Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Kim, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Mentorship and Parenthood
Race, Identity, and Colonialism
Connection vs. Detachment
Misogyny
Summary
Analysis
An angry farmer yells at Kim and the lama, calling them beggars. The lama criticizes his rude behavior and Kim suggests that bad fortune will come to his crops. The farmer abashedly apologizes, offering them milk and a meal, and the lama forgives him and blesses his fields. Kim and the lama move on, discussing the lama’s search for the River and encountering a cobra, which the lama forbids him from harming; it too, he explains, is on the wheel of life, though much farther down. They continue through the countryside searching for the River, but are met with no success. In the evening, they find food and lodging at a small, friendly hamlet.
Again, Kim makes strategic use of the lama’s religious authority, telling the angry farmer that his actions will bring bad luck to his crops. Unlike in other circumstances, however, Kim’s deception seems somewhat unjustified. The man poses no clear threat, and when he apologizes, offering food, Kim and the lama are uninterested, suggesting that there was no true reason behind Kim’s lies. This highlights Kim’s vanity and egoism, scaring the farmer purely for entertainment.
Themes
While Kim entertains the local children, the local headman and priest offer the lama advice for finding the River, suggesting he take the Grand Great Trunk Road. The lama introduces Kim to the men, detailing his otherworldliness and his recent horoscope reading. Enjoying the attention, Kim dramatically reveals the omen of war foretold in his horoscope, claiming it will be a war of 8,000 “redcoats.” An old native officer questions him, and Kim, pretending to be recalling a vision, describes the look and behavior of the Commander-in-Chief from memory. The old soldier is amazed, convincing the rest of the town of Kim’s powers.
Playing into the lama’s account of his otherworldliness, Kim feigns magical powers, using his knowledge of the upcoming war to convince the townspeople of his prescience. This illustrates Kim’s knack for acting and deception, as well as his mischievous nature. Again, there is no practical upshot to Kim’s acting, suggesting that his manipulation of the townspeople is purely for entertainment. Though his talents foreshadow Kim’s later role in the Great Game, for now he appears to employ his powers entirely for personal gain.
Themes
Fearing resentment from the priest, Kim deflects a woman's plea for help, advising she donate a calf to the local temple instead. The priest compliments Kim's cleverness, and questions whether the lama's quest is a “cloak to other ends,” like treasure. Kim denies this and, growing suspicious at the priest's offer to host the lama, takes the lama’s money for safekeeping. The priest appears mad in the morning, and Kim gives the lama a medicine for opium smokers, reasoning that the priest drugged him the night before to steal from him. The old soldier joins Kim and the lama on their way out. The lama criticizes his sword, but the soldier defends weapons; by killing evil men, they ensure safety for "weaponless dreamers."
Kim saves the lama from being robbed by the priest, illustrating his sharp eye and impressive people-reading skills. The lama, meanwhile, naïve to the ways of the world, proves entirely oblivious to the whole affair, unaware even that he was drugged. This highlights the lama’s reliance on Kim, and the value of Kim’s loyalty; without him, the lama would have been scammed many times over. Additionally, this scene features another ideological confrontation, with the old soldier exposing the lama’s hypocritical stance against violence. Hearkening back to Kim’s argument at the end of Chapter 2, the soldier argues that, without violence, “weaponless dreamers” like the lama would not be safe from evil men.
Themes
The old soldier tells a story from his time as a soldier, describing how the Indian army once turned against its officers, killing their wives and children. Believing his fellow soldiers to have gone mad, he describes taking the side of the British, becoming an outcast among his people, but ultimately earning the Order of British India. The lama asks what he desires now, and the old soldier tells him “the good days of my strength,” to which the lama replies: “that strength is weakness.” Despite their differences, the lama compliments the old soldier for his honor and for staying true to himself, stopping under a mango tree to tell him about the “Excellent Law.”
This passage reveals the historical bias of the novel’s narrator, or author. Though widely regarded as a justified response to colonial aggression, Kipling’s depiction of the Indian Mutiny, delivered by the old soldier, presents the British as victims of violence, not perpetuators of it. Though the soldier’s perspective is not an impossible one, Kipling’s foregrounding of it points to his own colonial prejudices, leaving no room for anti-colonial narratives.
Themes
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Both the lama and the old soldier fall asleep, but are soon woken by a naked, yelling child. The lama entertains him with his rosary beads and a poem, and the soldier playfully mocks the lama for his hypocrisy, criticizing marriage one moment and preaching kindness to children the next. The lama expresses regret, and the soldier mocks him further, suggesting there was a “good householder lost in thee.” Arriving at the Grand Trunk Road, the old soldier celebrates all the different types of people and castes moving along it; the narrator agrees, calling it a “wonderful spectacle” and a “river of life.” The old soldier encounters his son on the road and embraces him.
The old soldier continues to playfully expose the lama’s hypocritical worldview. Though he preaches detachment, the lama’s actions, such as entertaining the yelling child, betray a genuine appreciation and affection for the material world. Additionally, this passage underscores the symbolic significance of the Grand Trunk Road; bustling with people from every caste and persuasion, the Road represents the great diversity and vitality of the Indian peoples.
Themes
