chapter ii literature review · a. postcolonial studies this research employs postcolonial studies...
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CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter will be divided into five sub-chapters, namely Postcolonial
Studies, Previous Research, Biography of Rudyard Kipling and the Historical and
Sociological Background.
A. Postcolonial Studies
This research employs Postcolonial studies to answer the objectives of the
research. Postcolonialism or postcolonial study is a study that deals with the
relationship between the colonist (Western countries) and the colonized (Non -
Western countries). According to Ashcroft et.al. the main focus of postcolonialism
is to discover the processes, effects and reactions of colonization both in the past
and the present day. They state that
Post – colonialism (or often postcolonialism) deals with the effects
of colonization of cultures and societies…That post – colonialism
as it has been employed in most recent accounts has been primary
concerned to examine the process and effects, and reaction to
European colonialism from the sixteenth century up to up and
including the neo –colonialism of the present day (2001, pp.186,
188).
Originally, in the 1970s, the historians used the term postcolonial to refer
to a period after colony nation reached its freedom from imperialist‟s rules. Then,
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the literary critic in the early 1980s employed this term to learn and find out the
cultural effect of the colonization (Ashcroft et.al. 1998, p. 186). In literary field,
the representation of the colonized by the colonist was inspiring the Western
author in creating his literary text. The long history and experience of colonial and
imperial rules in the colonized nations influences the colonists in portraying the
colonized through their perspectives and assumptions to the Western people. They
represented the place, native people and culture of their colonized as myth and
exotic. Since the earlier literary works written by the Western author or part of the
colonists, the literary works contained of the representation of the colonized
which some of them different from the factual condition of the colonized.
According to Prasad, the postcolonial theory and criticism means:
Postcolonialism is not a narrowly systematized and unitary theory.
Rather, postcolonial theory is a set of productively syncretic
theoretical and political positions that creatively employ concepts
and epistemological perspectives deriving from a range of
scholarly fields (such as anthropology, African American studies,
cultural studies, film and media studies, women‟s studies, history
and art history, literary theory, philosophy, political science,
sociology, etc.) as well as from multiple approaches to inquiry
(e.g., variants of Marxism and neo-Marxism, feminism,
psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, deconstruction, queer theory,
and so on). (2003, p. 7)
Prasad‟s statement above impose that Postcolonial theory and criticism
can be defined as interdisciplinary study because it combines two or more fields
of studies which relates to the effect of imperialism or colonialism from several
fields both in the past and the present day. As the result, postcolonial theory and
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criticism is not a narrowly systematized and unitary theory because it has
influenced a wide range of disciplines. Moreover, Habib states that
Postcolonial criticism has embraced a number of aims, most
fundamentally, to reexamine the history of colonialism from the
perspective of the colonized; to determined the economic, political,
and cultural impact of colonialism on both colonized peoples and
the colonizing power; to analyze the process of decolonization; and
above all, to participate in the goals of political liberation, which
included equal access to material resource, the contestation of
forms of domination, and the articulation of political and cultural
identity (2005, p. 739).
Habib‟s statement above suggests that postcolonialism discusses various kinds of
experiences and effects of colonialism and imperialism both from the perspective
of the colonist and the colonized. The experience and impact can be seen from
many fields such as economy, politics and culture under colonialism and after
decolonization. Because of the experience and impact, postcolonial theory and
criticism requires the other studies that relates to the experiences and impacts of
colonialism and imperialism. It can be concluded that the main point of
postcolonial theory and criticism is to re - examine the experiences and impacts of
colonialism and imperialism under colonialism and after decolonization.
Inevitably, postcolonial theory and criticism had closed link with the
colonizing power because it examined the domination of colonizer toward the
colonized. Later, Prasad stated that postcolonial theory and criticism seen as “an
approach for critically analyzing the discourse (or discourses) of colonialism.”
(2003, p. 8). According to Weedon in Prasad, discourses were the ways of
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“constituting knowledge, together with the social practices, forms of subjectivity
and power relations which inhere in such knowledges and the relations between
them.” (2003, p. 8). Hence, postcolonial discourse potentially embraces
intellectual, social, cultural, politic and economy that seeks to reproduce relation
of colonialism (Prasad, 2003, p.8). Later, postcolonial theory and criticism as
discourse is known as colonial discourse. Originally, France philosopher, Michel
Foucault, brings this term. According to Ashcroft et.al, Foucault‟s colonial
discourse is
a system of statements within which the world can be known. It is
the system by which dominant groups in society constitute the field
of truth by imposing specific knowledges, disciplines and values
upon dominated groups. As a social formation it works to
constitute reality not only for the objects it appears to represent but
also for the subjects who form the community on which it depends.
Consequently, colonial discourse is the complex of signs and
practices that organize social existence and social reproduction
within colonial relationships. (1998, p. 42)
Foucault has idea that colonial discourse is a system of statement, which can
explore about the colonizing power and the relationship between the colonizer and
the colonized more deeply. Foucault believes that colonial discourse is not only
embraces the culture and domination of the colonizer but also it explore the
colonized so the colonized may also came to see themselves ( Ashcroft et.al,
1998, p. 42).
Moreover, Frantz Omar Fanon‟s discourse about the impact of colonialism
in French was the influential discourse that developed postcolonial theory. Fanon
was a predominant figure in the field of postcolonialism. He was a West Indian
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psychologist and political theorist. He was born in Caribbean island of
Martinique, which was the colonized nation of French in 1925. He represented the
process of colonialism and its influences through his book Black Skin, White
Masks that published in 1952 (Sardar, 1988, p. 10). In his book, he recorded the
psychological effects of colonialism, specifically about racism based on the
colonized perspective. He was the subject of racism experience because he
examined this issues based on his experiences in his book. He explored the feeling
of the black people that live among the White people. He claimed that the France
white people tried to define him in negative term by called him Dirty Nigger and
a Negro (McLeod, 2000, p. 20). By using its superior power the white people
placed the inferior people as the other. This case led psychological trauma for the
colonized and his descendents. Then, there were many the colonized people tried
to follow the values and behavior of the colonist as their mask. It aimed to reach
equality with the colonist. As the result, the colonized lost their cultural identity.
