I can’t remember if we discussed this in class or not, but there are numerous references to Rudyard Kipling, the author of The Jungle Book, Kim, etc. in this book. Harvey’s dog, who dies after Hammerfall, is named Kipling: “Kipling greeted him tail-thumping joy, and he rubbed the German Shepherd’s ears absently as he opened the drapes” (16). Kipling the dog is mentioned again as Harvey is thinking of his family: “It wouldn’t be long before he had to go home to dinner, and Loretta, and Andy, and Kipling…” (32). Another reference is made to the dog on pg. 166. Kipling the dog’s dead body is described on pg. 266.
The chapter called “Sanctuary” in which Marie, Harvey, and Mark and Joanna are together, starts with a Kipling saying: “God gave all men all earth to love, but since man’s heart is small, Ordains for each one spot shall prove, beloved overall – Rudyard Kipling” (365). On page 396, Al Hardy is shown guarding the entrance into Senator Jellison’s community. When a man threatens Al with his gun to take him inside, Al raises his right arm as a signal for help, resulting in the man getting shot. Afterwards, Al states that the man should have read his Kipling, implying that the whole hand signal idea came from Kipling’s work: “And the shot went through the city councilman’s head, neat and clean, because of course the signal was Al raising his right hand. Pity the councilman had never read his Kipling” (396).
On page 509, Mark uses a hand signal when Dan Forrester arrives, and Forrester immediately recognizes that the signal is from Kipling’s work: “Dan Forrester watched with interest. He’d read his Kipling. He wondered if Hugo Beck had” (509).
In terms of our discussion of technology in class, I thought about how we were talking about technology being the ultimate savior of civilization with Forrester’s weapons who saved the community from the cannibals. Also, the powerplant and the “lightning” that would prevent humans from having their kids compete with each other to see who catches the most rats, etc. The fact that the comet was discovered because of the telescope is also significant. One thought I had about gender in regards to technology was that by making pretty much all the females go back to domestic labor, and creating the same gender roles that were around before technology, the authors illuminate the results on gender roles due to lack of technology, since everything once again has to be done by hand, and women are the ones that have to do the majority at home.
I also noticed the frequency of references to Rudyard Kipling in this novel, and I wondered if there was a significance behind it. I haven’t quite figured out where the dog plays into this, but I have a theory about the hand signals the Stronghold uses.
First of all it’s important to reference the quote they use on page 396:
“Twas only by favour of mine, quoth he, ye rode so long alive,
There was not a rock for twenty mile, there was not a clump of tree,
but covered a man of my own men with his rifle cocked on his knee.
If I had raised my bridle-hand, as I have held it low,
The little jackals that flee so fast were feasting all in a row.
If I had bowed my head on my breast, as I have held it high,
The Kite that whistles above us now were gorged till she could not fly…”
I wish we knew which character had read Kipling enough to think of this and use this as the signal, because it would make it seem less of a coincidence. Honestly, even though his dog is named Kipling, I find it hard to believe that Harvey would have come up with this idea; he is too engrossed in the film and television industry to make such an association.
Regardless, I looked up Kipling on Wikipedia, (because I have not read my Kipling) and found out that a lot of his work was critical of British imperialism. This got me thinking that maybe the authors included so many references to Kipling as a way of pointing out that the Stronghold also has some imperfections. They’re not quite an empire yet, but it’s possible that having won the war against the Brotherhood they are heading in that direction and perhaps we as readers should be skeptical of them.
I like this link between Kipling and imperialism. Even as some of Kipling’s work may have been critical of British colonialism, others seem (to our eyes) disturbingly bound up in 19th century stereotypes. One of Kipling’s better known works is “The White Man’s Burden” which argues that whites have a noble duty to lift up the other (i.e. less advanced) “races.”
How we use this knowledge to read Lucifer’s Hammer depends upon whether we think the authors (or the characters) were using Kipling in earnest, or using him ironically.
You both make very interesting arguments on this Kipling issue. When I first wrote the post on Kipling, I had trouble figuring out why Kipling’s name was used in so many different and completely diverse ways. I was thinking that the authors of Lucifer’s Hammer were big fans of the guy. The link between Kipling and imperialism in terms of the Stronghold is an interesting one. Kipling was in a sense critical of British imperialism as Katie points out. He clearly appreciated and respected the Indian culture that he was born and spent his childhood in, as reflected in his work with “Jungle Book” and “Kim,” where he shows his vast knowledge of the diverse languages and cultures of India. Yet at the same time, Kipling did write the poem “The White Man’s Burden,” as Professor Sample points out, which illustrates that he might have been pro British imperialism, as he seems to think in the poem that it was the white man’s burden to rule the other (perhaps more savage and inferior) races. Therefore, both perspectives could be put in with the situation at the stronghold. Is the Stronghold being criticized or uplifted by referencing Kipling? A thought I had as far as the hand signals being connected with Kipling’s work was that Kipling’s novel “Kim” was sort of a spy novel, with the main character of Kim being a spy. I have not read any other works by him other than the three I have mentioned, so I don’t know if he has written any more novels or poems with the spy theme. I wonder if the lifting of the right hand and the passage following one of the scenes came from a spy novel by Kipling, or from Kim itself? Also, even before the Stronghold comes up in the novel, Harvey’s dog is named Kipling, and an introductory quote to a chapter is Kipling’s, as I mentioned in the first post. Why is Kipling mentioned in these two areas? Why the dog specifically?