Kipling vs. Woolf
Rudyard Kipling and Virginia Woolf, although both English writers, write from completely different perspectives and with completely different intentions. Kipling's book Kim does not tackle any specific social issues, but instead uses fiction to promote general themes of tolerance and the importance of education. Woolf, on the other hand, has the specific intention of showing the inferior role that women are forced to play in society and the effect that this role has on the aspiring female writer. She uses fiction to combat female inferiority and to prove that women can write just as well as men. Both Kipling and Woolf used fiction to describe the society in which they lived: Kipling wrote about India under British control and influence, and Woolf wrote about England during a time of male dominance and the suppression of female creativity. Overall, Kipling gives a more effective picture of society because he gives a more general depiction (while maintaining accuracy), he includes different perspectives of the society, and he places a larger emphasis on the importance and power of knowledge. Kipling's story starts out on the poor streets of an Indian city, where the reader encounters a wide range of personalities. As the bo
Woolf also puts a stress upon the importance of education and how the inferiority and lack of funding in female colleges is a hindrance to aspiring woman writers. She writes about the painful process of raising money and the luxuries that women cannot enjoy as a result. "We cannot have wine and partridges and servants carrying tin dishes on their heads... 'The amenities...will have to wait'." (Woolf 20) However, Woolf does not believe that education is the main problem, because she believes that even well educated women are discouraged from writing due to the other circumstances of their environment. Because of this, Woolf spends less time talking about the power of knowledge and more time talking about the power of money. ok progresses, Kim comes in to contact with almost every different social class present in India. He sleeps in the stable of a horse trader, in the dorms of an English boarding school, in the house of a wealthy Indian widow, and even in a Hindu temple. Kipling does an excellent job of describing society on a large scale instead of focusing on a specific group, allowing the reader to gain a general understanding of different social groups and how they interact. Kipling does an amazing job of providing an effective and vivid image of life in India under British rule. His use of the Indian language and the incorporation of all different rungs of the social ladder in this story gives the reader a great understanding of the world that Kim is living in. The picture of societ
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Approximate Word count = 1017
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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