KIM IX -- chapter 5.1: Nine Hundred Pukka Devils

courtesy: dontaylorbookbinder.blogspot.com

Stop reading at: "'Powers of Darkness!' was all that Father Victor could say, as Bennett marched off, with a firm hand on Kim's shoulder."

1. The psychology of prophesies (and I can't help but mentally separate from the red bull those which I believe to be "true" prophesies, on the/my religious front, though these must by necessity be just as subject to this question as any other, as Christianity is as much a mythology as any other religion) interests me, inasmuch as the fulfillment of Kim's father's prophesy is subject upon Kim's interpretation of both the prophesy and the circumstances around him.  We've already seen one instance when perhaps the prophesy had potential to be fulfilled (the red-faced "bullish" horse trader), but as of now Kim has disregarded it.  What would have happened had he believed it the fulfillment of his prophesy back at that point?  Rather, now, the red bull on the green flag, which also happens to be the flag of his father's Irish regiment (the deus is it!), appears, and Kim believes it to be the fulfillment--or, at least, a signpost toward (and, admittedly, this is a much stronger potential fulfillment than the old horse trader!) --the prophecy.  Thoughts?
2. The Royal Loyal Mavericks
3. The Lama: "I have considered the countenance of that priest, and I think he is learned."  Is this possible?
4. Kipling doesn't spend (waste?) any time describing the internal emotional machinations of his characters, and in this case we see little physical evidence of how the discovery makes him feel, beyond Kim's muttering "It certainly was a Red Bull—my Red Bull".  Is there turmoil?
5. An obscure, nearly-impossible, yet potentially humorous cross-textual comparison: Kimball O'Hara, Jr. and the Lama :: Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins.
6. Coincidence???  (the regiment is his father's who and their symbol is his)  --  Regardless, I finally feel a connection to the story (and yes, I'm still so callow a reader that, while not requiring one, a connection is yet highly desirable and influential).

KIM VIII -- chapter 4.2: Bring Her Her Pipe

The Grand Trunk Road: http://www.jimwegryn.com

Start reading at: "The diamond-bright dawn woke men and crows and bullocks together. Kim sat up and yawned, shook himself, and thrilled with delight."

1. What does Kipling mean by, "he borrowed right- and left-handedly from all the customs of the country he knew and loved."
2. "If Kim had walked proudly the day before, disciple of a holy man, to-day he paced with tenfold pride in the train of a semi-royal procession, with a recognised place under the patronage of an old lady of charming manners and infinite resource."  Would Kim be satisfied remaining in such a position, despite his current pride and comfort, for a permanent of even extended duration?
3. The plot of Kim is not particularly "tight," you might say.  What are your thoughts at this point regarding the story's development?  Additionally, many excellent novels feature relatively loose plots.  How might such narration be indeed effective and under which circumstance?

Aside: I'm reading Kim in Microsoft Word after having copied and pasted it from a gutenburg.org etext.  The problem with this, of course, and without turning off the application under the software's innumerable options, is the absurdly consistent appearance (just imagine it, considering all the cultural references in the text if nothing else) of those little red and green spelling and grammar squiggles.  Two occasions, however, brought me to think a bit about how this particular MS Word convention--not to mention that of Google and various other software--affects my writing.  Aesthetically, I hate the squiggles.  They irritate me, and they, well, make me nervous and self-conscious.  Despite my understanding of their frequent inaccuracies, I can't help but feel their criticism when they appear below my words (I'm not so bothered when they appear under another's, like Kipling's, for example), and find myself rewriting/-wording my sentences, even when I know I'm not wrong so to write.  Two examples of one English grammar issue that I nearly always rewrite for reason of this personal insecurity appeared today: "bring her her pipe" and "what was going on on the road."  Interesting that English's construction permits the appearance of the same word repeated consecutively and yet be accurate.  I think I understand that MS Word is simply trying to draw the writer's attention to potentially accidentally repeated words, but come on, there's really no smooth way to rewrite either of these two phrases.