The Childhood of Empire and the Politics of Representation: A Study of Ex-Child, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Books

Abstract: Mowgli, the child protagonist of The Jungle Book, belongs to the created space of the childhood dream of the Sahib Kipling. In the book, the ideal space for the child and that of the British Empire are in a state of equilibrium. India is a romantic playground of the ex-child Kipling and the playground of imperialism for the Sahib Kipling. Therefore, the constancy of his childhood dream is always dependent on his illusion of the constancy of the Empire as a positive source of power. So, Mowgli is an outsider very easily accepted as superior and given attributes of racial superiority. Therefore, The Jungle Books, beneath its allegorical framework, brings together the politics of representations associated with children’s literature and the literature of the Empire.