Every fictional story has a theme. Theme is a central idea which can be morals, life-lessons, messages, etc. It can be a debatable truth and is valid no matter what as-long-as you can back it up with evidence from the text. I am certain with my life the story “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” has the theme of “Look before you leap.” The author, Rudyard Kipling, gives evidence all throughout this short story that will back me up and help me prove to you, the reader, I am right. I know my theme is correct because all of the snakes jumped into trying to attack everyone and were only thinking about themselves. They had not thought of any consequences. Even though I know this is the theme, other people have their own opinions on the central idea. Other people…show more content… I can see how people could view this as theme because they could be under the influence that the antagonists of the story are jealous. They could be jealous of Rikki, because he has family and friends who love him. Some other people might reckon that Nagaina and Nag were jealous of how Rikki was confident in himself. On the other hand, both Nagaina and Nag were confident in their abilities too. They were confident they could kill Rikki-Tikki and any other person who got in their way any time. Another way this theme is incorrect, is that nobody in this story is jealous. The “evil” characters only wanted Rikki-Tikki and the family out of the bungalow. I am actually convinced that Nagaina and Nag, more Nag than Nagaina, were scared when they had to fight Rikki-Tikki. The characters who were representing evilness had seen how Rikki-Tikki had killed Karait in an instant, without even thinking. This made Nag and Nagaina scared to fight the main character. In my mind, Nag and Nagaina were scared of Rikki. To summarize my point, the theme “Jealousy leads to negative outcomes” is not at all possible for this story. The author, Rudyard Kipling, had used the theme “Look before you leap” to help show something bigger than just words. This theme was used to show you that need to think before you make big decisions. Bad things will happen if we don’t make well thought out decisions. If we use this theme in life, people can be happier and the world could get rid of wars. People will have thought their decisions though more thoroughly. In summary, if we use our intelligence there will be less conflicts. The world can be a happier, and more peaceful
