Essay “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” by Kipling One of the most famous stories in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling is the “Rikki-Tikki -Tavi” ”, was also published as a short book. Many people read it as the story of a heroic mongoose. But we can also interpret “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” from the perspective of postcolonialism, where the British family is the invader, the cobras are less evil, and Rikki-Tikki becomes a loyal colonial subject. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Rikki-Tikki is an Indian mongoose much appreciated by his English family for saving him from drowning. So he helped the human family kill the snakes that planned to kill them. From the traditional point of view, I can say that the mongoose represents the knight who protects his new family and the garden, which constitute his home. However there is still something else to the story, characters and meaning that we need to interpret. By reading Kipling's story from the perspective of postcolonialism, we can also discover Kipling's vision of imperialist culture. Postcolonialism is the period after colonialism, when invaders returned to their countries, leaving the colonies with great influence and a new culture. The British family in the story moved to a bungalow in India, where Nag and Nagaina, the snakes, lived. The white invaders brought their culture, took over the land, and controlled everything. This is why the snakes wanted to kill the human family and take back what belongs to them. In my view, humans pose a huge threat to the livelihood of Indian cobras and their young. Nag and Nagaina's desire to ambush humans is simply the realization of their natural instinct. Think of the Indian snakes who only want to protect their eggs and take back what belongs to them, they are less evil if we see them from the point of view of postcolonialism. I can say that cobras are metaphors for the Indian population and they wanted to oppose the British invasion. The cobras' desire to live and have children was as great and all-consuming as was the English family's need to live in relative safety, free from a creeping death they would never see coming. Kipling constructs Rikki's heroism in the form of a story by killing the evil cobras and saving the lives of the human family. However, as I said, Nag and Nagaina only wanted to defend themselves and their young. The cobras lived in the garden first and wanted to rule it, as they did until Rikki-tikki arrived. I can point out that Kipling created the reasoning abilities and deliberately made the cobras so evil and made Rikki-Tikki so reasoning. In fact, animals are not so calculating. People may say that cobras might just want to live but, by their nature, they are enemies of humans and Rikki is properly a value. I would say this is unacceptable. For example, some Indians are the same Rikki-Tikki who were helped by the English. There will be people like cobras who will want to fight the English and protect their young. Rikki-Tikki does not distinguish between right and wrong, but only wants to return the favor by killing the people of his country too. From the perspective of postcolonialism, the mongoose loses its hero status and becomes, instead, a loyal colonial subject. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get Custom Essay In conclusion, The “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” is not only famous for heroism but also for profound.