The Jungle Book: Point of View, Style, Technique

The Jungle book is written in third person, throughout each story within it. Despite this technique, Kipling manages to make the reader feel very close, almost as if they are looking over their shoulder, to the character being focused on. "He is a man-a man! snarled the pack; and most of the wolves began to gather round Shere Khan, whose tail was beginning to switch." (Kipling 37) This phrase creates the imagery of one being behind Shere Khan, at a low angle, watching the wolves close in on him. The third person style is the most effective style for adventure type novels, and gives the author the freedom to let the reader be close to, or see through the eyes of any character in the novel. A first person account of this book might be very awkward, as being close to more than one character is key in this particular novel. The novel is written in somewhat of a modern-middle english. It is very formal and uses language from both styles. Kipling, unlike many other writers using similar english, manages to convey the meaning behind his writing very well, and modern readers can enjoy it without putting in the annoying effort to 'decode' the middle english phrases. Regardless of the structure, this tale is extremely compelling, and incites a primitive satisfaction achieved through a simple task with a simple reward, that is generally experienced when reading about nature. The Jungle Book had a large effect on the world of fiction, and started a very popular trend of telling a story through the point of view of animals. This style tends to belittle the animals at the beginning of the tale, but as the story progresses, the reader feels as if the animal is at an equal, if not greater level of reasoning than the human subjects in the book. Generally, in alot of these stories, the humans are shown a simpler way of life by animals, that is in a way, more advanced than their current way of life, which turns the human characters against each other. I'm going to reference "Planet of the Apes" a second time to say that in the first film, the apes are thought of by the human visitors to be close minded because they try to protect secrets and see humans as perilous intruders, and will not recognize them as anything else, but in the end of the movie, the intelligent human realizes that the ape's simple way of life is far superior to the human's, when he finds that the earth was destroyed in a nuclear war. The Jungle Book has a very effective style overall, and led the way to an entire new genre of writing.

The Jungle Book: Intrinsic Merit, Pleasure, Universality

Intrinsic merit is a book's ability to remain popular and enjoyable through generations of time. Despite being written in 1894, The Jungle Book was a surprisingly good book to a teenager living in the 21st century. The language is slightly reminiscent of middle english, "Did'st thou think these creatures could move so swiftly?" (Kipling 106)and some of the explanations of a situation run on for a long time, but the story is very enjoyable. The book has the same feel of "Lord of the Flies", that 'nature' kind of feel, that makes the book seem simple. Simplicity can be enjoyed through all generations, no matter how much media or advertisement they are exposed to. I myself found the book captivating, and it sort of let me forget that I had hours of homework to do later that day. Because the book is seen through the eyes of the animals in a jungle, who have no responsibility other than to stay alive, the reader feels a similar captivation while experiencing the book. "We are great, we are free we are wonderful. We are the wonderful people of the Jungle!" (Kipling 71)The book is pleasurable, and in my opinion, underrated. The Disney adaptation is surprisingly not far off from the book itself, and achieves the same simplistic feel reached by the novel. The stories at the end of the book are simple as well, very short, and for lack of a better term, one might describe them as 'cute', excluding of course the section of "the white seal" in which the seal goes on a killing spree. At the beginning of that story, there is sentimentality, as the baby seals are learning to swim, and playing on the beach. "Rikki Tikki Tavi" is the most relatable to it's reader as the story takes place in a secluded home in the woods, with a family of three. "Toomai of the Elephants" achieves the most sentimental feel throughout the entire book, because of the bond between Little Toomai and the elephant. The book is very universal, and caters to almost every demographic, except multiple times throughout the book, Kipling references the Indian people as very foreign, which of course they are to him, and to the characters in the book, because they are two very different societies, but more than once, the Indian people are referred to by Kipling as 'brown people'. Other than thet small matter, which can be excused because of the time in which the book was written, the story can be understood and enjoyed by most of the inhabitants of the earth. The story is told through animals, so to every reader, there is a foreign air about it, but Kipling words the accounts of the animals so well that it almost seems as if the humans in the stories are foreign. He does a very good job of personalizing the story's effect to each demographic equally and greatly.

