Kim

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

DEBATE: “Does Kim Advocate for British Colonialism?”

In this activity, students will participate in a debate where they argue either for or against the assertion that Kipling’s Kim is a work of propaganda for British colonialism.

Using the text as well as your own research, you will argue either for or against the following assertion: Kipling’s Kim is a piece of pro-British empire propaganda. Working with your classmates, you will develop an argument, including opening and closing statements as well as rebuttals, that supports your point of view. Be sure to rehearse your argument with your group before the in-class debate. Finally, participate in a post-debate class discussion in which you analyze and reflect on each team’s argumentative approaches.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity invites students to apply their analytical and debate skills to the text’s themes of Life as a Game, Personal Identity, and Religious and Cultural Diversity. It might be wise to define propaganda for students as “biased or misleading information used to publicize a political point of view.” Students may use arguments from the text, as well as their own opinions on the subject. This teacher-facing resource from Harvard University provides guidance on facilitating in-class debates.

Differentiation Suggestion: You may want to focus on the paragraph at the book’s opening in which Kim’s nickname of “Little Friend of all the World” demonstrates his ability to blend in from one culture to another and ask students if this evidence of a British person’s use of other cultures for his survival is a statement favoring Britain’s empirical ambitions. For further support, the above Activity may be amended to the following prompt: Working in small groups, select one of Kipling’s characters and analyze how the author uses this person to convey a specific perspective on colonialism.

Paired Text Extension:

Two years before Kim’s publication, Kipling wrote the poem “The White Man’s Burden.” Compare and contrast Kipling’s viewpoint of British imperialism in his novel and in his poem. How do these two texts converge on the subject of the British Empire? How do they diverge? Explain.

Teaching Suggestion: Students may complete this Paired Text Extension either as an extended in-class discussion of the above debate or as a take-home written assignment.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Kim engages in a variety of adventures throughout the novel, most of which are connected with the lama.  

• How does Kim’s personality connect with his interest in supporting the lama? (topic sentence)
• Identify 1-2 examples in the text where Kim engages in an adventure with the lama and analyze his response to their time together.
• How does Kim’s personality link to the novel’s theme of Life as a Game?

2. “Third culture kids” (TCKs) are children who come of age in a culture that does not belong to them or their parents. They are often intelligent and have a broad view of the world but can feel like they have no particular place to call home.

• How does Kipling present Kim as a TCK? (topic sentence)
• Find 1-2 examples from the text where Kim exhibits characteristics of TCKs as defined above.
• How does this lens of TCKs speak to the theme of Personal Identity?

3. Issues of race and identity can often be controversial. Kim includes several scenes of characters dressing up as people from other cultures, in some cases even changing the color of their skin. Subsequent generations have presented these actions as problematic examples of casual cultural appropriation.

• Do you find these scenes in Kim to be examples of cultural appropriation? (topic sentence)
• Use 1-2 examples of the text to substantiate your argument and explain why.
• How does the potential cultural appropriation speak to the theme of Religious and Cultural Diversity?

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. The novel’s plotline focuses on two separate threads that run throughout the story: the quest for the Arrow River and Kim’s preparation for espionage work. If you were to describe the book’s plot, you would have to list one of these elements ahead of the other. Which one would you give priority to, and why? Which of these plotlines speaks to the larger historical context of British imperialism on the Indian subcontinent?

2. Compare and contrast Kim’s and the lama’s worldviews. Which one represents a pessimistic worldview, and which one an optimistic view? Do their worldviews clash, or are they harmonious? How do these worldviews shape these two characters’ relations as foils? Explain.

3. Examine the motifs of the river and the road in the novel. How do each of these symbols function within the plot of the novel? What about the characterization of Kim and his counterparts?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following best describes the causes of the deaths of Kim’s parents?

A) War and childbirth

B) Cancer and consumption

C) Drugs and disease

D) Famine and thirst

2. Which words best describe Kim’s personality throughout the novel?

A) Adventurous

B) Calculated

C) Austere

D) Compassionate

3. The narrator writes in Chapter 1, “The Curator smiled at the mixture of old-world piety and modern progress that is the note of India today.” Which of the following phrases best describes Kipling’s purpose in this sentence?

A) To advocate for the removal of British colonial oversight

B) To remind readers of the necessity of European presence on the Indian subcontinent

C) To question the piety of contemporary scholarship

D) To reference the history of French and British imperialism in Southeast Asia

4. Which of the following phrases best describes how Mahbub Ali views Kim?

A) As a trifling nuisance

B) As a bothersome bore

C) As an unexpected blessing

D) As a generous gift-giver

5. How does the lama regard industrial transportation?

A) With awe

B) With hesitancy

C) With jubilance

D) With apathy

6. Which animal motif is referenced throughout the text?

A) The Red Bull

B) The Old Duck

C) The Lame Cow

D) The Pleasant Serpent

7. How do many of the characters respond to Kim’s predictions of the future?

A) They believe that he is a prophet.

B) They believe that he is a rascal.

C) They believe that he is a liar.

D) They believe that he is a lama.

8. Which of the following pairs of words describe life on the paraos and the Grand Trunk Road?

A) Orderly and dull

B) Lively and pious

C) Chaotic and simplistic

D) Harmonious and peaceful

9. As he continues his journey with the lama in Chapter 4, the narrator reflects, “India was awake, and Kim was in the middle of it.” Which of the following literary terms does the narrator use in this quote?

A) Paradox

B) Simile

C) Personification

D) Synecdoche

10. Which of the following emotions does the lama struggle with throughout the novel, as it is antithetical to his Buddhist philosophy?

A) Attachment to Kim

B) Affection for animals

C) Desire for food

D) Lust for opium

11. Which metaphor do various characters use in the novel to refer to espionage activities?

A) A kitchen

B) A game

C) A dance

D) A wedding

12. Which of the following qualities does the character Huneefa add to the novel?

A) Atheism

B) Scholasticism

C) Athleticism

D) Mysticism

13. Which of the following pairs of words relate to how Kim navigates the changes in his Personal Identity?

A) Books and religion

B) Clothes and language

C) Friends and studies

D) Employment and mentorship

14. The narrator notes in Chapter 12, “Here sat the Gods on high—and they were dreams of dreams. Here was our Heaven and the world of the demi-Gods—horsemen fighting among the hills. Here were the agonies done upon the beasts, souls ascending or descending the ladder and therefore not to be interfered with. Here were the Hells, hot and cold, and the abodes of tormented ghosts.” Which of the following literary terms is used in the above quote?

A) Allegory

B) Alliteration

C) Allusion

D) Anaphora

15. How is the lama received differently among the populations of the Indian subcontinent?

A) He is most respected by Muslims in the west.

B) He is most disliked by Hindus in the south.

C) He is most revered by people in the north.

D) He is most detested by the government in the east.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What is the structure of the novel? Consider the plot development as well as how each chapter begins.

2. Kipling incorporates a variety of words that might be unfamiliar to the contemporary reader. Define the following terms: sahib, bibi mariam, chela, Mussalmani/Mohammedan, and fakirs. How does the use of these terms shape the historical context of Kipling’s novel?