The Taking of Lungtungpen - Analysis

Analysis

The moral of this story, to Mulvaney, is that it shows what three-year enlisted men can do, and why he values them above more experienced men, who would have been much more cautious. These would defeat European armies as well as dacoits. "They tuk Lungtungpen nakid; an' they'd take St. Pethersburgin their dhrawers!" Kipling appears to value the British soldier highly (see Barrack-Room Ballads (1892), Soldiers Three (1888) and many other works throughout his career).

However, the modern western reader – often lacking experience in similar cultures – may wonder at the casual imperial acceptance of brutality and a shocking casualty rate. To such a reader, it stretches credibility that women who have been widowed in this attack - and impoverished by the looting that Mulvaney relates - would laugh at the naked invaders. George Orwell while serving with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, observed this type of behavior and found it extremely distasteful. Such experiences provided some of the material for his later literary career.