So much so that a local horse trader and agent for the British recruits him to carry secret messages. He's an orphan living by his wits in the streets and on the roads of England's colonized subcontinent, and he fits in perfectly. What helps Kim pull this off in the novel's early going is his ragged clothing, his skin darkened by grime, and his colourful use of the local vernacular. In this era it is hard to read some parts of Kim without cringing.įirst, there's the whole idea of the titular character being a white lad passing for an Indian. No doubt he would also be attacked for cultural appropriation in Kim, probably racism as well. If Rudyard Kipling were to publish his most acclaimed novel today, he would likely face more than the usual charges of colonialism and imperialism that have been levelled at him through much of the twentieth century. CRITIQUE | THE TEXT The burden of reading Kipling's masterwork
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