Fanon concluded that if there was no discrimination towards the black people and
the way of thinking of the white people towards the black people changed, it
meant that the practice and effect of colonialism was successfully changed
(McLeod, 2000).
Furthermore, the discourse of Fanon become inspirational discourse that
emerges the other critics to use postcolonial theory in examining imperialism and
colonialism issues such as Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak and Henry
Louis Gates Jr. Edward Said is the most the influential critic who explores the
postcolonial theory deeply and challenge the representation of the colonized or
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the native people. Edward Said is a literary and cultural theorist who was born in
Jerusalem, Palestine in November 1935. In 1978, Said published his book,
Orientalism which is one of the predominant works in postcolonial studies.
Through his book Orientalism, Said explores the relationship and difference
between the colonialist (Western or the Occident) and the colonized (East or the
Orient). However, he pays attention more to the Western‟s representation toward
its colonized countries as McLeod stated that
…Said pointed out that rarely did Western travelers in these
regions ever try to learn much about, or from, the native peoples
they encounters. Instead, they recorded their observations based on
commonly – held assumption about the „Orient‟ as a mythic place
of exoticism… Colonial power was buttressed by the production of
knowledge about colonized culture which endlessly produced a
degenerate image of the Orient for those in West, or Occident
(McLeod, 2000, p.22).
McLeod‟s statement above implies that the Western colonists prompt their
representation toward the colonized based on their experiences. They represent the
place, native people and culture of their colonized as exotic. Then, the Western‟s
representation of the East produced bad image to the East because it was only
shaped based on the Western‟s experience and knowledge. This case leads
Edward Said to express his own idea about Orientalism as means to against the
false assumption of the Orientalist.
Said argues that there are three definitions of Orientalism. The first
definition of Orientalism is an academic field. The next definition of Orientalism
is the concept of thought based on “an ontological and epistemological distinction
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made between "the Orient" and (most of the time) "the Occident.” (p. 2). Then, he
comes to the last definition of Orientalism which is his own definition that
broader than previous definitions. He defines Orientalism as “A Western style for
dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.” (p.3). It means
that, according to Said, the Western colonists use Orientalism as its political
instrument to dominate the Orient. The reason why Said defines Orientalism as
political instrument to dominate the Orient is because he has assumption that
The Orient is not an inert fact of nature. It is not merely there, just
as the Occident itself is not just there either. We must take
seriously Vico's great observation that men make their own
history, that what they can know is what they have made, and
extend it to geography: as both geographical and cultural entities-
to say nothing of historical entities such locales, regions,
geographical sectors as "Orient" and "Occident" are man-made.
Therefore as much as the West itself, the Orient is an idea that has
a history and a tradition of thought, imagery and vocabulary that
have given it reality and presence in and for the West (1979, pp. 4 -
5).
Said‟s assumption above implies that the representation of the Orient by the
Orientalist is only fantasy, assumption and stereotype which is constructed by the
Orientalist come from Western intellectuals, writers and politicians because it is
only shaped based on the Western‟s experience and knowledge. Then, Said adds
further information that “The relationship between Occident and Orient is a
relationship of power, of domination of varying degrees of a complex
hegemony…” (p. 5). It means that the Occident or Western claims that they have
authority and predominant role to construct and represent the Orient to the
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Western World because they discover the Orient or in the other words they
“Orientalized” the Orient (Said, 1979, p. 5). This case brings Said to believe that
Orientalism is lies or myth constructed by Western in order to take over the
Orient. It is because the Western‟s knowledge about the East is not generated
from reality or fact. Therefore, Orientalism is only an effort of Western to take
over the Orient than considering it as a discourse about the Orient.
Then, Said informs that his goal to study Orientalism as “a dynamic
exchange between individual authors and the large political concerns shaped by
the three great empires-British, French, American-in whose intellectual and
imaginative territory the writing was produced.” (p. 15). Moreover, he mentions
his research question as “How did philology, lexicography, history, biology,
political and economic theory, novel-writing, and lyric poetry come to the service
of Orientalism's broadly imperialist view of the world?” What changes,
modulations, refinements, even revolutions take place within Orientalism?” (p.
15). Moreover, Said argues that there is link between British, German, France and
American intellectuals and Orientalism. This is because these countries are the
authority figures of Orientalism who take over the Orient within Western culture
(p. 20). Then, the idea of authority becomes subject of any knowledge of
Orientalism. Thus, he informs that his methodological focus is about “the history
authority” and “the personal authorities of Orientalism” because the authority can
be analyzed, not only the Orient (p. 20).
His methodological to examine authority are “strategic location” and
“strategic formation”. Strategic location is employed to describe “the author's
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position in a text with regard to the Oriental material he writes about” while
strategic formation is “a way of analyzing the relationship between texts and the
way in which groups of texts, types of texts, even textual genres, acquire mass,
density, and referential power among themselves and thereafter in the culture at
large.” (p. 20). Furthermore, he hopes that his discussion on the authority is not
only expose the lies or myth in Orientalist‟s text but he also wants to discover the
truth meaning of Orientalist‟s text (p. 21). He argues that by discovering the truth
meaning of Orientalist‟s text, it can make clear about colonial discourse which is
commonly describes the representation, not the truth.
Said starts with analyzing the speech of two British imperialists of the
early 20th
century, Arthur James Balfour and Lord Cromer about the Egypt.
Balfour and Cromer stress on the idea about the “knowledge and authority or
power” of the European Empire, the British Empire towards Egypt as the Orient
(p. 32). Said says that Balfour focuses on the concept of superiority and
inferiority. In his speech, Balfour uses concept „our or us‟ and “it or their”.
