After Reading 'The Jungle Book' Luke Kim(8th grade)
Do you remember the first day of your elementary school? Flashback to your first day, and you will remember the nervous, careful feelings you had because you thought that school was scary. However, this first impression or stereotype would have changed as more and more days passed. You will also remember that the once scary school gradually became a familiar place for you full of cheerful memories. While reading The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, a fictional book which has also been adapted into a film, I learned that challenging and breaking the lenses binding our sights are essential in our lives.
This book is about Mowgli, a poor boy who was abandoned in the jungle. He was found by the wolves, and the wolves try to raise him with their cubs. Many other animals try to kill him, but Akela, the leader of the wolves and the strongest animal in the jungle, saves Mowgli’s life. Later, Akela becomes old and loses his power and Shere Khan, a tiger, becomes the next king of the jungle and tries to kill Mowgli. The book ends with Mowgli overcoming Shere Khan and becoming the new king of the jungle.
The first thing that I learned from this book is that we shouldn’t judge a person or a thing by its appearance or by its background. While reading this book, I felt that Mowgli was a very pitiful boy because he gets discriminated by both human and animals. Humans discriminated Mowgli because he was raised by the wolves, and animals discriminated him because he was a human child. Mowgli had many wounds in his heart because of these experiences making Mowgli mature quick. So, every time when Mowgli says something that isn’t fit for his age, which is seven, I felt a kind of bitterness. I thought that it was too cruel for a little boy to experience such things. By seeing the wounds Mowgli had because of such discrimination, I was determined not to judge others only by the stereotypes made from their appearance or background.
Also, I realized how trying new things and breaking stereotypes are important. In this book, the author uses personification, so the animals act like a human. They talk and have deep thought. At the first part of the story, we learned how some of the animals hated humans. During the dispute of deciding whether Mowgli should live or not, each animals’ perspective is depicted very well. I was impressed by the perspective of the wolves. While other animals were shouting to kill Mowgli, the wolves were generous and fair to everyone. They tried something new with a new standpoint, and it led to Mowgli’s survival. Mowgli did chores, those that only humans could do for the wolves, so saving Mowgli gave lots of benefits for the wolves in the end. When I was young, I never thought that I could play instruments because I had a fear of failure. I just thought that I was terrible at playing instruments for no reason. However, when I was in 4th grade, I started to play the violin to challenge myself and to try a new thing. Later, I found that music is an interesting thing. I started to play the piano from then on. It was fun, and I found an unexpected joy from it: the joy of playing instruments. If I never started playing the violin, I would never know that playing an instrument was a cheerful thing. However, because I attempted to try a new thing, it gave me unexpected joy and I was able to grow one step further.
By reading this book, I learned that we shouldn’t judge people by stereotypes and that breaking the stereotype and trying new things is essential to our lives. It not only let us attain unexpected joys but also enables us to grow. Not trying new things will make you stay still at a certain rate. Knowing how to adventure out will enhance you and make you overcome your limitations. The Jungle Book was a book which made me be reminded of this fact and thus I strongly recommend this book to everyone.