The Imperial Agent

As Kim becomes a man, he has to come to terms with the inner conflict that defines him as a human being: by parentage he is white, ostensibly British, yet he has grown up in the streets and bazaars of India, to speak Urdu, know its people as his own kinsfolk, and love its sounds, sights and smells. In Rudyard Kipling's Kim, we saw him enter school and receive a western education, courtesy of Colonel Creighton. Here we see how the Colonel, himself an instrument of Empire, exploits, uses and abuses Kim as an 'agent' to spy and inform on his countrymen. As the march of Empire falters and Indians (and indeed Pakistanis) come of age in the western political sense, the Colonel identifies as 'sedition' any activity ranging between what can be perceived as criticism of British rule to openly advocating non-cooperation and revolt. Called upon to betray his countrymen to the cruel,heartless punishments meted out by the Colonel, Kim experiences a crisis of conscience.