According to Said, „our or us‟ represent the superiority, while “it or their”
represent inferiority. Balfour uses this concept in order to distinguish the British
Empire with Egypt as its colonized country. On the other side, Cromer has idea
that the British Empire is appropriate figure to govern Egypt, because the British
Empire has more knowledge about the Orient or Egypt than the Orient
themselves. From the analysis, Said then concludes that
The most important thing about the theory during the first decade
of the twentieth century was that it worked, and worked
staggeringly well. The argument, when reduced to its simplest
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form, was dear, it was precise, it was easy to grasp. There are
Westerners, and there are Orientals. The former dominate; the
latter must be dominated, which usually means having their land
occupied, their internal affairs rigidly controlled, their blood and
treasure put at the disposal of one or another Western power.” (p.
36)
The conclusion of Said shows that Balfour and Cromer support the idea of
superiority because the Occident has more knowledge about the Orient than the
Orient themselves. Therefore, the Occident thinks that they have natural right to
dominate the Orient. Said stated that the aim of the British author represents the
Orient as the inferior is to justify the political domination by the Occident. This
case allow them to construct the image of the Orient as Said describes
The Orient was viewed as if framed by the classroom, the criminal
court, the prison, the illustrated manual. Orientalism, then, is the
knowledge of the Orient that places things Oriental in the class,
court, prison, or manual for scrutiny, study, judgment, discipline,
or governing. (p.40)
According to Said, the writing texts about the East appear since Ancient
Greece. The Ancient Greece text becomes the basis of European to write about
the East (p. 52). Then, Said analyze The Persian and The Bacchae, the ancient
Greece text which is created by Aeschylus. These texts represent image of the
Orient. It is represented by the Occident in order to show the distinction between
the Western and the Orient which shown
Europe is powerful and articulate; Asia is defeated and distant…It
is Europe that articulates the Orient; this articulation is the
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prerogative, not of a puppet master, but of a genuine creator,
whose life-giving power represents, animates, constitutes the
otherwise silent and dangerous space beyond familiar boundaries.
(p. 57)
According to Said, the description about the Western and the Orient are only
imaginative geographical because it only an effort to display the Western‟s
strength and the Orient‟s weakness based on the knowledge of the Occident.
Again, it shows that the Western is predominant creator of the Orient image.
Moreover, Said then explores the other evidence that show the Western
tries to construct the image of the Orient. In this part, Said argues that the
Europeans try to emerge their perception of towards Islam. The Europeans has
perception that Islam is threat for the Europeans, especially Christian people since
many nations are conquered by Islam military such as Persia, Syria, Egypt,
Turkey, Africa, Spain, Sicily, several parts of France, India, Indonesia and China
(p. 59). The power of Islam military is not only make the Europeans feel awe but
also fear. Then, Said states that the Christian authors are not interest in the high
culture of Muslim but they explore about the tyranny of Islam military in their
text based on their perception. Said describes, “Not for nothing did Islam come to
symbolize terror, devastation, the demonic hordes of hated barbarians. For Europe
Islam was a lasting trauma.” (p. 59). As the result, the Western scholars believe
that Islam is a heresy and they believe that Mohammad the prophet of Islam is
only an impostor because he imitates Christian to the true religion. Then, they call
Islam as Mohammedan because Mohammad is the founder of this religion (p. 66).
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Besides, they also design their perception about Mohammad “he became as well
the epitome of lecery, debauchery, sodomy, and a whole battery of assorted
treacheries, all of which derived „logically‟ from his doctrinal imposture.” (p. 62).
Said then makes conclusion that the Orientalists represent Islam based on their
knowledge and perception about Islam. Their representation about Islam is miss
presented. As the result, the imagination of the Orientalists imposes the image of
Islam in general.
Furthermore, Said explains about the project by Orientalist about the
Orient. Said considers Napoleon‟s voyage to Egypt and the opening of Suez
Canal as the Orientalist‟s project. Since Napoleon finds the classical texts by the
Orientalist expert about Egypt, he interests in the expedition to Egypt. Napoleon
considers that his expedition to Egypt is a project to dominate Egypt. In his
expedition, he has mission to create detail archive about the Orient, Egypt to the
European, especially France (p. 82). He claims that Muslim is the great barrier to
France hegemony in East. Therefore, he should collect the information about the
Muslim in Egypt in order to discover the weakness of Muslim then France can
take control Muslim. He also recruits the Orientalist intellectual as his translator.
Then, he begins to interpret Koran of Arabic to get knowledge about Muslim.
Although Napoleon‟s military is failed to dominate Egypt, his expedition gives
new knowledge about Muslim as Said states that
“Napoleon‟s occupation gave birth to the entire modern experience
of the Orient as interpreted from within the universe of discourse
founded by Napoleon in Egypt, whose agencies of domination and
dissemination included the Institut and the Description… After
Napoleon, then, the very language of Orientalism changed
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radically. Its descriptive realism was upgraded and became not
merely a style of representation but a language, indeed a means of
creation.” (p. 87)
The other the project by the Orientalist about the Orient is the opening of the Suez
Canal (p. 88). Despite the Suez Canal is the project of the Orientalist but it give
benefit for the Orient in Egypt. It ruins the distance between the Orient and the
Occident. Then, it emerges the idea about uniting the Western and the East into
“our world”. Then, the idea of the Orient transforms into “an administration or
executive one, it subordinate to demographic, economic, and sociological fiction.”
(p. 92).
Said once again believes that the text about the Orient influence the
construction of the Orient because the Western recognizes the Orient based on the
text. For Western, the text is accurate archive, which contains factual informations
and knowledges about the Orient though several of them are different from reality
as Said argues
Most important, such texts can create not only knowledge but also
the very reality they appear to describe. In time such knowledge
and reality produce a tradition, or what Michel Foucault calls a
discourse, whose material presence or weight, not the originality of
a given author, is really responsible for the texts produced out of
it.” (p. 94)
The argument of Said above shows that the knowledge of the Orient is only a
construction which is created by the Western Orientalist since the most of text
about the Orient is written by the Western Orientalist. As the result, the factual
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knowledge of the Orient is exchanged by the European representation about the
Orient and this representation is static because the knowledge about the Orient is
recognize from the Orientalist‟s constructed text as Said claims “Oriental
overrode the Orient.” (p. 96). Then, the text construct the Orient as their object in
order to show that the Western‟s authority toward the Orient (p. 102). This case
leads the intellectuals use the Orient as their object in their discourse. They still
interest in idea of the Orient as their object although the political situation change,
as Eastern nations acquired independence. It means that the construction about the
Orient is too strong so it makes the Orient‟s image is unchangeable as Said
declares “the West the actor, the Orient a passive reactor. The West is the
spectator, the judge and jury, of every facet of Oriental behavior.” (p. 109). Since
the Occident has more knowledge about the Orient than the Orient themselves,
the Occident views themselves as the heroes for the Orient who is protecting the
Orient from its unknown and strangers (p. 121).
