A Postcolonial Perspective On Kipling's Imperial Imagination Reflected In The Jungle Book

Joseph Rudyard Kipling is one of the most famous writers in the 20th century in the United Kingdom.He was the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.His works are simple,concise,and full of exoticism,which are perfectly shown in short stories.Among them,the short story collection The Jungle Book is represented.The Jungle Book has a wide range of subjects,elegant style,and interesting content.After the publication,many researches at home and abroad have shown up.Among them,most scholars studied it from the perspective of the“Jungle Laws”in the novel and they explored Kipling's imperial ideology.Only a few scholars mentioned that there is a certain kind of idealism in Kipling's The Jungle Book.However,they did not delve into the detail of Kipling's ideal empire.Based on the idea of the close relationship between novel creation and imperial hegemony in Edward Said's Culture and Imperialism,this paper will use Homi Bhabha's theory of "hybridity,,and Jiang Lifu's theory of "Zoological Imperialism" to explore the construction of Kipling's imperial imagination in The Jungle Book.The thesis is composed of five chapters.Chapter One is the introduction,which briefly introduces Rudyard Kipling and his The Jungle Book.This Part gives a general survey of previous studies on Rudyard Kipling and this novel,and explains the focus and structure of the thesis.Chapter Two,with the theory of Homi Bhaha's "Hybridity",analyses and summarizes the elements of Kipling's imperial imagination in The Jungle Book from the perspective of imperial allegory:in-betweeners as the ideal colonist;educational system aiming to cultivate the ideal colonist;the ideal legal system which emphasizes"obedience" to maintain the social order.The constituent elements of Kipling's ideal empire reflect the core idea of "Datong".Chapter Three focuses on the essence of the imperial imagination,by applying Jiang Lifu's theory of "Zoological Imperialism".With further analysis,it is found that in The Jungle Book,Kipling degrades the colonial people to animals.And on this basis of this,the seemingly harmonious education system and social order are essentially the guarantee for colonists' exploitation.All of these reflects the hegemonism in Kipling's imperial imagination.Chapter Four explores the core idea of Kipling's imperial imagination:Great Harmony.The socio-political background of it is also analysed.The "Great Harmony" in Kipling's imperial imagination is factually the harmony under the control of the Great Britain.And it is the result if Kipling's personal Masonic experience and the“Great Harmony" policy in the Great Britain then.Chapter Five summaries the previous discussions in the thesis.Based on the text analysis of The Jungle Book,this paper explores the three elements of Kipling's imperial imagination,analyses the hegemonism reflected in his imperial imagination,and explores the core idea of it:Great Harmony.Moreover,Kipling 5s imperial imagination at this stage will lay a foundation for Kipling's deeper and maturer imperial imagination in his latter work.