Diab 1

Sara Diab
Professor Haas
Writing 37
9 March 2015
The Rhetorical Device of Reverse Anthropomorphism in Tiger! Tiger! by
Rudyard Kipling
When discussing the current context of American life, financial
hierarchy within America, one often hears the words the one percent, a
small portion of the population that is excused from the financial burdens
that penetrate the middle and lower income classes; however, social
hierarchy is not limited to this place or time period- its reckoning has been
existent in many human cultures throughout history. Literature, since it is
written by someone who lives within a specific time period and culture
reflects the problems and issues of its context. For example, during the
1890s, Rudyard Kipling wrote stories set in the jungles of India that reflected
the social hierarchy created through British imperialism and its domination of
India. This is evident in his short story Tiger! Tiger!, found within The
Jungle Book published in 1894, which uses reverse anthropomorphism to
highlight the graveness of a hierarchy established in society while
simultaneously drawing a parallel between the fictional text and the nonfictional reality of England and Indias colonial relationship.

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Rudyard Kipling, a famous English author of the late 1800s, turned to

books and stories and blossomed as a writer due to the many tribulations he
faced: getting bullied by his foster mother in England and being left out due
to his Indian background at school (Bio). Kipling lived in a time where
England was colonizing India, a theme represented in his short stories. A. G
Hopkins, a British historian known for his extensive work on empires and
globalization, and P. J. Cain, a professor in history, assert that in times of
crisis it was more important that Indias debts [imposed by England] were
settled than British goods were bought (301). By ensuring that India pay its
debts, Britain remained superior to the inferior India and its inhabitants,
further tensing the relationship between imperialist Britain and colonized
India. This lead to Kipling becoming a man torn between the two worlds of
India and England. As an Indian boy in England, he never quite fit into his
environment, and because he was treated as an outsider in India due to his
time studying in England at the height of Imperialism, Kipling, became a man
with no nation. This isolation that impeded Kiplings childhood parallels the
isolation of the orphan boy, Mowgli, in his short story Tiger! Tiger!.
Following the seemingly innate jungle law, a tiger within the Jungle, Shere
Khan, forces Mowgli to leave the only place he called home because of the
idea that he was an outsider. And upon entering the village, Mowgli is
greeted with shrieks and yells by its inhabitants, even the yellow pariah dogs
(81). Therefore the reader can discern Mowgli is now a boy with no place to
call home. By having Mowgli at the end of the Jungle, from which he is forced

Diab 3

to escape, and the beginning of the town, in which he is already being

rejected, the reader pities Mowglis situation and is overcome with feelings of
empathy. These feelings are further driven because Mowgli is only an
innocent young boy who is dealing with rejection due to the social structure
and acceptance of each society.
As humans, we identify with situations that are closely related to our
lives; thus Kipling wisely incorporates Mowglis journey of adaptation through
reverse anthropomorphism, which is not foreign to readers, in both the
Jungle and the human town. Mowgli, a boy adopted and raised by animals is
seen by the humans as an animal due to his untamed characteristics. But
Kipling introduces Mowglis innate human traits through his yearning to learn
the language of man when Mowgli elicits What is the good of a manif he
does not understand mans talk?I must speak their thought (83).
Mowglis interest in learning the language differentiates him from the animal
species which are unable to claim this ability. Because the reader is able to
transgress into Mowglis thoughts and yearns, Kipling allows a connection to
be made between the two. Where Mowgli was once seen as the other to the
readers, suddenly his identity evolves to a more human and less savage like
state. But Mowgli is limited in the extent to which he can embed himself into
the human life. He is restricted from accepting the injustice that is within
society due to the caste system, [and] Mowgli had not the faintest idea of
the difference that caste makes between man and man (86). Although
Mowgli came from the Jungle, a supposedly uncivilized setting, Kipling uses

Diab 4

reverse anthropomorphism to show that this idea of the caste system, as

Tess Cosslett, a researcher of childrens literature elicits, is more primitive
than civilized (126). This rhetorical devise is utilized to parallel the fictional
text with the non-fictional state of the imperial England and the colonized
India. According to Sumit Sarkar, an Indian historian, during the late 1800s,
England declared itself as more civilized than India and therefore was
responsible to help develop or modernize India (25). Due to this professed
responsibility, a hierarchical system was established allowing for England to
depict India and all that was related to it, including its inhabitants, as inferior.
However the reader of Tiger! Tiger! is persuaded into recognizing that this
road to civilization is truly destructive and thus savage like in nature.
Kipling again uses reverse anthropomorphism to highlight the futility
and ramifications of declaring unnecessary roles through Mowglis depicted
independent yet declared dependent state. [In] the village people said that
he was as strong as a bull yet they still acted as if he required the care of
the villagers (86). When assessing their intentions, particularly the priest, the
reader is given an insight on their truly deceitful plans. That is, the priest
sought for monetary gains when telling Messua, the wife to the richest
villager in the place, to care for Mowgli and forget not to honor the priest
who sees so far into the lives of the men (82). Here, the readers can draw a
comparison between the priests true intent in his actions towards that of
Englands actions upon India. Where India is seen as an orphan child, it
licensees the imperial power to take on the colonial role of parent

