The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling is a story of two British adventurers who become Kings of a remote place in Afghanistan called Kafiristan. I haven’t read any of Kipling’s works before. My knowledge of his work is pretty limited to The Jungle Book. I thought this novella would be a good place to begin exploring Rudyard Kipling’s works.
The story is somewhere between a short story and a novella. The Man Who Would Be King is set in pre-independent India when it was under British rule. The story of two adventurers Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan, is narrated by a journalist they met in a train travelling through India. Daniel and Peachy have made an elaborate and mad scheme to become kings of the remote country of Kafiristan.
The story tells us their journey to become kings of this remote country and rule the natives there. Daniel and Peachy’s story is extraordinarily detailed. Sometimes it made me wonder if it was just an exaggeration of the true events or if it actually happened to them. The story talks about the plans and aspirations of the British Empire in their colonies through their story. Daniel and Peachy bring weapons that will be completely new for the tribe, making them seem mystical. They also plan to create rifts between the local chiefs and kings for their own gain.
Peachy returns two years later to meet the journalist he is a changed man. He talks about how their plan to become kings succeeded. Daniel managed to become King. When their mystical and god-like aura shatters, the native tribe turns on them feeling betrayed. They both paid a terrible price for their plans. In this part of the world, the price of colonialism is high. The tone of the story changes from almost comical over-the-top plans to succeed to downfall. The last few scenes were gorier than I expected, and the gravity of their impending doom starts setting in.
Rudyard Kipling’s descriptions in the story of the events help you visualize the scenes clearly. The theme of the story is the impact of colonialism on the colonizers who go too far and get too greedy, is explored. I did not think how seriously the theme would play out. I had assumed it would be subtle throughout, but it gets quite horrible towards the end.
The narrative style of a story within a story is intriguing. These people are acquaintances, so the way the story is narrated is informal. The setting also plays a role in the narrative. It helps in understanding the people or the ways these men want to rule, which comes to a full circle later in a way. The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling is an interesting and surprising tale. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it, but I was pleasantly surprised with how fascinating it turned out.
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