To explain Kipling's complicated position towards English imperialism in his novel Kim, one can begin with an investigation into the role of the occult in the novel. Some critics have read Kipling's use of the occult as fantasy, a tool to bridge the gap between his limited experience as an Anglo-Indian and the multiplicity of voices, religions, and traditions in India. Problematically, then, the world of magic (like youth) must be guarded and secured through the gun or imperialistic paternity. Kim, as a spy for the British Raj, is the protector of the magical orientalised East. But how much of that magic is simply illusion? As the chela or guide of the Lama, he is both a spiritual subordinate and protector, necessary for the physical survival of the Tibetan Buddhist. Kim is superior to the Lama in worldly matters: obtaining food, managing money, and later, after receiving a Western education, in mathematics and calligraphy. It is Kim, not the Lama, who is the hero of Kipling's tale. book; and it is through his perspective that we, as readers, can experience India. From an orientalist point of view, the most effective colonial rulers are those who, like Kim, know India and are therefore able to appropriate mystical knowledge. to support the machinations of the Empire. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Building on this idea, how do Kim's encounters with magic help determine his eventual position as a British spy? It is by probing the connection between magic, colonialism and modernity that we can interpret Kim's numerous and important magical or occult experiences in the text2E The first is his meeting with Lurgan Sahib and the incident of the conjuring of the broken jar. Kim, terrified, discovers that he can resist Lurgan Sahib's magic by controlling his thoughts and meditating on the multiplication table in English. Lurgan Sahib asks him: And then what did you do? I mean, what did you think? Kim's response is: Oah! I knew it was broken, so, I think, that's what I thought and it was broken. (207) Multiplication tables are a symbol of Western rationalism; following Descartes, Kim knows that he saw the vase break and therefore it must be broken. Or, only when you allow yourself to believe in magic, can you be overwhelmed by it. Another moment where Kim encounters the occult is when Mahbub Ali takes him to the spiritualist Huneefa, whose job is to cast a protective spell on him. him. Once again, the West is pitted against the East, as Mahbub Ali (of Kim) says, Allah! How he fought! We never would have had to do this if it wasn't for the drugs. That was his white blood, I guess (239). In other words, according to Mahbub Ali there is something about the Westerner that makes him naturally, biologically impervious to the occult. Phrases like white blood, a paradox, are typical of nineteenth-century scientific racism, character classifications based on so-called race. Following this logic, Huneefa and Mahbub Ali must drug the Irish Kim to make him susceptible to the occult ritual and even then, the question of how susceptible he really is remains in play. As many critics have noted, Kim makes comedy out of the often tragic consequences of colonial rule in India. In this sense, one can see the way in which Salman Rushdie takes Kim as his starting point in Midnight's Children, another tragicomedy in which half the comedy arises from the deflating and puncturing of what are seen as oriental superstitions and often from the resulting culture. clashes between East and West. Kim, a great swindler, impersonator and spy, manages to pass himself off as having spiritual powers,.