We are currently in the 21st century.
I also expect people to defend The Jungle Book from the other side.
To say that it cant be read with modern ideas in mind.
It was written in 1894 by a white British man who was born in India.
Thats just how they thought back then.
Both arguments only work up to a point.
The death of the author doesnt excuse the inherent racism and imperialism baked into The Jungle Book.
It is impossible to separate The Jungle Book from Kiplings most famous imperialist work: The White Mans Burden.
And itcontinuesin that vein for another six verses.
We have everything else that Kiplings written to prove that.
In part, hes a great spy because of how well he apes Indian people, so thats fun.
My god, dont forget that you are British and not a lesser breed.
And, of course, we have The Jungle Book itself.
The Jungle Book is just as drenched with racism and colonialism as anything else Kipling wrote on the subject.
Thats a neat parallel to Britain and India.
Because they are more rational, you see.
There are messages in The Jungle Book that are very hard to remove.
How does this idea pass muster in 2016?
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