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(Cosslett 126). In assessing Englands true actions, similar to the priest, it

can be identified that it solely sought out to allegedly improve the conditions
of India for its own monetary gains. Remittance of profits on British capital
invested in railways, plantations, mines, or mills was justified through the
notion that this was to benefit Indias road to modernization (Sarkar 25).
However, like Mowglis true independence given through his characterization
as a bull, Kipling initiates the notion that India did not need the help and
guidance of imperial England.
By reattributing animal characteristics to Mowgli, Kipling reinforces
the boys orphan like state as well the title of an other further appealing to
the readers innate empathy towards the idea of an abused child. On his
return from killing Shere Khan, the boy who believes he has been accepted
by the people of the village, is soon met with dehumanizing phrases. Kipling
ignites within the readers immense pity towards the lost boy when they
scream out Sorcerer! Wolfs brat! Jungle demon! Go away! Get hence
quickly or the priest will turn thee into a wolf again (102). This reverse
anthropomorphism further shows the reader that when an other is labeled,
no actions of the other, even if beneficial, can change a stern
discriminatory viewpoint. Because Mowgli was initially associated with the
animals, feelings of superiority from the villagers remained and reinforced
their hatred towards him. This underlines the persistent and unchangeable
hierarchy that denies access for those in the bottom tiers to rise.

Diab 6

Kipling utilizes the villagers feelings of superiority over the animals to

reveal to the readers the consequences that stem from labeling an other in
society, and thus igniting a sense of ethical protest against such an act.
Because the villagers fail to see Mowgli as an equal in the sense of humanity,
their animosity towards him can be deciphered as stemming from the
superior feelings over animals. Their overbearing dominance over those they
believe to be lower than them allows them to think they have the right to go
to the extent of killing whom they wish. This is portrayed when the villagers
act upon their belief that Mowgli is a sorcerer and throw stones at him which
whistles about his ears (102). To understand why Kipling might possibly
depict such a consequence of labeling others, we must again take into
account the history of England and India. One can note that these feelings of
dominance depicted in the story parallel the Western colonization of the
East. As Borkfelt, a researcher on animals in culture, suggests, the animals
often portrayed the urbanized colonies in need of civilization. Kipling offers
the perfect representation of the need to either tame or expel the savage.
However, here Kipling succeeds in tying the reader towards empathizing with
this declared savage. Though the reader is a human and the savage is
depicted as an animal, the reader still aligns with the latter.
Kipling creatively utilizes the human-animal relationship through
reverse anthropomorphism in order to reveal the consequences and the
underlying intentions of British Imperialism. Throughout his text Tiger!
Tiger! Kipling intertwines a hierarchical society that rejects an innocent

Diab 7

orphan boy with animal like characteristics, to identify the negative

ramifications that result from such a structured society. By attributing animal
characteristics to Mowgli, Kipling portrays this boy as a savage in the eyes of
the townsmen. But by allowing the readers to enter into the thoughts and
feelings of Mowgli, the readers are compelled to see passed his wild like
exterior and into his praiseworthy detachment from the established caste
system. Therefore, Kipling guides the readers to reevaluate the hierarchy
embedded within the fabric of societies. By using humans and animals in the
story, Kipling clearly portrays the tense interaction between two seemingly
different groups. However when he removes Mowgli from the Jungle and
places him amongst the human villagers, he opens the readers eyes to the
reality of the human-human relationship which is not so different than the
human-animal relationship: one that is filled with feelings of superiority from
the former against the latter. Mowglis pain that is described and contended
by the readers elucidates the inevitable cost of this hierarchy that is
intertwined within human societies.

MLA Citations
Borkfelt, Sune. "Colonial Animals and Literary Analysis: The Example of
Kipling's Animal
Stories." Taylor Francis Online. 90 (2009) 557-568. Print.
Cain, P.J. and Hopkins, A.G. British Imperialism 1688-2000. New York:
Routledge, 2013. Print.

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Cosslett, Tess. Talking Animals in British Childrens Fiction, 1786-1914.

Burlington: Ashgate
Publishing Company, 2006. Print.
Kipling, Rudyard. "Tiger Tiger." The Jungle Book. 1894. Print.
"Rudyard Kipling." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
Sarkar, Sumit. Modern India 1885-1947. India: Dorling Kindersley, 2014.
Print.