The Jungle Book: Structure & Setting

Generally, the primary interest in The Jungle Book is in Character. Both the plot and the theme revolve around character. Each story within the book has clear protagonists, antagonists, nemeses, confidantes, etc. The stories are based on the struggles that the characters are going through. In the main story of The Jungle Book, Mowgli, the protagonist, is going through a struggle to protect his pack, learn the ways of man, and kill his nemesis, Shere Khan. Shere Khan is the antagonist, or Mowgli's nemesis in the story. His only friend is Tabaqui, and he has sworn to kill Mowgli, as he failed to do years before. The Confidantes of the story are Mowgli's friends Bagheera the leopard and Baloo the bear. They are mentors to him, as well as partners in his quest. Bagheera is sly and mischievous, and Baloo is honest and friendly. The hero in the story is the leader of the wolf pack, Akela. He is the fearless leader of the story and throughout the entire story, is looked up to by the all of the other wolves. "Look well, O wolves! Have I kept my word?" "Yes, lead us again O Akela!" (Kipling 121)The classic archetypal character trend continues through the other short stories, with protagonists like The White Seal, Little Toomai, and Rikki, and antagonists such as the snakes and the poachers. Another massive part of the book is in the setting. The Jungle setting is entirely essential to the main story. All of the characters and every plot element depend completely on the setting. The story could possibly be told through other means, if a writer could portray it through a setting with two very different groups, such as a gang town. In any case, the story is told best by Rudyard Kipling, and the jungle setting is essential to the storyline. Without a jungle setting, Mowgli would never have developed the struggle that the book is based on. The White Seal is entirely based on setting, as the plot is a seal looking for a safe haven, Rikki Tikki Tavi is heavily based on setting as well, and the other two stories are less heavily based on setting.

The Jungle Book: Theme

There is more than one general theme in the jungle book. The first theme is the classic, "Let nature take it's course" theme. Throughout the story of Mowgli, and the stories of animals in the second half of the book, there are many references to the theme. "Of course the men get to know of it, and unless you can find an island where no men ever come, you will always be driven." In the main story of The Jungle Book, there is much commodity about the human boy's presence in the jungle, because of the human hunters that occupy the jungle. In the short stories at the end of the book, the theme is much more prominent, and much more explicit. For example, the entire story of "The White Seal", Kipling's first short story of the book, is based on the migration of a colony of seals because of the poaching that takes place on the beach where they live. This theme is prominent through the majority of the book. During the main story, the theme is Implicit, and in the short stories, the theme is more Explicit. This theme is universal, as it does not reference the story directly, and is used in many other pieces. The theme allows the reader to see life from the point of the animals of The Jungle Book and to sympathize with their problems. Much like "Planet of the Apes", this book causes the reader to end up rooting for the non-human side of the conflict very effectively. The theme is a very popular notion of modern life, with the new, 'Green' mentality of human beings. It delves deeper into the old prospect of retribution and the effects of a changing ecosystem.
The second theme in the Jungle Book is "What goes around comes around." The tiger Shere Khan attempted to kill Mowgli at the beginning of the story, which resulted in Mowgli hunting him down and killing him later on. After mowgli kills him for revenge, he is punished when he is forced out of the wolf pack and takes four cubs with him to hunt. "Man pack and wolf pack have cast me out, now I will hunt alone in the jungle." This theme is explicit. It is made clear throughout the book. The theme is universal as it is found in very many different stories and does not reference The Jungle Book itself. The theme causes the luck of the characters in the book to change drastically very quickly. In Rudyard Kipling's short story "Rikki-tikki-tavi", the snake that nearly killed the young boy is killed by Rikki, but then Rikki is targeted by the snake's husband. The luck of both these characters changed in a very short time, because they resorted to violent/evil means to get what they wanted. The theme is a form of 'karma', which causes a character's luck to be modeled after their contribution to society, positive or negative. The story promotes morality and makes a statement that revenge will most likely end up causing harm to both sides of the conflict. The book goes deeper into the theme and illustrates some very good examples of Karma.

The Jungle Book

The Jungle book is the story of a young boy named Mowgli, who is born in the jungle and raised by wolves, after he is accepted into the pack. His goal in the novel is to become accepted by normal humans, and to kill his and his pack's nemesis, the tiger Shere Khan. The book also includes a few short stories of the animal kingdom. There is a second part of the jungle book which continues Mowgli's story at age 17, but it will not be included in this blog.