the truth that proves it's beautiful to lie
Kim, by Rudyard Kipling
I read my textbooks by counting the number of pages in a given section - say cardiac pathology - and dividing them up by the number of days I have to read them. I did the same with Kim, which says it all really.
On finishing, I was left with a faint sense of bewilderment and a side of 'bleurg.' I fail to see any precise reason why Kipling bothered to write this. It was an amalgam of semi- and sometimes wholly offensive stereotypes, contrived plot points and pointless wandering. Why Kim was educated, or needed to be European at all - except, presumably, to placate the European audience of the book - is never demonstrated, because he never finds any use for these attributes. With that in mind: Kim - the world's first Gary Stu y/y? He's good looking and everyone loves him, without any apparent effort or merit on his part.
The flavour of the story reminded me strongly of MM Kaye's The Far Pavilions. Now, the Far Pavilions is one of my favourite books of all time. It has many elements in common with Kim: an abandoned European boy growing up as a street arab, learning the ways of India from the inside before being plucked out and re-educated in the manner of his heritage. But Ash is everything Kim isn't, just as the Far Pavilions is everything Kim isn't. The Far Pavilions has danger, intrigue, and romance. On the other hand, I never once felt that Kim or his companions were in the slightest danger. They should have been! I refuse to believe that anyone could travel the length and breadth of India with no money and just be ... welcomed everywhere. And fed like a king. Way to scratch your internal validity, Kipling.
The intrigue was dead flat because Kipling never made an effort to elucidate what the Great Game actually was. Obviously I can tell it's 'spying on behalf of the Raj' and that the spies don't and can't know all the links in the chain - but Kipling could have told us, the readers. Moreover, I fail to see why any native would be so delighted to help out the Raj. Obviously some did, but the concept that any or indeed most would not care to is not even addressed, let alone explored. The insights into British colonial meddling left me disgusted. The government will 'change the succession in Hilas and Bunar, and nominate new heirs to the throne', will it? Huh. On the other hand, American imperialists would love this validation. Obviously the inhabitants of any given country don't know how to run it! They need 'civilised' help, y'all. After all, they've only been living there for oh, THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
Also ... three hundred and eighty-three pages with a male, teenage protagonist and not even a hint of sex? Give me a break.
I gather Kipling actually lived in India at one point - but you'd never know it from his descriptions. He even manages to describe Irish people in a way that leaves me gaping:
...but for all his training he was Irish enough to ... [desire] the visible effect of action; so, instead of slinking away, he ... wormed nearer the house
What does that even MEAN? That we're nosy or something? Okay, fine but that's hardly a trait you can disseminate among an entire race. You can use that for customs, habit, religion, dress and mannerisms, but not thought. No matter your ancestry, your thoughts and drives are new and personal.
where a native would have lain down, Kim's white blood set him upon his feet
That's more of the same, even leaving aside the racist connotations. Gosh, I bet even natives like to stand up occasionally!
Kim is also a dickhead, for all that the exposition never fails to praise him. Mahbub and Hurree and the lama spend a lot of time adoring his very shadow, but they never actually listen to him. Here's what I heard:
"I will beat thee in the morning. I do not love Hindus."
Because a little kid didn't speak to Kim when the kid's master ordered him not to. That's real sweet of you, honeybun.
Kim [spoke] jealously. He preferred to sway the lama by his own speech - not through the wiles of Hurree Babu.
That speaks for itself, I think. The lama is as good as a father to him. Yay manipulation?
One does not own to possession of money in India
Yeah, I give up. Kipling's writing about some imaginary land where you just have to dress up like a priest and the whole world will fall over itself to worship, house and feed you so you can get on with not caring about earthly things like happiness, shelter and hunger. Like. WHATEVER.
I read my textbooks by counting the number of pages in a given section - say cardiac pathology - and dividing them up by the number of days I have to read them. I did the same with Kim, which says it all really.
On finishing, I was left with a faint sense of bewilderment and a side of 'bleurg.' I fail to see any precise reason why Kipling bothered to write this. It was an amalgam of semi- and sometimes wholly offensive stereotypes, contrived plot points and pointless wandering. Why Kim was educated, or needed to be European at all - except, presumably, to placate the European audience of the book - is never demonstrated, because he never finds any use for these attributes. With that in mind: Kim - the world's first Gary Stu y/y? He's good looking and everyone loves him, without any apparent effort or merit on his part.
The flavour of the story reminded me strongly of MM Kaye's The Far Pavilions. Now, the Far Pavilions is one of my favourite books of all time. It has many elements in common with Kim: an abandoned European boy growing up as a street arab, learning the ways of India from the inside before being plucked out and re-educated in the manner of his heritage. But Ash is everything Kim isn't, just as the Far Pavilions is everything Kim isn't. The Far Pavilions has danger, intrigue, and romance. On the other hand, I never once felt that Kim or his companions were in the slightest danger. They should have been! I refuse to believe that anyone could travel the length and breadth of India with no money and just be ... welcomed everywhere. And fed like a king. Way to scratch your internal validity, Kipling.
The intrigue was dead flat because Kipling never made an effort to elucidate what the Great Game actually was. Obviously I can tell it's 'spying on behalf of the Raj' and that the spies don't and can't know all the links in the chain - but Kipling could have told us, the readers. Moreover, I fail to see why any native would be so delighted to help out the Raj. Obviously some did, but the concept that any or indeed most would not care to is not even addressed, let alone explored. The insights into British colonial meddling left me disgusted. The government will 'change the succession in Hilas and Bunar, and nominate new heirs to the throne', will it? Huh. On the other hand, American imperialists would love this validation. Obviously the inhabitants of any given country don't know how to run it! They need 'civilised' help, y'all. After all, they've only been living there for oh, THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
Also ... three hundred and eighty-three pages with a male, teenage protagonist and not even a hint of sex? Give me a break.
I gather Kipling actually lived in India at one point - but you'd never know it from his descriptions. He even manages to describe Irish people in a way that leaves me gaping:
...but for all his training he was Irish enough to ... [desire] the visible effect of action; so, instead of slinking away, he ... wormed nearer the house
What does that even MEAN? That we're nosy or something? Okay, fine but that's hardly a trait you can disseminate among an entire race. You can use that for customs, habit, religion, dress and mannerisms, but not thought. No matter your ancestry, your thoughts and drives are new and personal.
where a native would have lain down, Kim's white blood set him upon his feet
That's more of the same, even leaving aside the racist connotations. Gosh, I bet even natives like to stand up occasionally!
Kim is also a dickhead, for all that the exposition never fails to praise him. Mahbub and Hurree and the lama spend a lot of time adoring his very shadow, but they never actually listen to him. Here's what I heard:
"I will beat thee in the morning. I do not love Hindus."
Because a little kid didn't speak to Kim when the kid's master ordered him not to. That's real sweet of you, honeybun.
Kim [spoke] jealously. He preferred to sway the lama by his own speech - not through the wiles of Hurree Babu.
That speaks for itself, I think. The lama is as good as a father to him. Yay manipulation?
One does not own to possession of money in India
Yeah, I give up. Kipling's writing about some imaginary land where you just have to dress up like a priest and the whole world will fall over itself to worship, house and feed you so you can get on with not caring about earthly things like happiness, shelter and hunger. Like. WHATEVER.