Costumes of English Literary Characters: Kim


Figure 1.--This studio shot for the MGM film "Kim" shows Dean Stockwell reading the Kipling classic. We hope that he read the book well before the shooting began and that this is only a publicity shot.

Rudyard Kipling's final and most famous novel, Kim was about an Irish orphan who follows a Tibetan monk while being trained in British espionage. You can't get more exciting than that. Kim was Kimball O'Hara, an orphaned son of a British seargeant serving in India. The 1950 American MGM film version with Dean Stockwell was especially good. In it Kim wore a very smart uniform with a red jacket and cap which he did not like. Kipling like Stephenson also married an American lady. He lived in the U.S for a time. He wrote an unfinished biography about his childhood called Something of Myself. There is a good story about 19th century childhood.

Rudyard Kipling

Kipling like Stephenson also married an American lady. He liveed in the U.S for a time. He wrote an unfinished biography about his childhood called Something of Myself. There is a good story about 19th century childhood.

Plot

Rudyard Kipling's final and most famous novel, Kim was about an Irish orphan who follows a Tibetan monk while being trained in British espionage. You can't get more exciting than that.

Setting

It all takes place in British India. The places in which the story takes place are now mostly in modern Pakistan. The School Kim went to is in the Indian city of Lucknow. He went into the mountains around the city of Shaharunpore, Simla which was the city where the British came in the summer while administering India to escape the heat. The Russians gained alot of land in Central Asia and came very close to India. There was in the 19th century a great fear that Russia would entrer India and that some regions would go over to the Russians. The rivalry between the Russians in Central Asia and the British in India is the "Great Game" which Kippling refers to. Notice the use of a ports metaphor. Hense in Kim, one of the spies is Russian who are trying to win Indian princes to the Russian cause.

Kim

Kim was Kimball O'Hara, an orphaned son of a British seargeant serving in the British Indian Army.

Costume References

There is alot in Kim about boys fashion. Indian Hindu and Muslim Boys as well as European dress for boys.

Inspiration for Kim

An interesting book, In Search of Kim provides information about real people places and institutions Kipling modeled his novel Kim upon. In part of the novel Kim goes to a British Boarding School at Lucknow, India. it seems it was modelled on a British Boarding School that existed in Lucknown. The author, Andrew Hopkins, did not travel to India to see the school. Instead he spoke to Stephen Brooks, a former pupil, who attended it at the time of World War II. The author gives a short history of the boy. It seems he fled from Burma when the Japanese invaded. he and his parents walked the 600 or so miles to India. The account tells of this traumatic time. He still has nightmares about the incidents experienced then.

St Xavier

Kim is given the opportunity to go to school. Kim has befriended Teshoo Lama who sees to it that Kim goes to the best school in British India. The school is in the city of Lucknow. Kipling called the school ‘St Xavier.’ A school by this name does not exist for it is a Kipling creation. He used a real school as its model. Kipling authorities believe that the school is ‘La Martiniere,’ a school with a fascinating history.

Films

There have been two films that we know of based on Kudyard Kipling's Kim. Both productions stay tue to the novel. The MGM 1950 production "Kim"with Erol Flynn and Dean Stockwell is a wonderful film depiction of the novel. It is not only an exciting film wih fine performances by flynn and Stockwell, but also very well costumed. In it Kim at his first school wore a very smart uniform with a red jacket and cap which he did not like. Later he wore a plainer uniform with a British peaked cap at St. Xaviers. The most recent film was a made for TV production of "Kim" (1984). We know little about this production.

Reader Comments

A HBC reader write, "I am very familar with Kim having abridged it so my non-native English speaking students can read it. They have enjoyed it and to be honest its got a magic quality which makes it very appealing to 10 to 12 year olds. Its the original 'Spy Kids' story."

The Great Game

The Great Game was was the strategic rivalry between the British and Tsarist Russian Empires for aimed at entending their infuence into Central Asia. Historians commonly date the rivalry from the Russo-Persian Treaty (1813) to the Anglo-Russian Convention (1907). The British interest derived from the importance of the Raj in India--the most important element of the British Empire. It was in Afghanistant that Russia influence from Central Asia met and competed with British inteests from the Indian sub-continent. The Great Game was one of the reasons that Britain negotiated a Naval Treaty with Japan and help develop the Japanese Navy in the late 19th century. THe Great Game essentially ended when British and Russian concerns over the rising power of Imperial Germany overcame their rivalry in Central Asia. Ironically it came at a time in which the discovery of oil in Persia (modern Iran) upped the stakes of the rivalry. After the Russian Revolution (1917) a repeat of the 19th century Great Game occurred in which the Bolsgeviks restored Russian control of Central Asia. The pgrase "The Great Game" is commonly attributed to Arthur Conolly, an intelligence officer of the British East India Company's Sixth Bengal Light Cavalry.

Espionage

Kipling does not focus on the motivations of the rebels. They are portayed as Pakistani tribesmen stirred up by the Russians with symprthizers in India. The connection was of course Islam, but Kiplng for some reason steers away from this religious connection. Interestungly, the book touches upon very modern international concerns--the ability of Islamic fanactics to motivate prople in the Muslim world. And against Afhanistan and Pakistan (a part of the Raj in the book) comes into focus. The problem the British had at the tme of the Raj was penetrating extremist groups. Here Kim could do it because he was able to move easily between British and native Indian communities. In real life of course that is very difficult and modern Islamic terrorists have proven largely resistant to Western penetration.

Sources

Hopkins, Andrew. In Search of Kim.







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Created: October 19, 1998
Last updated: 9:51 AM 10/14/2008