The Jungle Book

Mowgli’s adoption and expulsion from the wolf pack employs the structure of a coming-of-age story, showing Mowgli’s loss of innocence as he transitions from having a place in animal society to claiming a place in human society. The concept of “The Law of the Jungle” determines both Mowgli’s place in the animal world as well as how the animal species relate to one another. Rather than depicting the jungle as a completely wild place without rules or systems of governance, “Mowgli’s Brothers” sets up the wolf pack as a highly regulated and rational society with a clear code of conduct. The Law of the Jungle is presented as logical because it “never orders anything without a reason” (7), subverting the expectation that animals are illogical and act purely on instinct. The Law of the Jungle also creates hierarchies within the jungle society that determine who is given protection and who can be attacked. If the animals acted purely in accordance with Darwinist principles such as “survival of the fittest,” they would not hesitate to attack vulnerable children, but Baloo and Bagheera are able to convince the predatory wolves not to eat Mowgli using systems of reciprocity, trading his life for a bull.

However, “Mowgli’s Brothers” also indicates that some animals do not abide by the Law of the Jungle, and these animals are worthy of disdain. Scavenger animals such as the jackal Tabaqui and the “lame” tiger Shere Khan are motivated more by greed and hunger than they are by the law, disrupting the harmonious wolf society by sowing dissent and exploiting jealousy. While opportunist scavenging might appear to be reasonable behavior for an animal, Rudyard Kipling uses stigmatizing language related to mental illness in “Mowgli’s Brothers” when describing the behavior of these animals. The other animals fear Tabaqui because “madness is the most disgraceful thing that can overtake a wild creature” (2), the implication being that that he might spread rabies. Similarly, while Shere Khan exploits the apparent weakness of humans by hunting their cattle, this eventually causes “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” (7). The villainous animals exhibit antisocial behavior, refusing to obey the rules and seeking to subvert systems of authority for personal gain, thus endangering the entire community of jungle animals.

While Mowgli grows up learning the Law of the Jungle and peacefully coexisting with many species, his innate superiority as a human eventually causes his alienation from the wolf pack. Initially, the animals view Mowgli as inferior to them because of his lack of natural defenses. The wolves are happy to accept the bull in exchange for his life because they assume that he poses no threat: “He will die in the winter rains. He will scorch in the sun. What harm can a naked frog do us? Let him run with the Pack” (20). While the Law of the Jungle recognizes the risk that humans pose to animals, the animals tell themselves that they refrain from hunting humans because “[m]an is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him” (7). The word “unsportsmanlike” recalls British public school language that Kipling uses to relate the speech to the animals’ capacity for “reason.” However, as Mowgli grows older, the wolves begin to fear him and Shere Khan exploits this fear to try to claim Mowgli as his prey. Bagheera warns Mowgli that the many of the wolves whom he considers his family secretly resent him: “The others they 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” (30). Mowgli’s eyes, representing his apparent wisdom and traditionally related to the soul, suggest to the wolves that he is actually superior to them despite his weaker body. At the end of the story, Mowgli accepts that he is superior to the wolves, declaring, “I do not call ye my brothers any more, but sag [dogs], as a man should. What ye will do, and what ye will not do, is not yours to say. That matter is with me” (38). Mowgli’s acceptance of his humanity, wielding fire that animals instinctively fear because it is under human control, makes him a master over the animals rather than a member of their society.

Mowgli’s mastery of the jungle parallels the relationship between the British Empire and India. While the animal world has reasonable laws and intelligent and honorable leaders such as Bagheera and Akela, they also lack something critical: the wisdom and technical knowledge that Mowgli possesses. This makes him rightfully able to rule over the animals, just as the British Empire claimed the right to rule over other nations because of their Christian beliefs and military capacities. However, Mowgli reacts to his new status as a human with sadness rather than triumph. His grief at being caught between his love of the animal world and identification with the human world explores a sense of alienation for someone with multiple cultural identities.