KidLit Forum

What I found very interesting in this book are all those rules of the jungle. In this adventure we are introduced to an unwritten animal code called The Law of the Jungle that seems to be a moral code that mantains order in the wild. It is surprinsing to see how animals also adhere to human-like laws; this makes us questioning if they are really so different of us?!!!! Similarly to humans, animals which do not abide by the Law do not seem to last long in the jungle. But, as we can see in every society, there are also people who do not obey Law. This is the case of monkeys (Thou hast been with the Monkey-People—the grey apes—the people without a Law—the eaters of everything. That is great shame). The jungle animals despise monkeys because they have no law. They are anarchists, fact that makes them look unpredisctable and dangerous. The Bandar-log seem fun and exciting from afar, due to their carefree playfulness, but when Mowgli is in the middle of them, he realizes that he misses the structure and order that the Law of the Jungle gives life (Mowgli, who had been trained under the Law of the Jungle, did not like or understand this kind of life).

Another surprising thing is that animals try not to kill man (The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his children how to kill). This is an important part of the Law because man takes revenge, so is safer not to kill them.This is sustained by the following quote (The real reason for this is that man-killing means, sooner or later, the arrival of white men on elephants, with guns, and hundreds of brown men with gongs and rockets and torches. Then everybody in the jungle suffers). The animals make it seem that man is more apt for revenge than they are and the best sollution to avoid problems is to try not to hurt them. The reason beasts give among themselves [for not hunting man] is that (Man is the weakest and most defenceless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him).

The concept of The Other is very well illustrated over the book. Because he is different Mowgli is not accepted by all the wolves nor by humans (Sorcerer! Wolf's brat! Jungle-demon! Go away! Get hence quickly, or the priest will turn thee into a wolf again. Shoot, Buldeo, shoot!). Unlike the wolves who just kick him out (The others hate thee because their eyes cannot meet thine—because thou art wise—because thou hast pulled out thorns from their feet—because thou art a man), humans try even to kill him. Mowgli is exasperated, he does not know where he will ever fit in, because his both parts-man and wolf-have betrayed him (Again? Last time it was because I was a man. This time it is because I am a wolf).

In The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, the wolves do not harm the child because they know that harming a human can bring other humans upon them, endangering them. This reminds me about The Romulus and Remus ancient lenend in which they were abandoned by their parents as babies and put into a basket that was then placed into the River Tiber. The basket ran aground and the twins were discovered by a female wolf. The wolf nursed the babies for a short time before they were found by a shepherd which brought up the twins.
Of course the conditions are very different in both situations but in my opinion animals could be less dangerous than than some people actually are.

Who doesn't remember the Disney's version of The Jungle Book and the songs which became memorable? However, Rudyard Kipling's stories are so different from the film.
George MacMunn, in Rudyard Kipling, Craftsman, wrote (p. 202): ”Love of animals, imagination about animals, the placing of anthropomorphic words in their mouths, is the prevailing whim of the English, and The Jungle Books, for that reason, have brought joy and enthusiasm to many a heart. Mowgli, the wolf-child, and wolf-reared children are true things. Baloo, and Bagheera and Kaa are not only household words in our nurseries and school-rooms, they are the wisdom of the ages and the pleasure of the hour in the studies and boudoirs of the parents.”
I was expecting that The Jungle Book is entirely about Mowgli but, I was wrong. Only the first three stories present Mowgli's adventures in the Indian jungle while the others present the stories of a seal,a mongoose, a child who herds elephants and an interesting conversation between domesticated work animals about their duties.
My favorite character is Kaa, the rock python. In spite of our expectations, Kaa doesn't seem to be a menace for Mowgli. Throughout the story he reveals to be one of the Mowgli's wisest and most helpful friend, who saves his life. For instance, when Mowgli is kidnapped by the monkeys, with Baloo's help, Kaa manages to rescue him by hypnotizing the monkeys and leading them away, just like the Pied Piper of Hamelin did with the rats.

My favorite character in The Jungle Book is Baloo, the bear. It teaches Mowgli, The Law of the Jungle. Baloo is a wise bear and he is the only animal beside the wolves who is allowed to take part in the pack meetings .
Another character that I like is Bagheera, the black panther. It cinvinces the wolf pack to accept the man cub into its tribe for the price of a bull.
Bagheera and Baloo go to save Mowgli when he was kidnapped by the monkeys, these two protagonists are Mowgli's best friends, from my point of view.

The White Seal is a story about a white seal named Kotick, who tries hard to lead the other seals to an island where man cannot reach them. Kotick couldn't see anymore many of his friends slaughtered on the beaches.

Rikki- Tikki- Tavi is a story about a little mongoose adopted by a boy and his parents. It is a loyal pet because he saves the family from a dangerous cobra and its wife.

In conclusion animals have feelings and they become attached to their owners.

`Bagheera gave him half a dozen love taps (...) but for a seven-year old boy [this] amounted to as severe beatings as you could wish to avoid`. From the beginning the survival of the fittest can be observed. Bagheera doesn`t seem to observe that Mowgly isn`t a cub, but a human. The same trainning of a regular cub is applied to him. The lack of fur, claws or paws makes the child vulnerable. The only solution is to resist the difficult and exhausting trainning in order to get strong.
The moral of the book might be that in order to survive an unfriendly environment you must adapt. None of the pre-established rules be changed or contradict. Where is the humanity? The book centers the lack of it and the process of embracing the bestiality and animal condition.

I read that in this book the animal's name have a different meaning. For example Bagheera who is a black phanter or a black Indian bear is based on the indian word "bagha" which means tiger so maybe this meaning of words or association of words could emphasize the fact that the animals have a close connection between them, they are like a big family, a family protected by rules which must be obeyed.

The Jungle book is a book which have a point of view of animals as a society of animals. This is because there are a lot of animals: wolves, monkey, bear, elephant, cobra, mongooses, etc. In this book we find the feral children Mowgli who is raised by wolves. For him, animals are teachers and mentors which learn them to live, respecting their rules.

What is interesting in this book is the fact that Mowgli is able to adept back to human life. There are the conflict between wolf, as he was grown up, and humanity, which exists deeper in him but he has to find it.

This is a nice book and children have to learn from this the comportment of the animals in their natural habitat, how they react, how they look and how they hunt for every day living.