Kipling’s
interest in identity construction carries over deeply into the latter portion
of the novel. Whereas the first section
that we read contains Kim questioning his personhood (“I am only Kim. Who is
Kim?), this section witnesses Kim comprehending more aspects of his
personality, albeit in a gendered manner (163).
Chapter XI contains a scene in which Kim provides advice to a father
regarding his sick son, and the incident “proved that he was a man” (228). This relates to several other moments throughout
the next few chapters, and one specifically where Kim controls “himself with an
effort beyond his years” (248). These
references to Kim’s budding maturity, in a sense beyond his enhanced power as a
central figure in the world of Children’s Literature, solidify Kim’s status as
a member of his society, within the context of the novel.
This
concept of change, or maturity, maintains certain connotations within the world
of Children’s Literature. Identification
with a character can develop strong ties between a reader and a work of
literature, and the reader often experiences emotions associated with that
character in a sense of solidarity and relation. This holds particularly true in Children’s
Literature—through the characters in specific works of literature associated
with Children’s Literature, such as the adventure prototype that Kim plays upon, readers identify
strongly with the characters, and in a way can deeply experience their same exploits. The complicated sense of identity
construction in Kim is even more
fascinating in this way—beyond analyzing all the intricacies of development and
personhood already involved with identity construction, Kim addresses this in association with childhood. When Kim develops into more of an adult, the
reader experiences that change, and children must undoubtedly experience that
same feeling of progression and development.
How this plays into their personal lives is crucial to understanding the
relationship between the private experience and the outside connection with art.
I find this post a little breath of fresh air because it directly comments on Kim's maturity. For all of the discussion of identity that our class has been participating in, I think that we have been missing or dancing around the point that Kim does undergo a journey of maturity, and we forget this. Perhaps the reason why Kim was so unsure of himself was because he didn't have the same level of maturity that Kipling portrays him as possessing at the end of the novel. In my mind, I see Kim as simply living in naivety and progressing into maturity. His slippery identity is something that I think children can relate to because (most) children have not been exposed to the world enough to ask the questions they need to ask about their identities, they don't know where they fit in yet. Kim is a novel about him developing this association with his own identity.
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