Victorians! discussion

For discussion of these chapters

I am liking the book a bit more now. One has to enjoy the uncomfortable nature that Kim is experiencing now as a member and future candidate of being a sahib What young boy does not prefer the call of the wild and the freedom that Kim has experienced so far in his life? Of course he would revolt against the strictures of school and a military environment. Kim has been on a long extended "summer vacation" and his desire to bolt is clearly understood.

At this point Kim reminds me of a Tom Sawyer type of character, albeit a charming wheeler dealer.

I don't know if biys of today, at least here in Europe, could survive "free" as kim liked.
Mine - 15 years old - would die without his gameboy, facebook and moving by car.
On the other hand I do agree: school rules are diffocoult in general, for such a boy in particular!

Kim reminded me of Mowgli in The Jungle Book, feeling constrained when he is taken out of his childhood fun and put into places where hs is supposed to belong.

I feel quite touched by the relationship between Kim and the lama, there seems to be genuine affection between them.

LauraT wrote: "I don't know if biys of today, at least here in Europe, could survive "free" as kim liked."

No more than Huck Finn and Jim could today navigate a raft down the Mississippi. We live in a greatly changed world, even from my childhood (when my friends and I roamed widely around the neighborhood without any overt adult supervision, though since most mothers then were stay-at-home there was usually somebody available to peek out a window or render help if needed).

Clari wrote: I feel quite touched by the relationship between Kim and the lama, there seems to be genuine affection between them. "

I agree totally. It's one of the most wonderful relationships in all literature, in part because it is so voluntary.

Everyman wrote: "...It's one of the most wonderful relationships in all literature, in part because it is so voluntary. ..."

Given the range and scope of your reading, that is a strong and interesting statement. My mind goes now to what I might ascribe such, and certainly the criteria for those that come readily to mind as possibilities would be different than "in part because it is so voluntary".... (Heidi and her grandfather was an early candidate that sprang to mind, but it has been so long since I read it that I am not sure what my assessment would be today. Likewise, some stories that are relationships of humans and animals. There are other more troublesome ones, such as Tolstoy's Kitty and Levin. Or Hector and Andromache with their small son. But, there are some strange, but wonderful ones in Calvino's writings. And I have forgotten here Silas Marner. Ann Tyler can do a nice job of revealing the nuances of where lives touch gently, but with frankness.)