Tomorrow will be our last day on Kim. I want to focus specifically on what happens in the end, how other critics view this, and how we read Kim's ultimate "career"--as a chela (Indian) or as an agent (Sahib). Consider how some of the previous questions are resolved--or not--in these final chapters. Also note the appearance of the 'Woman of Shamleigh,' who resembles ' 'Lisbeth' from Kipling's earlier story...what is her role in the plot? What role/voice do women have in this predominantly male adventure narrative?
I plan to start Naipaul's An Area of Darkness on Thursday, so make sure you have it handy. A lot of Naipaul will speak to issues in Kipling, and indeed, in a later chapter he even talks about "Kipling's India" and makes references to Kim and other stories. Indians have a long and very ambivalent relationship to Kim, with some writers more or less admiring his achivement (such as Rushdie, Narayan), while others are critical of the man but find selected truths in his fiction (Naipaul).
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