Kipling and Dahl. A comparative approach. Thanks again, Alicia Knight, for your awesome work with the students.

1. Rudyard Kipling and
Roald Dahl
SOCIAL COMMENTARY IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

2. Rudyard Kipling: Biography
 Born in Imperial India to British parents
 Sent to an abusive foster home in England when he was very
young, and then to school
 Returned to India and began his writing career, later
emigrating to the USA and starting a family
 Devastated by the death of his daughter Josephine, he
returned to the UK
 Still an ardent supporter of the British Empire, he reported
on colonial wars and arranged for his son to be enlisted in
the First World War
 His works are considered controversial

3. Roald Dahl: Biography
 Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, his father
and sister died when they were very young
 Sent to several schools where strict corporal
punishment was employed (but he also got to
test chocolate bars)
 After school, joined the RAF and was shot down
in Africa during the Second World War
 Later gathered intelligence for MI6

4. The Jungle Book
 A collection of short stories featuring Mowgli, a
“man-cub” found abandoned in the Indian Jungle
and adopted by a wolf-pack and raised by Baloo (a
bear) and Bagheera (a panther).
 As a man-cub, he is mistrusted by some other
animals for being an outsider, despite trying to live
by their rules, because of man’s dangerous nature
 The vicious tiger Shere Khan wants to eat him
 Later Mowgli returns to human society but finds
that he dislikes their pointless rules and ignorance
of the jungle
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKp0ICORvQM

5. Matilda, Charlie and The Witches
 Matilda is a story about a five year old girl who is so intelligent that she
develops telekinesis. Her family neglects her and she attends a school run
by the evil Miss Trunchbull, and soon learns to get revenge
 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory features a boy from a poor family called
Charlie, who wins a Golden Ticket and gets to visit a mysterious and
magical chocolate factory owned by the insane Mr Wonka
 The Witches is a story about an orphan boy and his Grandmamma, an ex-
witch-hunter, who accidentally stumble on a meeting of the Witches of
England, whose mission is to kill all children
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuyElRs_48Q

6. Rules and Organisation in Kipling
 In The Jungle Book, the animals all follow the Laws of the Jungle, a code
for surviving of individuals, families and communities
 The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason,
forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his
children how to kill. (1.19)
 "Thou hast been with the Monkey-People—the grey apes—the people
without a Law—the eaters of everything. That is great shame." (3.26)
 For three months after that night Mowgli hardly ever left the village gate,
he was so busy learning the ways and customs for men. (5.23)

7. Rules and Organisation in Dahl
 Dahl was critical of authority and mocks authority figures in many of his
books, most notably Matilda
 "[…] My idea of a perfect school, Miss Honey, is one that has no children in
it at all. One of these days I shall start up a school like that. I think it will be
very successful." (14.3)
 "The first time," Hortensia said, "I poured half a tin of Golden Syrup on to
the seat of the chair the Trunchbull was going to sit on at prayers. It was
wonderful. When she lowered herself into the chair, there was a loud
squelching noise similar to that made by a hippopotamus when lowering
its foot into the mud on the banks of the Limpopo River. […]" (10.17)

8. Family in Kipling
 Animals in The Jungle Book stick together, notably Akela and Mowgli’s
Mother and Father Wolf, and Messua, the human woman who adopts him
 "He is our brother in all but blood," Akela went on. (1.126)
 "Those feet have never worn shoes, but thou art very like my Nathoo, and
thou shalt be my son." (5.12)

9. Family in Dahl
 Family is treated differently in Dahl’s various works, but ultimately he seems to
share Kipling’s view that family is a source of love and comfort
 Matilda’s biological family are awful but she is adopted by Miss Honey
 But Dahl also references how most families love each other
 It's a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the
most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or
she is wonderful. (1.1)
 In The Witches, the Narrator and his Grandmamma’s love for each other is
unconditional
 "Because I would never want to live longer than you," I said. "I couldn't stand
being looked after by anybody else." (21.29)

10. Coming of Age in Kipling
 Mowgli starts as a man-cub but over the course of the books becomes an
adult in both the animal and human world, but cannot really belong in
either.
 [Mowgli] grew and grew strong as a boy must grow who does not know
that he is learning any lessons, and who has nothing in the world to think
of except things to eat. (1.70)
 Mowgli, as a man-cub, had to learn a good deal more than this. (3.1)

11. Coming of age in Dahl
 Dahl’s books for intermediate readers actually feature younger children
who are either remarkably intelligent (Matilda) or mature (Charlie). Critics
say this helps them appeal to adolescents as they can maintain a belief in
good defeating evil while developing their own identities separate from
parents and teachers
 "You are so much wiser than your years, my dear," Miss Honey went on,
"that it quite staggers me. Although you look like a child, you are not really
a child at all because your mind and your powers of reasoning seem to be
fully grown-up. So I suppose we might call you a grown-up child, if you
see what I mean." (17.12)

12. Principles and Morality in Kipling
 The animal’s follow The Laws of the Jungle, creating their own “society”
and these rules benefit everyone. The amoral Shere Khan risks everyone
 The reason beasts give among themselves [for not hunting man] is that
Man is the weakest and most defenceless [sic] of all living things, and it is
unsportsmanlike to touch him. (1.19)
 Akela lifted his head again, and said: "He has eaten our food. He has slept
with us. He has driven game for us. He has broken no word of the Law of
the Jungle." (1.122)
 "Run back, Messua. This is one of the foolish tales they tell under the big
tree at dusk. I have at least paid for thy son's life. Farewell; and run quickly,
for I shall send the herd in more swiftly than their brickbats. I am no
wizard, Messua. Farewell!" (5.98)

13. Principles and morality in Dahl
 In Dahl’s novels, Good always triumphs over Evil (although it can be
bittersweet), and people who are cruel, selfish or greedy are mocked and
punished
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pks7q2qyM-s
 She didn't in the least mind being accused of having done something she
had actually done. She could see the justice of that. It was, however, a
totally new experience for her to be accused of a crime that she definitely
had not committed. (14.16)
 "They're not for sale," Mr. Wonka answered. "She can't have one."
"Who says I can't!" shouted Veruca. "I'm going in to get myself one this
very minute!" (24.19)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zcVnNwAHys