What are some themes and short stories of Rudyard Kipling?

Question

plz thnx.

Answer 1

Kipling's writing was inseparable from his social and political views, despite Kipling's considerable artistry.

They point to his portrayals of Indian characters, which often supported the colonialist view that the Indians and other colonised peoples were incapable of surviving without the help of Europeans, claiming that these portrayals are racist.

An example supporting this argument can be seen in Kim, his most enduring novel for adults, Kipling writing one of his most infamous lines: "He could lie like an Oriental", very early on in the book.

Others include the mention of "lesser breeds without the Law" in Recessional and the reference to colonised people in general, as "half-devil and half-child" in the poem "The White Man's Burden".

Ironically, the poem is read by some as a sarcastic satire, warning of the dangers of colonialism and the oppression of native nations; it was, however, also used by colonialism supporters and taken literally, as a serious justification of American and British imperialism. What's more, "Lesser breeds without the law" in 1897's Recessional seems to have been intended to refer to either Germans (for their pride in colonialism) or Italians (for their continued failure in colonisation opposed to the so-called [German] "Gentiles"), not Indians.

Both readings may be wrong, Abrams of the Norton Anthology suggests it refers to the Bible, Romans 2.14: For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, ie. are not as loving to the colonized, love being God's Law.

Answer 2

I've read The Jungle Book (LOTS of it) Just So Stories and Puck of Pook's Hill. I'd recommend The Jungle Book.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_of_Rudyard_Kipling