Furthermore, Said analyzes work of two scholars, Silvestre de Sacy and
Ernest Renan. According to Said, Sacy and Renan are predominant figure in
shaping Orientalism. Said stated that Sacy concerns in
And since also the vastly rich (in space, time, and cultures) Orient
cannot be totally exposed, only its most representative parts need
be. Thus Sacy's focus is the anthology, the chrestomathy, the
tableau, the survey of general principles, in which a relatively
small set of powerful examples delivers the Orient to the student.”
(p. 125).
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Sacy arranges an idea about the Orients which is required to be presented by the
Orientalist because the Orientalist has more knowledge about the Orient than the
Orient themselves. As the result, the Orientalist views the Orient as uncivilized
people. Then, the Orientalist claims that they have authority and predominant role
to construct and represent the Orient to the Western World because they think that
the Orient is unable to reach the same shape of civilization like the Western.
Therefore, the Orientalist think that they have a duty to “ present the Orient by a
series of representative fragments, fragments republished, explicated, annotated,
and surrounded with still more fragments.” (p. 128). Moreover, Ernest Renan, the
other scholar adopts Orientalism as his discourse, Semitic Orient. Renan‟s Semitic
Orient is associating the Orient with philology. Through his discourse, Renan
explores that the differences between the Indo – European language and the
Orient or Semitic language. Renan claims that the Indo – European language is
“the living, organic form” while the Orient or Semitic language is
“inorganic…Semitic is not a live language, and for that matter, neither are
Semities live creature.” (pp. 143-145). Renan‟s statement directly shows that the
act of the authority in his discourse. It means that he constructs the Orient as non
– human because he thinks that the Orient language is not a live language like
human language. For Said, the Renan‟s discourse is not focus in linguistic study
but it deals with the marginal issue. Therefore, the aim Renan in exploring
Semitic Orient is only want to shows that the Orient is uncivilized people.
In his following discussion, Said examines the latent and manifest
Orientalism as mode of knowing and representing the Orient. According to Said,
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the latent Orientalism is “an almost unconscious (and certainly an untouchable)
positivity…” (p. 206). The latent Orientalism is used for saving the Orientalist‟s
representation of the Orient because the Orientalist constructs the Orient as
“static, frozen, fixed eternally.” (p. 209). Moreover, the manifest Orientalism can
be defined as “the various stated views about Oriental society, languages,
literatures, history, sociology, and so forth…” (p. 206). It can be described that
the manifest Orientalism is the application of the latent Orientalism in order to
isolate the Orient from social development and movement.
Said furthers that the racist term and stereotype of the Orient which is
construct by the Orientalist is the part of manifest Orientalism. This line can be
seen from Rudyard Kipling‟s White Man. Said argues that Kipling‟s
representation of the European in his works contains the British imperialism
propaganda (p. 227). Said examines that the white author like Kipling uses “we”
to represent the Occident while “they” refers to the Orient. Said indicates
pronounce “we” the superiority of the Occident in order to show the weakness of
the Occident and to secure their perception toward the Orient so the Orient cannot
be “independent and rule themselves.” (p. 228).
In the last section, Said expresses that after World War II, the Orientalist
still spread its idea of Orientalism especially in United States. Therefore, United
States become the center of Orientalism. Said finishes this section by concludes
that the Orientalist cannot deny and avoid the existence of the Orient because “the
answer to Orientalism is not Occidentalism.” (p. 328). Later, Said hopes that his
book, Orientalism provides the information, method and idea for the intellectual
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that “could dispense with racial, ideological, and imperialist stereotypes of the
sort provided during its historical ascendancy by Orientalism.” (p. 328).
Furthermore, the existence of colonial discourses emerged many native
authors from colonized nations that created their works to give another view of
imperialism and colonialism during many colonized nations in Asia, Africa and
Latin America fought the colonists for their independence in 1940s. According to
Habib (2005) the colonists addressed the colonized nations in Asia, Africa and
Latin America as the Third World (p. 738). The appearance of the native authors
and intellectuals as the representatives of the Third World emerged the
postcolonial literature. The postcolonial literature has arisen since the end of the
World War II. The postcolonial literature was works that had relationship with
imperialism and colonial expansion issues under colonialism and after
decolonization. Many literary works were produced in India, Sri Lanka, Australia,
Nigeria and Jamaica after they won their independence from their colonizer. In
short, the postcolonial literature was the medium of writers to describe the
interaction between the colonizer and the colonized especially in the colonized
people‟s perspective. In addition, it also discovers the responses and critiques
toward the intellectual‟s discourse of the colonizer especially, Europeans.
There were many novelists, dramatists, and poets have been marked as
postcolonial writers. One of the most inspirational postcolonial novels, which
emerged in this period, is Things Fall Apart by Nigerian novelist and poet,
Chinua Achebe (Habib, 2005, p. 738). This novel published in 1950. In the novel,
Achebe represented the ruin and change of Igbo‟s culture as the influence of
36
British colonialism in Nigeria in the late of 19th
Century. Besides, John Michael
Coetzee, a South African novelist, often used allegory to record the apartheid
regime in South Africa. Coetzee‟s novel, The Life and Times of Michael K (1983)
was the story of a man named Michael K who conducted a journey from Cape
Town to his mother hometown during war in apartheid period
(http://www.enotes.com/topics/postcolonialism). In 1983, the novel won the
Booker Prize. Furthermore, the works of literature in postcolonial period often
depicted the history and effect of colonialism upon the people who were ruled by
the colonizer. The development of postcolonial literature emerged the
postcolonial literary theory and criticism that dealt with another perspective of the
process and effect of imperialism and colonialism, especially in the colonized‟s
perspective.
