Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling

- Characters

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: a young, clever, and fearless mongoose who saved his adoptive family from various attacks.

Nag: a dreadful cobra, has a wife whose name is Nagaina. He devours any defenseless creature in the garden.

Nagaina: Nag`s wife. Terrorizes the garden with Nag.

Teddy; an English boy who encounters Rikki in a ditch, and brings him back home. He is also Rikki`s best buddy.

Teddy`s father: Courageous and brave. Portrayed as someone who never hesitates when facing danger.

Teddy`s Mother Alice: She is portrayed as emotionally delicate. However, she was the one who saved Rikki when he was nearly drowned in the ditch.

Darzee: he is a tailor-bird who lives in the garden along side her wife. He is rather foolish.

Darzee`s wife: She is smarter than her mate. Nag devoured one of her chicks that fell from their nest.

Chuchundra: a very fearful muskrat who lives In Teddy`s home.

Karait: he was a young cobra. He is more aggressive and more dangerous than older snakes.

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Plot Elements:
Exposition: Rikki almost drowns on a road ditch, and got rescued by Teddy`s family.

Rising Action: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi encounters Nag and Nagaina while exploring the garden.

Climax: Rikki kills Nag with the help of Teddy`s father.

Falling Action: Rikki enters Nagaina`s den and the other animals think he is dead, but he comes out and states that danger is over.

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Brief Summary

This is the story of a mongoose whose name is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. He was rescued by a little English boy called Teddy, after a flash flood destroyed Rikki`s home and got separated from his parents. At the bungalow`s garden, Rikki meets a tailor-bird whose name is Darzee, as well as a deadly Cobra couple Nag and Nagaina. Rikki earned respect from his family after killing a young cobra called karait.

 Nag enters the bungalow at midnight seeking revenge for Karait, but was found by Rikki with the help of a muskrat. Teddy`s father woke up after hearing the commotion and shot the snake dead with a shotgun. All the animals of the garden were delighted with the news, however the widow Nagaina had laid eggs. They played a trick on Nagaina, and Rikki ended up killing her as well as the eggs.

Thoughts & Feelings

 I actually loved this book its very intriguing, since there is a lot of drama and you feel like if you were inside the book. One of the main themes is courage, since Rikki is portrayed as a fearless warrior. On the other hand, another theme is Cowardice, since you can see clearly that the muskrat Chuchundra and the tailor-bird Darzee are dominated by fear. I feel that this story should have an alternative ending that should be about Rikki-Tikki-Tavi being released into the wild, he is a wild animal and deserves to be free.