False Dawn by Rudyard Kipling Essay Example
False Dawn by Rudyard Kipling Essay Example

False Dawn by Rudyard Kipling Essay Example

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  • Pages: 5 (1221 words)
  • Published: February 8, 2017
  • Type: Analysis
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Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature. He was born in Bombay, in the Bombay Presidency of British India, and was taken by his family to England when he was five years old.

Kipling is best known for his works of fiction, including The Jungle Book (a collection of stories which includes "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"), Kim (a tale of adventure), many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King"; and his poems, including Mandalay, Gunga Din, The White Man's Burden and If. He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"; his children's books are enduring classics of child

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ren's literature; and his best works are said to exhibit "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".

The story begins in the “’sclusively bare, hit, shiny High Veldt, where there was sand and sandy-coloured rock and ‘sclusively tufts of sandy-yellowish grass. ” The story takes place “in the days when everybody started fair” meaning in the first days after the formation of the earth and all life had begun. It is pretty hot and sandy in the region of “High Veldt”, it is sunny. The other animals (Giraffe, Zebra, Eland, Koodoo and the Hartebeest) always got “surprised” or frightened by the Leopard and the Ethiopian and they did not like this.

The first stance brings a smile to the reader’s lips because of the way Rudyard Kipling has described the animals and the natural environment; but

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also irritates the reader because of the same reason. The beginning is pretty cheerful and bright. In Africa, there is a place named “High Veldt” where the story begins. The animals such as Giraffe, Zebra, Eland, Koodoo and the Hartebeest live there but are often taken by surprise by the Leopard who was “‘sclusivest sandiest-yellowish-brownest of them all” and would camouflage with the surroundings and take an advantage of it by hiding and scaring them along with his friend, the Ethiopian.

Getting tired of the Leopard and the Ethiopian’s behavior, the animals decide to leave the High Veldt and scuttle off to a green forest “’sclusively full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy-blatchy shadows and there they hid”. They now get rid off the Leopard and the Ethiopian and live a beautiful time in the “’sclusively, speckly-spickly shadows of the forest. ” Meanwhile the Leopard and the Ethiopian are in search for their “friends” for some game because they were very hungry.

The Leopard and the Ethiopian then seek for Baviaan, the wisest monkey’s help for they were very hungry for meals as well as for some games. He tells them that they must “go into other spots” because their “game has gone into other spots”. The Leopard and the Ethiopian were confused with this but left for their “games”. After many days they reach the green forest in which the other animals were hiding. They could feel the other animals’ presence but could not see them also because they were out of the sunshine.

The whole day they kept hunting for the other animals but no luck, they could

not find them. They then wait for the night to approach because “daylight is a perfect scandal”. In the dark, the Leopard and the Ethiopian get hold of the animals and wait for the morning to see if their victims were what they had thought them to be to their surprise, they found their victims to be their old buddies, the animals themselves but they looked peculiar. They try to learn the trick of camouflaging to the stripy” and “blotchy” surroundings.

The Ethiopian takes Baviaan’s advice and changes his skin color because that was all he had which he could change. The Leopard is told by the Ethiopian that he could have “spots” as told by Baviaan “the game had gone into other spots; and my advice to you, Leopard is to go into spots as soon as you can”. The Leopard agrees to this and says that he would not like to look like Giraffe with big spots. So the Ethiopian spots him with his fingertips. Soon they are done with the skin dressing or color-changing and were pretty satisfied with their new looks.

The Leopard had beautiful black spots on him and the Ethiopian had turned black. This could help them to be hardly distinguished from the rocks and trees and they lived happily ever after. The story definitely has a conflict facing it at a time or other. The story evidently faces an External type of conflict between the Leopard and the Ethiopian and the other animals. The story also has a man vs. man on which the leading character(s) struggles with his physical strength against other men, forces of nature,

or animals.

The Leopard and the Ethiopian are the most feared amongst the animals because of their strengths and forces. There are many characters in this story. The Leopard and the Ethiopian are the main characters but are the antagonists and the other animals who play a minor role are the protagonists. The Leopard and the Ethiopian are always trying to hunt the other animals whereas the other animals fear them and are trying to protect themselves. All the characters remain static, they never did change, and they remain the same. The only thing that changes is their appearance.

The story is written from an Omniscient point of view in which the author narrates the story. In this he can move from character to character, event to event, having free access to the thoughts, feelings and motivations of his characters and introduces information when and where he chooses. This story is an omniscient limited point of view because the author tells the story in the third person, it appears as though a camera is following them and recording what is seen and heard. There is no comment on the thoughts of the characters from the story.

Rudyard Kipling, from this story is trying to prove that changes are always good. We must try to change to every new condition for our benefits. We must try and camouflage  to our new surroundings instead of hoping for others to change for us. He has explained it very beautifully in very juvenile and tranquil way. He tells such a serious topic in a very humorous way with all those vague descriptions of the animals “’sclusively

sandiest yellowish”. The title of this story- how the leopard got his spots summarizes the whole story in just a few words.

I would not say that I loved the story but it was pretty good. The story is “cute” as Rudyard Kipling had written it for kids. The description is just elusive and very ostentatious for children. The humor is the best part of his story which is again the description itself. But the repetition if a word is the most irksome part of it. The most peculiar of Rudyard Kipling is the poems which he writes in every short story of his which may be found in the beginning or the ending of his stories. The poems may or may not be related to the stories.

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