Also in “Great Expectations” Pip’s parents are dead and buried, so the theme of isolation and alienation plays a role in the story, where the reader develops sympathetic feelings towards Pip and his attitudes affect us as readers. As is known, children at that time were made to work and they were forced into workhouses because their living status was low. This is what we can call “child abuse”. Charles Dickens’ story deals mostly with humans in the British culture. Rudyard Kipling’s story deals with animals which are used figuratively and that is, to represent the people of India at that time of the Victorian period. These animals respect their masters and respond to their demands especially that they sacrifice themselves for white people. So in “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” Rikki saves the family members’ lives by killing the snake.
Social aspects in Britain lead children to steal and be criminals in order to live and satisfy their desires. Besides that, there was no education. That’s why children were not taught manners or even learned how to respect. As for Pip he was forced to steal food for the convict, to submit to his demands. Otherwise he would get something he does not like, and therefore once a child gets into a life of crime it is hard for him to get out of the cycle.
But Kipling’s story is different, it represents India as foreign society for Teddy, who he can not cope with, and at the same time he tries to control Rikki and put him under his hold. The house he was living in with the big garden with bushes of roses represents how wealthy English people are, and their ability to invade other countries including India, in fact deal with it as if they are living in their own country. Animals that represent Indians have to listen to Teddy in order to live in secure place, as Rikki at the end of the story lives with Teddy happily. Comparing it to Dickens story, Dickens represents society at home in Britain while Kipling represents foreign society at India.
The interaction between the characters of the story shows the social relation of that period. The relation between the families itself was strong; Teddy’s father and mother survive until the snake was killed, to feel comfortable and calm that their son and themselves are free of any danger. Besides that, Teddy’s father tried to kill the snake with his stick but it escaped and also Darzee’s wife remarks that her wing is broken. This shows how each help the other. However, the relationship between Indians (the animals) and the British (Teddy and his family) was just like the relationship of a master-servant one, that depends on respect (i.e. the more you save or care about your master, the more you are respected).
The political aspects in “Great Expectations” can be seen in the way that the convict deals with Pip and how he influenced him to respond to his demands. At that time of the Victorian period, children were robbed and murdered. Police forces were weak and did not have the responsibility to protect the country and its citizens, whereas people suffered a lot at their political system even though Britain was rich. Human rights were not given equally; they should set different punishments for any person who tries to threaten the other. An example is, the strange convict who threats Pip by saying he shell tear out his heart and liver. Examples of Britain’s political aspects are; how British citizens were treated at how, sent to prison for small crimes-even as children, and live in poverty and hunger even though the country is rich.
But this aspect differentiates in the story of Rudyard Kipling which shows the reader that in India, the place where the story is set, is a poor country, and their political system depends on colonialism which means controlling by one power over a dependent area or people. The animals themselves have a mini war between them. For example, the war between the snakes and the mongoose, birds and other animals. This story focused on the colonial-Britain Empire.
Kipling’s attitudes towards Indian-England relationships in colonial Indian is shown in this story, where Teddy, the small English white skinned boy, and his family represents British people who live in India, and treat the Indians as servants. So Rikki and the other animals worked hard to kill the snake for their master’s sake. So the conclusion is that the ideal Indian was brave and loyal to the British.
Finally, a social aspect is based on the relations of people and the way of their living, whereas the political aspects are based on the country’s administrative system and the services it provides. The social and political aspects are the most important issues of a country, because it is the scale of measuring people’s comfort. I think that Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling show successfully those aspects in their stories, in order to keep the reader conscious about the country’s system and show them the reality of British people and Indians.
