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mrtumnusscarf 's review for:
The Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling
I didn't realize Mowgli's story is just a small fraction of the tales in this book. It was very familiar and enjoyable.
The rest of the book is unrelated tales of British occupied India. Some of them are cute or fun, some of them are horrifying in their casual cruelty. There is one about an elephant handler who tracks down and kills wild elephants. The horror of every elephant in India being "owned" by the British is stated as a fact, not something awful or unnatural.
It is an incredible snapshot of a period in time when white people thought they owned everything. As a time capsule it is fascinating. As a children's book it's very questionable. There is a lot of death and violence, especially in the second book. People beating (and eating) dogs, clubbing seals, Mowgli herding animals to their deaths repeatedly, wolves vs dholes, bees stinging animals to death, drowning, and so on. That plus the message that man is the king of everything, makes this book a lesson in how not to treat animals. Animal lovers would not enjoy this book!
The rest of the book is unrelated tales of British occupied India. Some of them are cute or fun, some of them are horrifying in their casual cruelty. There is one about an elephant handler who tracks down and kills wild elephants. The horror of every elephant in India being "owned" by the British is stated as a fact, not something awful or unnatural.
It is an incredible snapshot of a period in time when white people thought they owned everything. As a time capsule it is fascinating. As a children's book it's very questionable. There is a lot of death and violence, especially in the second book. People beating (and eating) dogs, clubbing seals, Mowgli herding animals to their deaths repeatedly, wolves vs dholes, bees stinging animals to death, drowning, and so on. That plus the message that man is the king of everything, makes this book a lesson in how not to treat animals. Animal lovers would not enjoy this book!