Analyse af Rudyard Kiplings novelle 'Lispeth'

To lose the trust to your closest relations or culture does not normally release anything good, especially not when you find out that you have been made a fool of and not have been told the truth. What to do when you stand alone with broken feelings and you feel betrayed? That is exactly what Lispeth faces in Rudyard Kipling’s short story from 1888 with ‘Lispeth’ as title. This essay will analyze and interpret the short story mainly focusing on the contrasts between cultures, the style of writing and the main character, Lispeth.

The short story uses contrasts in different ways, but the contrasts appear especially in relation to the Christian culture and the savage culture in the short story. The contrasts between these two cultures are related to the main character Lispeth, who is born a savage but becomes baptized in the Christianity, which isn’t well received by the savages. “Her own people hated her because she had, they said, become a white woman and washed herself daily” (Kipling, 1888, p. 2, l. 31). Here it sounds like that Lisbeth’s biological culture is very much against the Christian religion and culture, as it emerges that they actually hate her for her opt-out of her biological and real origin. This shows that the contrasts between the savage culture and the Christianity are quite clear with regard to their general relation to each other. Another example of a contrast is the difference between Lispeth, who biologically is a savage, and the Chaplain’s wife, who is an original Christian. “The Chaplain’s wife was dozing in the drawing-room when Lispeth came in breathing heavily and very exhausted with her burden” (Kipling, 1888, p. 3, l. 13). Here Lispeth comes home with the Englishman from far away and she has actually made a life-saving action, while the Chaplain’s wife only has been lazed in the meantime. This gives an impression of the savages being wild and fearless, while the Christians appear calmer and possess a completely different lifestyle. That is a contrast in relation to the behavior of the two different cultures.