable that successful people must be associated with the British Empire, how they found their place within it originated from the sense of castelessness experienced by young children. As they grew, they began to understand more about their own inclinations and personalities. If they followed their nature, as Mowgli and Little Toomai did, they had tremendous opportunity to find just the right fit for them within the larger social sphere. Because this was a revolutionary concept in the 19th century, it illustrates how Rudyard Kipling was a writer ahead of his time. Works Cited Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Book. Champaign, IL: Project Gutenberg, 1995. McBratney, John. “Imperial Subjects, Imperial Space in Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’.” Victorian Studies. Vol. 35, N. 3, (Spring, 1992): 277-293. Read More