Works of

RUDYARD KIPLING
(Short Summary)

KIM
Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim takes place in British India in the late nineteenth century. Kim, a thirteen-year-old,was raised by the keeper of an opium
den in Lahore. Of Irish descent, Kim has the ability to blend into different cultures. Because of his affinity for language, he is known as “Friend of All
the World.” He soon meets a Buddhist lama from Tibet, who has come to seek Enlightenment at the Holy River. Kim decides he will accompany him
to help him find the river—its location is a mystery to all. He tells his friend Mahbub Ali that he is going, and Ali gives him papers to bring to an
Englishman in Umballa. On the night of their departure, Kim sees two strangers poking through Ali’s things and knows that there is danger.
On the train ride to Umballa, Kim and the Tibetan meet people from all walks of life, who celebrate an array of customs and speak many languages.
When they arrive, Kim finds the Englishman, a colonel, and delivers the papers from Ali. It is only then that he learns there is war brewing and suspects
the papers are directly related. On the outskirts of Umballa, Kim and the lama meet an older Indian soldier who fought for the British years before.
Kim pretends to foretell a war, but the man asks for more information, which Kim provides. The soldier joins Kim and the lama, and the trio travel to
the Grand Trunk Road.

There, Kim is captured by an English regiment. When they discover that he is Irish, and that his father, Kimball O’Hara, fought with them, they refuse
to let him travel with the lama. The lama leaves to resume his search for the Holy River. Kim is left with a drummer boy, who verbally and physically
abuses him. Despite this, Kim manages to get a letter to Mahbub Ali. Father Victor, who travels with the regiment, reveals a letter that says the lama
will pay for Kim’s education at St. Xavier’s, a Catholic school for white men. Ali arrives and tries to convince Kim that going to St. Xavier’s is what is
best for him. The Colonel Creighton arrives next;he wants to eventually employ Kim as a spy.

Kim spends a year at St. Xavier’s and, that summer, disguises himself as a Hindu beggar to go and work with Ali. He learns that Ali is a spy for the
British Army, and that Ali will train him to become a spy in the Great Game. When Kim later overhears two strangers planning to kill Ali, he warns Ali
and saves his life. Creighton then sends him to stay with Lurgan Sahib, another spy and a hypnotist. He and ChunderMookerjee oversee Kim’s spy
training before Mookerjee takes Kim back to St. Xavier’s and gives him a medicine kit. Kim has a successful year at school, and trains again during his
breaks.

When Kim is sixteen, he is discharged from school and given a disguise as a Buddhist priest so he can begin working as a spy. Kim has an identity
crisis but meets up with the lama again. When Kim helps disguise a man in the spy network, the lama believes he has become capable of casting spells,
and warns Kim against using such powers for pride. Kim meets up with Mookerjee, who tells him that the northern border is under threat. Five kings
ruling the independent regions beyond the border are allying with the Russians. Mookerjee asks Kim to help, so Kim convinces the lama that they
have to travel north.

When Mookerjee catches up with the spies, he discovers that one of them is actually French. He convinces them that he is an emissary, sent to welcome
them by the Rajah of Rampur. When he and the spies reunite with the lama and Kim, the Russian tries to take the lama’s drawing of the Wheel of Life.
A fight ensues, and the French spy escapes with their luggage. Kim tells the Buddhist servants with the French spy that the luggage is cursed, and so
is able to relieve them of it—and the papers it contains. The lama falls ill and decides he must return south, so Kim convinces a woman who attempted
to seduce him to provide a litter to carry the lama. He also tells her that he is a white man.

After a twelve-day journey, they arrive, and Mookerjee takes the secret documents to the colonel. Kim had fallen ill but, upon recovery, he slips back
into his identity crisis that leads to an epiphany. Instead of feeling that he does not have a place in the world, he suddenly feels that he belongs with
everyone. The lama reveals to Kim that he attained Enlightenment while he fasted. He tells Kim that his search is at an end and that his spirit has
found the Holy River.
 Works of
RUDYARD KIPLING
(Short Summary)

MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

The Man Who Would Be King is a novella written by Rudyard Kipling in 1888. Kipling is best known for writing on the subject of British colonialism.
Some of his most recognizable works are The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901) and The White Man’s Burden (1899). Kipling’s reputation and scholarly
discussions of his works have long shifted with the political climate, though largely his work has remained popular into the twenty-first century.

The novella is narrated by an unnamed English newspaper editor living in India. The story opens with the editor reflecting on all the sorts of people
his line of work has brought him into contact with, but he is telling a very particular story of his happening to meet a man (or men) that would make
himself into a king. The memory starts with the editor traveling on business and having a conversation with a stranger in the Intermediate train
compartments. The man is a “Loafer,” a vagabond of sorts who makes a living out of different adventures, sometimes posing as a newspaper
correspondent. The man begs the narrator to assist him in passing along a cryptic message to a friend, telling him to find a red-bearded man in the
train station and to tell him “he has gone South.” The narrator does this, but also tips off the local authorities that there are men posing as
correspondents and the two men are captured.

The editor goes on to explain the seasons in India, especially the summer which is oppressively hot and often leads to sickness. It is during this brutal
season that the two men turn up in the newspaper office and declare their intention to make themselves Kings of Kafiristan, a part of Afghanistan.
The first man the narrator met is named Peachey Carnehan, and his red-bearded compatriot is Daniel Dravot. They show the narrator a “contrack”
(contract) they have drawn up regarding their intentions to make themselves kings, in which they promise each other to avoid alcohol and women
until their business is complete. The narrator sends them off with a map and some entries from the Encyclopaedia Britannica believing that they will
be killed on this adventure.

The following summer Peachey again turns up in the newspaper office in the middle of the night, but this time he is wretched and alone. The narrator
convinces him to tell what happened after he and Daniel left India. Though Peachey is teetering on the verge of madness, he manages the tale. They
had barely managed the journey into Kafiristan, and ended up killing and eating first their camels and second their mules. In the mountainous region
they came across warring villages and used their guns in order to aid the smaller number of tribesmen to victory. They declared themselves gods and
through a bit of luck and cunning on Dravot’s part, found out the secret mark of the gods and used it to convince the people. They trained the men to
use guns and created an Army, moving from village to village and doing much of the same. Dravot acted the part of King and concocted many of their
plans and it was generally up to Peachey to use the army to execute them. They both began wearing crowns of gold (though Peachey remarks that his
was both two small and too heavy).

As winter in the mountains drew near Dravot’s aspirations increased. He believed the people he had conquered were really just like the English in
many ways and decided that he would build an Empire to present to Queen Victoria. His confidence in his own rule was so complete that Dravot
insisted it was time for him to take a wife. Peachey reminds Dravot of the contract, but he will not reconsider. The priests of the village attempt to talk
Dravot out of the plan, but he will not yield. Despite the fact the girl being readied believes she must die in order to marry a god, Dravot insists that
she will marry him. On the day of the wedding, the presented bride bites Dravot and draws blood. It is clear they are not gods and the army advances
to capture them. A native they call Billy Fish attempts to help them escape, but he is killed. Dravot comes to his senses and offers himself back to the
natives. They force him to walk out to the center of a rope bridge and cut the end, causing Dravot to fall to his death. Peachey is crucified, but survives
and flees the country. He arrives back in India half mad and carrying one black sack amongst his rags. It is revealed that inside the sack is the
decapitated head of Daniel Dravot, still wearing his golden crown. Peachey leaves the office, but the narrator finds him crawling in the blistering sun
the following day and arranges to have him taken to an asylum. Peachey dies there, leaving behind no evidence of the head.