57 pages • 1-hour read
Just So Stories
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Symbols & Motifs
Caves
Caves appear throughout Just So Stories as a symbol of society and civilization. The stories tell of the movement from the wild, unstructured days at the start of the world to the orderly system of modern society. Caves act as a portal into this more civilized world, setting the human characters apart from the rest of the natural world and reflecting The Relationship Between Man and Animals.
The cave as a symbol of civilization is most apparent in “The Cat Who Walked by Himself.” The Woman tames first the Man and then a succession of wild animals, and the cave plays an important role in this process. She insists on “keep[ing] house” in “a nice dry Cave,” instead of sleeping in “a heap of wet leaves” like the Man does (62). She hangs a dried skin over the mouth of the cave, physically separating them from the natural world, and insists that the Man “wipe [his] feet” (62) when he comes inside. The cave is the thing that begins to differentiate humans from other animals.
One by one, the wild animals come to the cave, and the Woman makes her deals with them. Their approach to the cave and entrance, in the Dog’s case, marks their shift from wildness to domestication. The cave represents a life of creature comforts, including warmth, shelter, and delicious food compared to the discomfort of the “Wet Wild Woods.”
The Animals’ Features
Many of the Just So Stories tell of animals developing certain features as a consequence of their behaviors. These features, then, become symbolic of the animals’ vices and virtues. The Whale, for example, eats nonstop until the Mariner installs a grate in his throat, making the Whale’s small throat a symbol of both the animal’s gluttony and the Mariner’s resourcefulness. The Camel’s hump is a symbol of his laziness and the burden he placed on the other animals with his refusal to work. The Rhinoceros’s skin is a symbol of his inconsiderateness and his bad manners. The Elephant’s trunk is a symbol of the Elephant Child’s persistence and curiosity. The animals’ features serve as a reminder to themselves and others of the ways one should or should not behave, and The Lasting Consequences of Actions.
Magic
Magic is used throughout Just So Stories as a motif to explain much of the seemingly inexplicable phenomena of the natural world. On the one hand, Kipling invokes magic to subtly point out the remarkable nature of certain things some people take for granted. For example, when the ‘Stute Fish tells the Whale what latitude and longitude to swim to, he notes, “[T]hat’s magic.” The narrator makes a similar comment describing the Parsee man’s cake in “How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin,” suggesting the many strange and whimsical things in our world that people may forget to notice.
Magic also appears in a more explicit sense with magicians, supernatural beings, and humans alike bringing aspects of the world into being by casting spells and performing magic. The Camel’s hump, for example, comes about because the Djinn, a magical being that travels across the desert in a cloud of dust, casts a spell to punish him. In “The Crab That Played With the Sea,” a magician is the powerful being in charge at “the Time of the Very Beginnings” (53), and he uses magic to order the world and direct the new animals to do their jobs. Similarly, the Woman in “The Cat Who Walked by Himself” uses magic to call the wild animals in from the forest and domesticate them.
Throughout the text, Kipling uses magic to explain seemingly inexplicable things about the natural world and describe how things came to be. It serves as a reminder that the world is full of wonder and many of the things people can take for granted are quite strange and magical when examined more closely.
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