Actually, postcolonial critic is similar to sociology of literature because
postcolonial critic sees a literary work in sociological aspect such as history,
culture, politic, economic, religion and ideology; and explores the influence of
society toward literary work. Moreover, sociology of literature is the development
theory of mimetic theory of M.H Abrams. According to Abram, mimetic theory is
“the explanation of art as essentially as essentially an imitation of aspect of the
universe.” (1953, p. 8). It means that there is relationship between literary work
and universe, especially the society. Literature is a work that is created by an
author who is the member of society. As an individual who live in a community
or environment, it is possible that many sociological aspects such as culture,
behavior, religion, education, life style and ideology can influence the author‟s
37
way of thinking. Then, life, condition and phenomenon that occur in society in the
surrounding of the author may become inspiration for the author in his process of
creating a literary work. Therefore, a literary work can be an imitation of society
because readers can find the social reality in the literary work. Then, sociology of
literature examines a literary work as a social document to discover social history.
It focuses on the analysis of the characters, characterizations, setting of place and
time; and plot of the novel to find the social condition in the novel.
Similar to sociology of literature, postcolonial critic discusses several
issues of sociological aspect especially power, economics, politics, religion, and
culture and “how these elements work in relation to colonial hegemony, western
colonizers controlling the colonized” which are reflected in the literary work
(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/10/). Specifically, postcolonial
critic focuses on “literature produced by colonial powers and works produced by
those who were/are colonized”
(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/10/). It can be concluded that
postcolonial critic analyses the relationship between the colonizer and the
colonized. According to Bertens, postcolonial critic examines “how these texts
construct the colonizer‟s superiority and the colonized‟s inferiority and in so
doing have legitimated colonization” (2001, p. 395). Thus, the main point of
postcolonial theory and criticism is to seek the colonial experience especially the
colonized people who are often controlled by the colonizer includes the impact of
colonialism and imperialism under colonialism and after decolonization through
the literary work.
38
Moreover, the novel as one of the literary work is formed from several
elements such as plot, point of view, character, setting and theme. Every element
has different function but it completes each other to build its form or whole
system. Thus, every element cannot be separated to understand a whole system of
literary text. Then, it needs to analyze each element and finds out the relation
among them to obtain the whole system. Therefore, the researcher who analyses a
literary work by using post-colonial theories, she or he must pay attention in
several elements inside the literary work such as plot, point of view, character,
setting and theme. The findings of intrinsic analysis are then continued to analyze
the colonial experiences and history and how the author constructs the colonial
experiences and its impact inside the literary work.
Since the purposes of this research are to find out how Rudyard Kipling
represents the influence of the British imperialism towards Indian society in order
to discover Rudyard Kipling‟s perception about the influence of the British
imperialism towards Indian society in his novel Kim, this research uses
postcolonial as approach. It is because postcolonialism theory deals with specific
guidelines to discover the British author‟s representation about the influence of
the British imperialism towards Indian society.
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B. Previous Research
There are several essays about Rudyard Kipling‟s Kim in various fields.
Edward Said wrote in his essay Rudyard Kipling: Kim (1987) about his reading of
Kipling‟s Kim in postcolonial field. He points out that the way of Kipling in
representing the Orient is similar to the attitude of the Westerner towards the
Orient. Moreover, Said explains that Kipling explores the issue of superiority of
white man. In section of masculinity, Said shows that Kipling celebrates the
relationship of male in his novel (p. 14). There are many male characters in the
novel and he puts man as his main character who has predominant role in the
novel. Said furthers that there is only a few number of women figures in the novel.
Besides, Kipling‟s representation of women in his novel shows that he places the
position of women as the subordinate one. Kipling depicts the women as
„prostitute, elderly widow, or importune and lusty women” (p, 12). This case
shows that Kipling tries to define men as the superior while women are inferior.
Moreover, Kipling shows that his idea engages with the authority of the
Western through his novel. Later, Kipling displays his idea of the authority by
represent the stereotypes of the Orient, which is derived from the Orientalist‟s
belief. Said notes that “Kim is a major contribution to this orientalized India of the
imagination, as it is also to what historians have come to call „the invention of
tradition‟ … Dotting Kim„s fabric is a scattering of editorial asides on the
immutable nature of the Oriental world.” (p. 28). Said cites the several example of
stereotypes of the Orient that appear in the novel. The example are “Kim would
lie like an Oriental”; “all hours of the twenty four are alike to the Orientals,” or
40
“the Oriental's indifference to mere noise”. For Said, the reason why Kipling puts
the several stereotypes of the Orient in his novel is to justify the rule of the
authority figure, the British Empire over the Indian society (p. 30). This case
shows that Kipling directly gives his support toward Western tradition about
Orientalism especially in term authority.
Like Said, Raskin examines Kim in his essay entitled Kim: In the Middle
Way. He associates Kipling with the British imperialism practice. For Raskin, the
main character in Kim is the reflection of Kipling himself (p. 99). Through Kim,
Kipling explores his imagination and “dreams” about the native Indian and their
culture for the Western reader. Kipling concerns in representing the native Indian
and their culture based on his knowledge in order to convince his Western reader
about the colonization of the British Imperialism in India. According to Raskin,
Kipling believes that the British Empire is superior so he justifies the colonization
of India by the British Empire. Later, Kipling uses the stereotype of Indian people
to define the Western by defining the Indian people and their culture in order to
show the Westerner as “confident, active, extravert, aggressive” while the
Easterner as “meditative, introvert and passive” (p. 107). Despite it is so clear that
Kipling is the supporter of the British Empire but he puts Kim in “Middle way”
until at the end of the novel (p. 123). This is because; Kipling wants to locate Kim
as a hero for Easterner and Westerner so he never comes to his decision that he
must choose between Easterner and Westerner. However, for Raskin, it is not the
original idea of Kipling. He thinks that Kipling hides his truth mind about his
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admiration to the British Empire in order to represent the Westerner as virtuous
figure.
