Interrogating Kim's Cultural Identity In Kipling's Kim

Kim is widely considered as one of Kipling's most representative and beloved works. In the novel, the protagonist's identity problem has already evoked discussions;however, contemporary cultural identity theories offer this issue a new perspective, which has not aroused enough attention. This paper is a rereading of Kim with focus on Kim's cultural identity, with textual analysis, applying mainly Stuart Hall's cultural identity theories and Erik Erikson's argument on adolescence identity as support. This thesis holds that through successful construction of the protagonist's cultural identity, the novel Kim reveals Kim as a perplexed and embarrassed go-between in the Anglo-Indian world, maintaining conflicting cultural identities and struggling to balance between these identities.