Reaching Enlightenment in Kipling's "Kim"

Penguin Classics Edition of Kipling's Kim
Image from Amazon.com

I recently muscled my way through a classic that alluded me through graduate school.

When I first read, rather tried to read, Rudyard Kipling's Kim in graduate school I felt I had met my match. Although this was the book that was widely considered to be Kipling's masterpiece I couldn't believe it at the time.

I found that Kipling's book of high adventure during the height of British power in India to be a dull, prodding affair, especially in the earlier chapters. I found myself in the same position as Kim, the young title character, and his lama (read: not llama), looking for enlightenment in some way.

When I was in grad school, I read enough criticism, did enough background research, and read enough of the book to write a decent response essay highlighting the main ideas and themes behind the book. I managed my way through my class discussion. And yet, after all this, I knew I had not conquered Kipling's book.

Part of what turned me off of Kipling's book initially was the fact that the author has been trailed in history by a somewhat morally reprehensible past, that is inescapable, but not always helpful in judging a work of literature, initially. My only familiarity with Kipling in grad school came from having earlier read his poem, "The White Man's Burden," which smacked of all kinds of racism, cultural dominance, and Social Darwinism. Not exactly admirable traits in a writer.

Kipling, a writer not without edges.
Image from theguardian.com

And, yet, through it all, Kipling remains a towering giant of English literature.  Why? The answer to that question alluded me until a couple of nights ago when I finished Kim. Personal, social, and moral shortcomings aside, Kipling's writing has an endearing, enduring quality, which remains largely untarnished by time and criticism.

Edward Said, author of Orientalism, had a scathing view of Kipling's Kim at the end of the book. In Said essay, he highlights all the ills of British Colonialism in India. Boiled down in essence, Said posits the British citizens believed they were destined and entitled to rule, and as such, believed they were better than all races, including Indians.

This was the world in which Kipling penned Kim, the story of a young, orphaned British boy who goes on a quest with a lama to find a sacred river in the northern reaches of India. The lama believes that finding the river is essential in reaching his enlightenment. The boy simply wants adventure. At times Kim believes the old man's quest to find the sacred river a little crazy, but follows nonetheless, partly born out of a sense of deep compassion and respect for the withered spiritualist. It is here that Kipling's powers as a writer shine through.

Apart from the undertones of racism (on all sides) that run through the book, Kipling's message, story, quest, etc. has a lot heart and remains timeless. That timeless nature is evident is the book, where the lama tells the boy that life is like a "Wheel" that goes around and around. Enlightenment releases you from the wheel, but only for those wise enough to find it. A late scene in the book has Kim coming face to face with a woman who lost her son, an irony not lost on the reader, since the boy lost his parents. This is a great example of the wheel coming to play in the story, as both philosophy and motif. Pain, desire, struggles, loss, and happiness are all part of the "Wheel" and are part of life.

At the books end, the two find the river, and the lama beckons Kim to join him in his enlightenment. The book ends in a somewhat obscure, open-ended manner. Kim doesn't really believe in the concept of enlightenment, but the lama says, "Come!" and join him, as if enlightenment is his for the taking. He need only walk the path.

By the novel's end, I'm not sure if I fully reached enlightenment, but I definitely feel I have a deeper appreciation and understanding for Kipling's work.

Life Beyond the Red Pen

Image from Clipartpanda.com

Grading is not my favorite part about teaching (is it anyone's?). I really enjoy engaging students with new material, throwing ideas at them, and watching the lightbulbs come on. Seeing a student's improvement in writing over the course of a semester is very fulfilling.

But, every few weeks or so, I have to put on my other "cap" as grader. I guess some teachers relish getting out the red pens (slowly going the way of the buffalo in today's technology-driven culture, really I use Turnitin.com) and marking up student papers with gusto. I do not relish the task, but I do understand the importance of the task.

Giving a grade in writing is no small task. Where in math there may only be one answer, and that eases the burden of grading, writing is totally different. It's often not easy to weight out a students idea, or essay, and say how it measures up. Case in point, recently I received a well-written essay, but it totally ignored the prompt and the style of essay we were examining at the time. Here, clearly the student missed the mark of the assignment, and yet, good quality writing prevailed. Unfortunately, I had to dock the student several points for this.

Some might be comfortable in this role of grand arbiter of taste, judgment, and the RED PEN, but lets face it, it's not an easy role.

Over the course of a semester, as a teacher of college composition, you face lots of these little judgments along the way. Decisions and decisions. Rinse, wash, repeat. With this in mind, it's common to start second guessing yourself in the grading process. Did I judge this student's work too harshly? Or, Was I not harsh enough? 

See, writing is not an exact science. It is not something that teachers can look at in a completely objective manner. It is a craft, can be an art, and at the end of the day, it remains largely subjective. 

Which brings us back full circle to the sometimes painful process of grading. Sure, with my experience in writing, I have learned to recognize the full spectrum of bland, good, and great writing. Along with plagiarism, poor citations, and other ills that come with the territory. But, when it comes to grading students responses, stamping a tough grade on a student's paper sometimes feels like a chore. A poor grade can challenge a student to hone his or her craft, rise to the occasion on the next assignment, etc., but it can also be the death knell of the student's ambition to write, especially for students that may lack the confidence to continue through a setback.

I think more times than not, I err on the side being a little soft in my grading. Some seasoned, hardened teachers might see this as a setback, but I try to be encouraging and supportive in my feedback to students' papers. They need the support to continue on in the craft that really has no end point. One will be honing his or her writing skills throughout life. They need to be shown that it is possible for them to improve. And, students need feedback to be shown how to get there - this comes by the measured hand of constructive criticism. Too much, and the student shuts down. Just enough, and well that is where you begin to see students stick with the process and improve.

Obligatory first post post

I'm creating this blog in an attempt to make good on one of my New Year's resolutions, and that is to write more. For the past two years, my dedication to my own writing has fallen by the wayside. A couple of years ago, I was hired to work as a sports reporter for a small-town community newspaper. A lot of cold nights and cold dinners left me with little desire to write in the evenings, after filing my late-night stories/website updates. I don't even remember when my last journal entry was. 

Now, for the past year or so I have been teaching and tutoring writing (English) at a local community college. While I find that much more fulfilling than my pervious position as a sports reporter (heck, I didn't like sports), I haven't found much time to write. But, that doesn't mean that I didn't have time to write. It just means that I have made a lot of really good excuses for not writing:  read that as procrastination. That's not something I'm proud of, but it is the truth. 

The better part of the past two years I've spent vegging out online - reading blogs, instead of creating. Why? Well, for starters, it's way easier to absorb and digest, than to think and create. And, that's where I've pretty much been stuck...for two years. 

Sure, I had I few starts and stops on some blogs in the past several months, but for the most part those have tended to be more on the stop side of the spectrum. It's not something I'm proud of, but I'm being frank here. 

At this point, I'm not sure what exactly this blog will be, but I'm envisioning it as some kind of catch all for my wayward and passing thoughts through the week. I have really awesome ideas for my writing, teaching, etc. through the week that fade in and out of my consciousness without ever making it into the world of reality that we all share. This blog is going to challenge me to at least catch some of those ideas to make use of at a later date. I don't consider myself to be a terribly creative person, but I think everyone is blessed with some creativity in one way or another. What we do with that creativity is up to us.