At the same time of course, considering this all takes place in British India, it’s hard not to think of Baloo and the carnivores’ total ostracizing approach to the monkeys as somehow parallel to the treatment of dalits in the caste system if we flip the script a bit.
Jacob
It’s interesting that the Monkey-People are described by Baloo as being “everything eaters” and that they “have no law” and are “without leaders.”
In the colonial order of this text, it is dishonorable to not fit into a defined role and threateningly anarchic to not yield to natural authority.
Jacob
Alright. Tonight I’m reading “Kaa’s Hunting” from The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling.
I appreciate that this opens with a quoted poem that suggests not to harm the cubs of a stranger, ascribed to the Maxims of Baloo, since Baloo the bear is like a philosopher in this world.
