A White Orphan’s Educational Path in British India : A Postcolonial Perspective on Rudyard Kipling’s Novel Kim

Abstract: In this essay Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim (1901) is dealt with from a postcolonial perspective, and the aim is to show how three father figures - Colonel Creighton, Mahbub Ali and the lama - individually influence Kim’s education. Furthermore, how their point of view on education and parenting can be used to understand the larger concepts of postcolonialism and the pedagogy of Empire. This essay will argue that Kipling provides three different approaches to education that each can be considered the most suitable for a white orphan in British India during the late nineteenth century. Colonel Creighton is the personification of the imperial mindset, an authoritarian leader who strongly believes in institutions such as schools. Whereas Mahbub Ali, the wild horse from beyond the border and a servant of the Great Game, advocates freedom and a non-institutionalised form of education. Last but not least, the Buddhist lama from Tibet wishes to make Kim his chela and teach him the Wheel of Life. Reading Kipling’s novel Kim helps us to create an awareness of how the world order has changed during the decades and also gives us the opportunity to look at our present time in different lights.