Dylan Passalacqua
September 25, 2015
Professor Shannon
SIS 100
Kim Book Review
“Kim” by Rudyard Kipling is a novel that takes place in the late 1890’s in British India.
He spends most of his time in the city of Lahore in which he runs around searching for food.
Kim basically lives a carefree life doing mischievous things and loves to explore the city and
carry secret messages for the locals in the midst of the night. Kim’s mother was a Nursemaid and
his father was an Irish Soldier, who was an opium addict, and they both died in poverty. His
father didn’t get to see Kim grow up because he died in Kim’s early years. However, His father
had visions while he was on drugs and he would always talk about “nine hundred first-class
devils, whose God was a Red Bull on a green field” (1.2). The woman who takes care of Kim has
absolutely no clue what his father means by this however she does mention that his father left
him a prophecy saying “One day a Red Bull will arrive with a colonel on horseback and then the
nine hundred devils.”. One day Kim is playing out front of the Wonder House, which is the
Lahore Museum, and spots someone wearing clothes like he is never seen before and this is
when he meets a man named Lama who is a Tibetan Buddhist from the North. The Lama shares a
story with Kim in which he explains that once a Buddhist shot and arrow far beyond his furthest
target and where the arrow landed a river sprung up.
Kim goes with Lama on this journey and before he leaves he is asked to deliver this
messages to an Englishman in Umballa. Soon after as he starts traveling he sees part of his
“prophecy” and soon comes to realize who he actually is. Kim learns he is actually British and
Lama offers to pay for his education. He went from a poor smartass kid to a British schoolboy in
a matter of days. Soon after Kim is learning how to do spy stuff and making maps and eventually
gets a silver amulet which lets people recognize him as a Secret Agent.
There are several different meanings in this novel such as what it takes to be an agent and
the different types of people they are and what people will do to get what they want no matter
who or what it is. When Mahbul attempts to make Kim deliver a dangerous message despite how
old he is Kim gladly accepts because he loves doing it. Despite how dangerous it may or might
not be, Mahbul took advantage of the kid because of what he knew about Kim. He knew that
Kim was a dependable message carrier and he is great at using disguises and hiding. Even
though later on in the novel Kim starts a summer job with Mahbub. This novel also has a sense
of spirituality when it talks about the prophecy surrounding Kim, which ends up becoming true
