In the intimate moment shared between Father Wolf and Mowgli in the book’s first story, Kipling uses tactile imagery and appeals to the reader’s sense of pathos:
A wolf accustomed to moving his own cubs can, if necessary, mouth an egg without breaking it, and though Father Wolf’s jaws closed right on the child’s back not a tooth even scratched the skin, as he laid it down among the cubs. ‘How little! How naked, and – how bold!’ said Mother Wolf softly. [...] ‘I have heard now and again of such a thing, but never in our Pack or in my time,’ said Father Wolf. ‘He is altogether without hair, and I could kill him with a touch of my foot. But see, he looks up and is not afraid.’
Mowgli is a soft, naked baby, and being carried between the teeth of a wolf seems like a terrifying prospect. However, through the tactile imagery of his being able to "mouth an egg without breaking it," the narrator vividly conveys Father Wolf's gentle touch. It gives his contact with Mowgli a sense of gentleness and care, highlighting the restraint he is always able to employ. This imagery contrasts the wolf's potential for ferocity with his fatherly tenderness. It enables readers to feel that Father Wolf can be a fierce protector as well as a gentle parent. When the narrator describes how "not a tooth even scratched the skin," readers can almost feel the tender interaction between wolf and infant. It allows them to see and sense the extreme care being taken.
The reader’s sense of pathos is evoked through this sweet treatment, and also through Mother Wolf’s soft exclamations about Mowgli: "How little! How naked, and—how bold!" Moments like this allow the reader to feel affectionate toward the wolves, who come to seem kind and curious, not just primal and frightening. Moreover, Father Wolf’s acknowledgment of Mowgli’s hairless vulnerability—saying he could "kill him with a touch of [his] foot"—emphasizes the emotional weight of the appeal to pathos here. The wolves have to exercise great caution not to hurt Mowgli, but they’re excellent adoptive parents.
In the face-off between Mother Wolf and Shere Khan in “Mowgli’s Brothers,” the narrator uses vivid visual and auditory imagery, a simile referring to the weather, and a metaphor to enhance the scene’s intensity:
The tiger’s roar filled the cave with thunder. Mother Wolf shook herself clear of the cubs and sprang forward, her eyes, like two green moons in the darkness, facing the blazing eyes of Shere Khan.
The imagery here is sharp and powerful. Mother Wolf’s eyes glow "like two green moons" as she springs in front of her cubs. In contrast, Shere Khan’s eyes “blaze” ferociously, as if lit by fire. Shere Khan is motivated by greed and hatred and Mother Wolf by unconditional love, which is reflected in the way Kipling describes their eyes. Shere Khan’s eyes “blaze” with manic energy, while Mother Wolf’s “glow” with steady light. This difference is also emphasized by the simile Kipling uses to describe Mother Wolf’s eyes. They are peaceful, like “two green moons” in the darkness of the den, unshaken by Shere Khan’s “blazing” presence.
The metaphor of Shere Khan’s roar “filling the cave with thunder” makes the scene’s auditory imagery match its feverish visual action. This scene takes place in the wolves’ home, typically a safe haven. The “thunder” of the roar shatters this sense of safety, prompting Mother Wolf to jump into the fray.
This passage from "Kaa's Hunting" paints a vivid and captivating image of Mowgli's surroundings in the jungle palace of the Bandar-Log. Kipling blends visual imagery with simile to bring the dramatic setting to life in the reader's mind:
The domed roof had half fallen in and blocked up the underground passage from the palace by which the queens used to enter; but the walls were made of screens of marble tracery–beautiful milk-white fretwork, set with agates and cornelians and jasper and lapis lazuli, and as the moon came up behind the hill it shone through the open-work, casting shadows on the ground like black velvet embroidery.
This detailed description of the Cold Lairs, with their ornate walls and underground passages, is a typical British colonialist vision of India. Mowgli finds himself in a fantastical, untouched place full of treasures, in much the same way the British treated the resources of India itself. Everything is seen as rich and exotic, even if it is crumbling.
The narrator describes the walls as being made of "screens of marble tracery" that are embedded with precious stones. The mention of "milk-white fretwork" alongside gems like "agates and cornelians and jasper and lapis lazuli" conjures an image of glowing, jewel-like colors and sharp white lines. These contrast with the soft darkness of the simile Kipling then uses to depict the palace’s shadows.
