The paper deals with two critical themes – War and Sexuality – in Kipling’s oblique and minor fiction – The Light That Failed
that has failed to create a niche for itself in the literary world.
These two themes interest me for not just that they represent the
colonial policy of England and cultural codes on which the British
Empire grounded but their representation and forces that encourage
Kipling to incorporate them. Kipling expresses his faith in a war
artist, who enables Englishmen to understand the problems and anxieties
of soldiers at the front line, though his earlier and more famous
fiction – Plain Tales of the Hill – has a host of diverse
characters from all spheres of life and society. The issue of sexuality
interests me for the only reason that Kipling has left alone the reader
to interpret the relationships between characters. My argument is that
Kipling believes in normative gender bonding between men and women
though the voices of same gender relationships could be heard of.
Through the same gender bonding, he exemplifies that this kind of
relationships are against the principles of British Empire and will
never be legitimized.
Mr. Chetan is an
Assistant Professor with the Department of English, Bharati College,
University of Delhi. He may be contacted at chetansain@gmail.com.