Moreover, another essay was written by Bahman Zarrinjooee entitled
Hybridity: The Effect of Imperialism in Rudyard Kipling’s Kim (www.jnasci.org.).
In his essay, Zarrinjooee applies the theory of postcolonialism by Edward Said
and Homi Bhaba. His essay focuses on the one of impacts of British imperialism,
the hybrid identity. According to Zarrinjooee, the main character of the novel,
Kim is the product of hybridization. It is the “favor” of Rudyard Kipling to
support the British imperialism in India (p. 1). Zarrinjooee argues that although
Kim‟s appearance and custom, which is like native Indian but he never, forget
about his root as the part of the white people. This is the reason why Kim has
multiple identities, as a Sahib and native of India. In the name of hybrid character,
Kim, Kipling wants to show the weakness of the native India. Then, he creates
Kim like the native Indian in order to explore the behaviors, cultures, habits and
languages of the native India. It constructs the image of Indian people as “the
other” because their behaviors, cultures, habits and languages are different from
the Westerner (p.7). Therefore, Kipling places the Indian people as uncivilized
people. Then, Zarrinjooee concludes that Kipling intentionally represents false
image of Indian people in order to show the supremacy of the Westerner.
The essays mentioned above give me inspiration to conduct this study
about the representation of Indian society in Kim from the point of view of the
colonist. However, this research will discuss about the different issues in the
novel. This research concerns with the representation of the influence of the
42
British imperialism towards Indian society. Moreover, this research tries to
examine the influence of the British imperialism towards Indian society in several
field in India such as economic, religious, educational, socio – cultural and
political fields in order to discover Kipling‟s representation about the influence of
the British imperialism towards Indian society.
C. Biography of Rudyard Kipling
The author is predominant figure of literary work because literary work is
the creation and product of the author. According to Abrams (1999) “Authors are
individuals who, by their intellectual and imaginative powers, purposefully create
from the materials of their experience and reading a literary work which is
distinctively their own.” (p.14). The author employs his or her idea, imagination,
intellection, expression and experience in his or her literary work. Moreover, the
author also delivers meaning and message or purpose inside it. Thus, a literary
work is owned by the author as its creator. This is why, the author has significant
role in literary work because he is the creator or subject of literary work and he
also expresses his response toward phenomena in his environment through his
work. Therefore, the explanation of biography is very important in order to obtain
the chronology of the author‟s life and social background.
On 30th
December 1865, a son of John Lockwood Kipling and Alice
Macdonald was born in Bombay, India. They gave him a name, Joseph Rudyard
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Kipling. They added name Rudyard because they had met and engaged in Lake
Rudyard where located in England. Then the name of the Lake became inspiration
for them in naming their son (Mallet, 2003). Kipling was the eldest of the two
children of the Kiplings. He had a younger sister, named Alice, familiar to his
family as Trix.
Kipling‟s father, John Lockwood Kipling was a pottery designer who
studied at the School of Art in Stoke. After he married to Kipling‟s mother, Alice,
the Kiplings moved to India and he worked as a teacher who taught architecture
sculpture to Indian student at the Sir Jamjetsee Jeheebhoy School of Art and
Industry. In 1875, he became Principle of the Mayo College of art and curator of
the Museum in Lahore India. Moreover, Kipling‟s mother, Alice Macdonald was
the eldest of five daughters of a minister Methodist, Reverend George Browne
Macdonald. She is a part of socialite because her sisters were the remarkable
daughter because they married with well known people in Victoria era. They lived
in India for a long time. However, they returned to England in 1897. In November
1910, Alice was sick and died then Lockwood followed her in January 1911
(Mallet, 2003).
Kipling family was a part of Anglo – Indian because they are British
people who living in India for a long time. Kipling born and spent his childhood
in India, until five years old. When he was child, he was familiar to Indian
language and habit because the servants of his family named Meeta were the
native of India and always spoke in Indian language (Kipling, 1951). However,
his childhood in India was over before his sixth birthday. His parent sent his
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sister, Alice and him to the house of Mrs. Sara Holloway, Lorne Lodge in
Southsea. At the time, Anglo-Indians had tradition to board their children to the
British people‟s house in order to get British education and tradition so their
children would not forget their real root (Mallet, 2003). Thus, Mrs. Holloway
taught them to speak, read and write in English.
In his book Something of My Self, Kipling expressed his feeling when
settled in there. Kipling was unhappy because he felt lonely and isolated in Lorne
Lodge. He felt anxiety because the teaching way of Mrs. Holloway was too fierce
and other children were always intimidating him. Then, he called Lorne Lodge as
The House of Desolation because the situation in there was associated with sorrow
and darkness. Furthermore, his feeling in Lorne Lodge was drew in his short story
Baa Baa, Blak Sheep in 1888 (Mallet, 2003). Moreover, he was really likes to
read. His parent was always sent him books. His depression was disappearing
when he visited his aunt frequently, Georgiana house in London. His aunt‟s
husband, Edward Burne-Jones was a painter who introduced him about art. It
made him interested in art, literature and philosophy. Those became his way to
remove his uncomfortable feeling and he began to express his feeling through
writing short story and poem.
When Kipling was thirteen years old, he entered the United Services
Collage on the North Devon coast near Bideford in 1878. The United Services
Collage was a school to prepare boys for British army. However, he could not
enter the military because he had bad eyesight. Moreover, he felt uncomfortable at
his school because his friends were always bullying him. Later, he depicted his
45
experience in United Service College in his book Stalky and Co in 1881.
Furthermore, Kipling‟s Father provided a job for him as assistant editor of local
newspaper, The Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore, Punjab, he then approved it
(Mallet, 2003).
In 1882, when he was sixteen, Kipling returned to India for his job as
assistant editor and journalist of The Civil and Military Gazette in the Punjab. His
tasks in The Civil and Military Gazette were provide report summary of official
publications, examined various local and specific journal that could be used in
newspaper. He also prepared a column about local event (Mallet, 2003).
