Kim

5 Pages 1167 Words

Identity Crisis
It takes many people years to find their identities; who they are, what their purpose in life is and how to best live their lives. Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim traces Kim’s journey in finding himself and his identity. Kim travels around India and meets various people with different backgrounds and beliefs. Every time he encounters a new situation he changes his personality to fit his surroundings, not allowing himself to be his true self. It takes Kim the course of the whole novel to figure out that his true identity lays in the beginning of the novel; he shows his true identity when with the lama. The lama introduces Kim to spirituality which creates a simple balance between his physical and spiritual side.
Kim grows up in an environment full of physicality and sin. His life is completely indulged in these two aspects which is essentially a half-life; he does not have a physical side to counter-balance his worldliness. Kim then meets a lama who constantly focuses on spirituality; he has no physical side to him. The lama attracts Kim as something different and Kim jumps to join the lama and to become his disciple. The lama and Kim supplement each other and each obtains a new vehicle for expressing his quality for good. The lama and Kim then embark on a journey together.
After leaving the city and arriving at the Great Road, Kim and the lama meet an old lady accompanied by a convoy of servants. In exchange for a blessing from the lama, the old lady allows him and Kim to ride along with her and she supplies them with food and shelter. As they ride along the road, “The diamond-bright dawn [wakes] man and crows and bullocks together” (62). Mother Nature envelops Kim and the rest of G-d’s creations as one. The dawn wakes up animals and man alike; there is no separation between the two. The serene setting allows Kim to observe his surroundings and take comfort in them: “This [is] seeing the worl...