Modernistic Aspects in Kiplings A Wayside Comedy

A detailed Summary of Modernistic Aspects in Kiplings A Wayside Comedy

Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30, 1865, in Bombay, India. He was sent to England to go to school and returned to India in 1882. He worked as a journalist in Lahore for the Civil and Military Gazette. He also worked on Pioneer in Allahabad later (www.kipling.org). Kipling returned to England in 1889 and met his wife, Carrie Balestier. They moved to the United States in the mid-1890s where he wrote many of his poems. They returned to England in 1896 (www.poetryloverspage.com). Kipling began to be regarded as ?the People?s Laureate,? but he refused most of the honors offered to him, including knighthood, Poet Laureateship, and the Order of Merit (kipling.org). He did accept, however, the 1907 Nobel prize for literature (poetryloverspage).

Rudyard Kipling wrote many short stories and poems. One that is interesting is ?A Wayside Comedy.? Kipling?s short story ?A Wayside Comedy? has several modernistic aspects. It has no definitive ending, a straightforward sequential plot, allusion, and complex symbolism.

?A Wayside Comedy? has no definite ending because no one dies, gets married, or is exiled. Life in Kashima goes on as it normally would if the fact that Kurrell was sleeping with both Mrs. Boulte and Mrs. Vans

uythen had not come out. Only Major Vansuythen did not know, and he was never told for his own protection. People?s feeling for each other changed when this secret came out, but since they were the only English in the town, they still had tea together, went hunting together, and sat together. Mr. Boulte even stated to Kurrell that ?We must let the old life go on? (Jarrell, 15).

The complex symbolism contained in ?A Wayside Comedy? is also a modernistic aspect of this story. One of the symbols that Kipling uses occurs at the beginning of the story and can be found in the Bible as well. Kipling compares Kashima to Hell in several different ways. In the first paragraph, there are ?souls who are now lying [in Kashima] in torment? (Jarrell, 9). Kashima is ?ablaze? in the spring, and ?hot winds? blow in the summer (Jarrell, 9). Another comparison to Hell occurs on page 10, where Kipling writes ?Kashima was as out of the world as Heaven or the Other Place, and the Dosehri hills kept their secret well.? The mention of the hills also implies a pit, which is a common perception of Hell. When Kipling states that ?Kashima never goes to Narkarra? (Jarrell, 10), that also implies that there is no escape from it, which is another idea people have of Hell.

?Rudyard Kipling.? Kipling Society Homepage. 8 November 2000 .

Jarrell, Randall., ed. The Best Short Stories of Rudyard Kipling. Hanover House: New York, 1961: 9-17

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Approximate Word count = 1031
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English