The Jungle Book is a canonical work of late 19th-century British Imperialism, which Kipling wrote for an audience of children after a long history of publishing short stories in magazines. The book was originally written for his own daughter, Josephine. It fits into many different genres, but it’s typically shelved with novels in the Bildungsroman tradition. A Bildungsroman is a novel of development. It usually focuses on the moral, psychological, and intellectual growth of a young protagonist. Readers of The Jungle Book follow Mowgli's progress from being an innocent infant in the jungle, to being a young man learning about his power in the animal and human worlds. Through his experiences, enmities and friendships, and the lessons he learns from the animals, the reader sees Mowgli’s path from boy to man. The book also serves as a primer for children to understand the hierarchy British imperialists believed existed between native populations and the British themselves. Even when Mowgli is a child, he is respected and even feared by the animals around him. This mirrors the British view at the time of how Indian people should see British colonizers.
Further to this, The Jungle Book also fits snugly into the category of children's literature. The stories are short, digestible, and self-contained enough to be easily remembered. The book also makes consistent use of anthropomorphism. It imbues animals with human-like qualities that appeal to a younger audience's imagination. The animals in the book represent different groups of people in British India, over all of whom Mowgli—Kipling implies—is superior. Because of this, characters such as the friendly, dopey Baloo, the chaotic Bandar-log, and the cunning and cruel Shere Khan serve both as entertainment and as a means to convey moral lessons about the “righteousness” of British imperialism. Many stories, notably Kotick’s, conclude with clear messages that emphasize values like loyalty, bravery, and leadership.
Finally, the book is also clearly a work of fantasy. The stories of The Jungle Book are fables: short tales in which the behavior of anthropomorphized creatures teaches moral lessons. In Kipling’s imaginary India, he creates a world where animals talk, establish hierarchical societies, and adhere to a moral code—the "Law of the Jungle." The dominion humans have over the jungle is demonstrated clearly through Mowgli’s training in the “Master-words.” Unlike any other creature, Mowgli is able to learn all of the "Words" for "passage" and thus remain safe and unharmed anywhere he goes. The book suggests that there’s a universal understanding between all of the beasts and birds of the jungle and that this power dynamic is inescapable.
