The Jungle Book: Annotated

Published in 1894, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a collection of short stories and poems. It is one of the best-known and beloved works of children's literature; however, Kipling's complex views on colonialism and race justifiably factor into the assessment of its value.

In this collection of stories, Kipling employs anthropomorphism, which is the attribution of human-like emotions, incentives, and traits to non-human entities. Through the various plotlines and characters, Kipling is able to convey a moral meaning at the end of every story. The most famous stories from The Jungle Book include the eight stories revolving around the adventures of Mowgli, an abandoned "man cub" who is raised by wolves in the Indian jungle. The other famous stories are "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," the story of a heroic mongoose who saves a human by killing a dangerous snake, and "Toomai of the Elephants," the tale of a young elephant-handler. As with much of Kipling's work, each of the stories is followed by a poem that serves as an epigram. As Kipling was British but born in India, his stories were greatly influenced by his years in the British colony. In The Jungle Book, he employs various names and phrases popularly used in the Indian subcontinent, such as "Bagheera" which is a Hindi/Urdu word that translates to black panther; Mowgli; Shere Khan; Akela; and Haathi among others.

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