Furthermore, he began to write verse and short story for newspaper. Work as a
journalist gave him many experiences to see the real condition in India and
improve his creativity in his writing skill. Therefore, his works represented his
experiences and what he saw in his environment.
There were many of his verses that were published in The Civil and
Military Gazette. The works were Echoes by Two Writes, Lord Ripon’s Revirie,
The Story of Tommy, The Song of the Women, a group of six poems, Bungalow
Ballads and The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows which was a short story. His first
volume of poems, Department Ditties and Others Verse, was published in 1886.
Then, his collection of short stories, Plain Tales from the Hills was also published
in 1888. The main topic of Plain Tales from the Hills is the life of Anglo – Indian
and native Indian.
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In 1888, Kipling moved to Allahabad to work in The Pioneer, the The
Civil and Military Gazette’s center. In The Pioneer, he produced short stories
such as Soldiers Three, The Story of the Gadsbys, In Black and White , Wee Willie
Winkie, Under the Deodars and The Phantom Rickshaw. He had had experiments
in his way of writing by enlarging his topic. His works in The Pioneer was not
only contain about the life of Anglo – Indian and Natives Indian but also include
an idea of imperialism ideology, especially in The Phantom Rickshaw (Mallet,
2003, p. 42).
In 1889, Kipling settled in London. His successful work in India gave him
opportunities when he settled in London. His previous works in India were
accepted by various magazine editors in London. In 1890, he published his novel
The Light that Failed which brought him met the publishing agent Wolcott
Balestier. Then, he and Balestier conducted collaboration on a novel, The
Naulahka in April 1892. Furthermore, Kipling fell in love with Balestier‟s young
sister, Caroline Star Balestier and married to her in 1892. The couple settled in
America after honeymoon and traveled to Japan. In America, he joined the
American Association of Author in order to enlarge his carrier in America (Mallet,
2003). Then, he published his bestseller book, Jungle Book during 1894 and
Captains Courageous in 1897. Further, in August 1897 Caroline gave birth to
their first son, John.
In America, Kipling met variety of people from different race such as
Irish, Italian and German. This diversity made Kipling interest in politics
especially in idea of American about England which nation that colonized
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America (Kipling, 1951, p.120). Kipling found a fact that the good Americans
were people who hate England and he thought that it was big bully in America.
Moreover, he continued in writing and the theme of his poems explored
imperialism and political such as the Song of the Dead, Recessional and the White
Man’s Burden. In The Song of the Dead, Kipling showed the spirit of imperialism;
“Came the whisper, came the vision, came the power with the need. Till the Soul
that is not man’s soul was sent us to lead” (Kipling in Mallet, 2003, p. 93). Many
criticize argued that Kipling‟s poems, Recessional and the White Man’s Burden
was the hymn for imperialism because both captured the spirit of imperialism and
supremacy of colonizer.
During 1900 after voyage from South Africa, he produced serial story,
Kim for one of America Magazines, McClure’s Magazine and later on October
1901 it appeared as a novel when he moved to Sussex. The setting of the novel
took place in India during the Great Game. It was the political conflict between
Russia and Britain in Central Asia. However, there were criticisms toward Kim
because it was exploring the reality when the British controls India. Thus, Henry
James who was a master of fiction of America stated that; “Kipling could never
have made so determined separation between literature and politics, but he did
concede that his „long leisurely Asiatic yarn‟ was „a bit more temperate wise than
much of my stuff.” (James in Mallet, 2003, p.119). Besides, Edward Said, a
Palestine American writer and he was known as a critic who has high critical
about Western Imperialism in Asia claimed that:
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Thus as I have been saying, Kim is a master work of imperialism: I
mean this as an interpretation of a rich and absolutely fascinating,
but nevertheless profoundly embarrassing novel. The device
invented by Kipling, by which British control over India (the Great
Game) coincides in detail with Kim‟s disguise fantasy to be at one
with India, is a remarkable one precisely because it would not
occurred without British Imperialism.” (Said, 1987, p. 45)
Though there is criticism towards the novel, it led Kipling to award the
Nobel Prize for literature in 1907 and it was the peak of his career as an author.
1916 was the sadness year for Kipling. His son, John who was a military officer
died in World War I. Then, to remember his son, he created a poem in titled “My
Boy Jack”. After his son died, he kept writing until 1930s but it was not
successful than before. In January 1936, he died in Middlesex Hospital because of
his ulcer burst after travelling to London, at the age of seventy. Then, he was
buried in Westminster Abbey on 23 January 1936. One year after his death his
autobiography Something of Myself was published in 1937.
The biography of Rudyard Kipling is important to use because of the
social condition. His environment and his way of life influenced him in writing a
literary work. For instate, Kipling and his family ever live in India for a long time.
Besides, Kipling lived and familiar to native as inferior and British as superior
which have different social system, culture and religion, so it is possible to
influence the Kipling‟s way of thinking about imperialism. Therefore, he explores
and expresses his ideas, experiences and perception through his novel Kim as a
representation about the influence of the British imperialism towards Indian
society.
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D. The Historical and Sociological Background of the British
Imperialism in India
The British Empire is the dominant empire in practicing imperialism. The
British Empire existed during the reign of Edward I in the thirteenth centuries.
Moreover, the reign of Elizabeth I was a mark of the practice of colony and
imperialism. Portugal and Spain were important countries that led another country
in Europe to explore countries around the world. Then, Britain followed the step
of Portugal and Spain to explore country around the world in the sixteenth century
(Johnson, 2003). The competition to look for raw materials and trade market laid
the British Empire to search new territory for new wealth and settlement.
Therefore, in the reign of Elizabeth I supported the naval to sail around the world
in order to expand the territory for its trade market and settlement.