This simile compares the patterns cast by the moonlight shining through the open-work of the screens to "black velvet embroidery." The reader can almost see the stark contrast between white stone and black shadow and feel the softness and richness of velvet. Here, even the gloom of parts of the palace not touched by moonlight feels luxurious and exciting.
The passage below comes from "Kaa’s Hunting," and it describes Mowgli's harrowing journey through the jungle with the Bandar-log monkeys. Kipling's narrator uses hyperbolic visual and tactile imagery to bring Mowgli’s ride to life for the reader:
Sick and giddy as Mowgli was he could not help enjoying the wild rush, though the glimpses of earth far down below frightened him, and the terrible check and jerk at the end of the swing over nothing but empty air brought his heart between his teeth. [...] he felt the thinnest topmost branches crackle and bend under them, and then with a cough and a whoop would fling themselves into the air outward and downward, and bring up, hanging by their hands or their feet to the lower limbs of the next tree.
The author's employment of visual imagery here allows readers to "see" the chaotic scramble through the jungle: they witness the branches crackling and bending, and can easily imagine limber monkey bodies being flung through the air. The entire passage paints a vivid picture of wild and chaotic movement. The tactile imagery here allows readers to "feel" what Mowgli feels: the rush of wind, the check and jerk of the swinging, and the sensation of hanging on to the branches. It’s overwhelming for the reader, as well as Mowgli himself.
The hyperbole Kipling uses to describe the "Man-cub's" reaction here also emphasizes the passage's intensity. Mowgli feeling his heart "between his teeth" is an exaggeration that conveys the extreme fear and adrenaline rushing through him during this wild ride. It's not a literal description, as his actual heart remains firmly in his chest. However, it helps the reader understand the gut-churning, exhilarating feeling of his romp through the forest.
In the fierce confrontation between Nagaina and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the author employs simile and auditory imagery to bring the reader closer to the fight:
Again and again and again she struck, and each time her head came with a whack on the matting of the veranda, and she gathered herself together like a watch-spring. Then Rikki-tikki danced in a circle to get behind her, and Nagaina spun round to keep her head to his head, so that the rustle of her tail on the matting sounded like dry leaves blown along by the wind.
As she and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi battle, Kipling compares Nagaina's bodily tension to a "watch-spring." Although Nagaina is a snake and not made of metal, this "spring" conjures images of coiled strength and the menacing sharpness of its pointed end for the reader. Like a spring bouncing, Nagaina strikes “again and again and again” at Riki-Tikki-Tavi. Even though the mongoose is strong, Nagaina is a formidable, almost mechanically efficient opponent.
The author also uses auditory imagery to bring the clash between mongoose and snake to life. They liken Nagaina's tail rustling on the matting to "dry leaves blown along by the wind." Although Nagaina is not a large animal, her sinuous body is dangerous and agile, lightly skating over the matting. This choice of sound imagery makes readers feel the scene’s tension, allowing them to almost hear the snake as Rikki-Tikki-Tavi does.
In this passage from “Her Majesty’s Servants,” the narrator deploys visual and tactile imagery to immerse readers in the scrambled atmosphere of the Amir of Afghanistan’s camp:
[...] the Amir had brought with him for a bodyguard eight hundred men and horses who had never seen a camp or a locomotive before in their lives – savage men and savage horses from somewhere at the back of Central Asia. Every night a mob of these horses would be sure to break their heel-ropes, and stampede up and down the camp through the mud in the dark, or the camels would break loose and run about and fall over the ropes of the tents, and you can imagine how pleasant that was for men trying to go to sleep
The visual imagery of this quotation paints a vivid scene of disorder and tumult: "savage men and savage horses" in this number are a scary prospect. This description conjures up images for the reader that align with colonial stereotypes. The Amir cannot keep his men under control, reinforcing the notion of non-British rule as inherently unruly and chaotic. Indeed, it’s depicted metaphorically as a "stampede." The description amplifies the foreignness and unruliness of the Afghan troupe, emphasizing the so-called “savage” disorder. The narrator even makes the geographical location of Afghanistan seem far away and primitive, saying the troupe comes from “somewhere in the back of Central Asia.”
Tactile imagery further intensifies the sense of pandemonium in the camp. Descriptions of horses breaking “heel-ropes,” and animals stampeding in the mud give the reader a sensory overload. The reader can almost feel the jarring movements of the big animals around them and feel the abrupt snapping of the ropes and tents. Everything is tumultuous and disorganized in the same way—Kipling implies—that Afghan rule is tumultuous and disorganized compared to British military occupation.
