Heather Barney
Mr. McConnell
World Lit Honors

The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling is about a boy who grew up in the jungle with a wolfpack and became good friends with a bear named Baloo and a panther named Bagheera.
Imperialism, colonialism, racism and nationalism are all in this novel. Rudyard Kipling is known to put these topics in his writing especially in the Jungle Book. Rudyard Kipling wrote tales and poems of British soldiers in India and stories for children.
Rudyard grew up in India and bases his writing in that country. Throughout this novel
Rudyard Kipling is showing Imperialism and colonialism. Rudyard Kipling is portraying that the wolves at first protect Mowgli because they see that humans are more powerful than them and must be protected. The colonial ruler in India knows the customs and traditions of their subjects, and lives amongst them yet holds power over them. To rule effectively in India you have to be between two worlds, the world of beasts and the world of men. Kipling shows us this by having
Mowgli live not only in the man village but in the jungle as well. Rudyard Kipling shows that
Indians are savages, animalistic and sub­human because Mowgli is dark­skinned and is being raised by wolves in the jungle and his friends are all animals that live in the jungle. Imperialism and Colonialism come up in parts of the Jungle Book.
Colonialism and Imperialism are important in this novel along with racism. Kipling shows racism in parts of the Jungle Book.When Buldeo tells the villagers that Mowgli is not a boy and has a strange conversations with wolves he get’s kicked out of the man village, he tells them this because Mowgli won’t give him the tiger skin and scares him off. This is a form of

racism saying Indians are too animal­like and should live in the jungles of India not with man kind. Shere Khan convinces the young wolves to kick Mowgli out of the Jungle once Akela gets too old to be leader of the wolf pack. Mowgli also gets kicked out of the jungle because he is too much like a human also showing racism. King Louie’s song “I wanna be like you” towards
Mowgli is all about i nequality between African­Americans and Caucasians. Racism is throughout this book.

Racism is important along with nationalism.Nationalism is also throughout this novel.
Nationalism is shown through Mowgli and the animal's desire to do what they