North America was the first area of British expansion during the
eighteenth century. The British Empire was interested to colonize Caribbean
which is the part of North America. Caribbean had a lot of raw material such as
tobacco, sugar and coffee. The goal of Britain to colonize North America was not
only for commonwealth but also for looking for new settlement and spread their
religious belief, Puritan (Johnson, 2003). Moreover, in 1600s, British landed in
Australia and New Zealand. The growth of British population led British Empire
to look for new settlement. Then, Australia and New Zealand became the
settlement of emigrants of British that part of working class and middle class.
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These settlers set up the new land in this area for their outcome. Besides, the
location of Australia which is near to East Asia led the British Empire built port
there in order to support his expansion to East Asia.
In 1807, the British Empire was interested in West Indies because West
Indies had a lot of sugar (Johnson, 2003). Later, the sugar industry grew rapidly
there. At that time, the British Empire began to require a larger labor force for the
production of sugar. The British Empire begun to colonize South Africa at the end
of the eighteenth century in order to require slave as labor force for sugar
production. The force that matched in the tropical climate and cheaper cost were
the reason why of British in using of black African. Furthermore, the slaves from
Africa became commodities for the British Empire and human trade grew rapidly.
India was the most valuable colony territory of the British Empire during
the sixteenth until nineteenth centuries. Moreover, India was known as the Jewel
in the Crown of the Empire because India was the major supplier of raw materials
such as chintzes, rice, saltpeter and sugar cane for industries of the British Empire
(Johnson, 2003, p.24). The British Empire established in India since 1600s when
the British East India Company or EIC built trading posts at three areas in India,
they were Bombay, Madras and Calcutta (Suwarno, 2012). This company was
built by merchants of London under the control the British government.
Robert Clive was the predominant figure of EIC. Clive defeated France in
Carnatic War and took control Benggala in 1757. As the result, EIC got diwani
right, a right for collecting outcome from three regions Benggala, Bihar and
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Orissa (Suwarno, 2012). At that time, EIC was the prominent power in India. The
other predominant figure in the development of the British Empire in India was
the governor of EIC, Lord Wellesley. Wellesley set up the rule for British Raj or
King of India Empire who consolidated with British power. The rule was that
British Raj should pay tribute for the British Empire and rejected the other
European country in India. EIC was stronger because it could monopolize the
trade market in India under the reign of Wellesley. The British Empire developed
its economy by building railroad network in India in order to transport the raw
materials to the other places. As the result, Britain became the centre of economic
prosperity in Europe.
The British Empire did not only try to develop its economy but also the
culture. The British Empire began to destruct the original ideology, belief and
culture in India under the rule of Governor Lord Bentinck. Bentinck set up the
rule in education system in India. He transformed education system along with
British ideology and ignored the Indian tradition suttee or burning of widows.
Besides, he permitted the Evangelicals to spread Christian belief to Indians in
order to save British rule in India through Christian (Suwarno, 2012). As the
result, many churches and Christian schools were established in India.
Furthermore, the British Empire tried to add its culture to the Indians. The
British Empire imposed Indian to follow Victorian attitudes and customs in their
daily activities. For example, the English became the language of communication
in society. Almost all staffs or members of government, educators, religions,
leaders, traders and citizens used English as a means to communicate with other
52
people. In addition, the British Empire culture influenced to Indians education,
architecture, painting, literature, or even Indians religion and philosophy. It makes
Indians identity blurred because the British culture constructs Indians identity as
multiple identities. Moreover, British imperialism produces discrimination among
Indians because British as the superior clan can do anything to Indians. The
British Empire shaped social classes in Indian society to distinguish one race to
other in term of occupation. The upper class served as officials while the lower
class served as servants.
In political field, the British Empire was the centre of government in India.
The British Empire took of control Indian empire so, the Indians Empire was still
established but Indians king should follow the British Empire‟s rules. Therefore,
the Indian Empire finally collapsed in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Moreover, there was a distance between British people and Indians in society. In
government office, the amount of staffs of Indians was very small and they were
placed in low position. Meanwhile, the British Empire placed a lot of British
people as the leaders or heads and staffs in government office in order to control
the external and internal security in India. The British Empire also maintained its
power by developing and deploying its military in all regions in India to secure
India from external and internal security. The British Empire required Indians as
its troops to secure its territory around the world so Indian troops automatically
joined the war. For example, Indian troop joined Great War or Great Game to
secure and support the British Empire. Great War or Great Game was a military
conflict between the British Empire and Russian Empire (Johnson. 2003). The
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conflict between the British Empire and Russian Empire occurred since the
eighteenth century to compete for supremacy in Asia. In order to secure its
territory in Asia especially India, the British Empire prepared its troops to face
Russian. The total of troop of Empire consists of 23,500 British and 78,000 Indian
troops (Johnson, 2003).
India had a long history about British imperialism. Indians were very poor
and subordinate because the British Empire exploited the people and nature there
in order to get some profits. Besides, the British Empire forced Indians with its
religion, Christian. This situation led the rebellion of the Sepoy. This rebellion
called as Sepoy Mutiny in 1897. Some criticism argued that this mutiny was the
first war of Indian Independence (Suwarno, 2012).
The reason why Indians rebelled the British Empire was that there were no
freedom and satisfaction with British Empire especially toward Sepoy, Hinduism
and Islamism. Then, Indian soldiers or Sepoy began to disobey the rule and
command of the British Empire. There were many Sepoys were jailed. This case
caused other Sepoys and Indians rebel the British Empire. They took control of
Delhi city and then the rebellion spread to all regions in India. The Sepoy Mutiny
gave big impact to the British Empire especially EIC. As the result, EIC collapsed
in 1858. At the end of the nineteenth century, nationalism of Indians was growing
rapidly. There were group of nationalist, the Indian National Congress and the
Muslim league. Then, the act of the British Empire in India broke up and the
British Empire lost his authority in India in 1911.
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The phenomena that are described above are similar to the contents of the
novel Kim. In 1901, Kipling published his novel, Kim. In this novel, Kipling
attempts to show that Kim imitates the social condition in India when the British
Empire dominated nearly all fields of life in India. Therefore, the historical and
sociological backgrounds are important in the analysis to explore the information
and facts about the British imperialism in India.