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| Delacroix's Women of Algiers (1834) |
* How does Kipling take to the Great Game and becoming a Sahib? Does he begin to lose his 'Indian' identity in the face of colonial knowledge?
* Related to this, how does Kim begin to understand his own identity? Consider the passage in Chapter XII, "No; I am Kim. This is the great world, and I am only Kim. Who is Kim?" (96).
* What is the purpose of the lama's stories and sayings, particularly the 'Jataka' in Chapter IX? Are these symbolic/allegorical of Kim's journey? Or are they simply 'Oriental' embellishments of the narrative?
* How does Kim's relationship with the lama progress throughout these chapters? Why does Kim want to find him again?
* Discuss the character of Hurree Chunder Mookerjee (or R.17): what role does he seem to play in the work? How does the narrator (and others) view him and his pursuits?
* Similarly, who is Lurgan Sahib? How is he portrayed by the narrator, and how do Kim and others regard him? Is he another colonial stereotype (like Bennett and others)? Or is he more like the curator at the museum in the opening chapters?
* How does the narrator continue to comment on the characters and landscape of India, and where do we see a more tolerant (native) view vs. a more condescending ('Orientalist') view?
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