Essay “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” by Kipling One of the most famous stories from the Book of Rudyard Kipling's "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" Jungle was also published as a small book. Many people read it as the story of a heroic mongoose. But we can also interpret “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” from the angle of post-colonialism, in which the British family is the invader, the cobras are less evil and Rikki-Tikki becomes a loyal colonial subject. Say no to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay Rikki-Tikki is an Indian mongoose who was much loved by the English family for saving him from drowning. So he helped the human family kill the snakes that were planning to kill them. From a traditional perspective, I can say that the mongoose represents the knight protecting his new family and the garden, all of which constitute his home. However, there is still something else to the story, the characters and the meaning that we need to interpret. By reading Kipling's short story through the lens of postcolonialism, we can also learn about Kipling's view on imperialist culture. Post-colonialism is the period after colonialism, when the invaders returned to their countries, left the colonies with great influence and a new culture. The British family in the story moved into a bungalow in India, where Nag and Nagaina – the snakes – lived. The white invaders brought their culture, took over the territory and controlled everything. This is the reason why the snakes wanted to kill the human family and take back what belongs to them. From my perspective, humans pose a huge threat to the livelihood of Indian cobras and their young. Nag and Nagaina's desire to ambush humans is just the fulfillment of a natural instinct. Think about the Indian snakes who just want to protect their eggs and take back what's theirs, they are less evil if we see them from the perspective of post-colonialism. I can say that the cobras are metaphors for the Indian population and they wanted to stand against the British invasion. The cobras' desire to live and have young was as great and all-consuming as the English family's need to live in relative safety, safe from a creeping death they would never see coming. Kipling constructs Rikki's heroism in the form of a story killing the evil cobras and saving the lives of the human family. However, as I mentioned above, Nag and Nagaina just wanted to defend themselves and their cubs. The cobras first lived in the garden and they wanted to rule the garden, as they did until Rikki-Tikki arrived. I can point out that Kipling created the reasoning abilities and deliberately made the cobras so evil and made Rikki-Tikki so reasoning. In fact, animals are not that calculating. People may say that cobras may just want to live but by their nature they are hostile to humans and Rikki rightly values ​​them. I would say this is unacceptable. For example, some Indians are the same as the Rikki-Tikki who were helped by Englishmen. There will be people like the cobras who want to take on the British and protect their children. Rikki-Tikki does not distinguish between good and evil, but he simply wants to reciprocate, even going so far as to kill people in his country. From the perspective of post-colonialism, the mongoose loses his hero status and becomes, instead, a loyal colonial subject. Keep in mind: this is just a sample..