Rudyard Kipling
18th August 2013
If by Rudyard Kipling portrays the values of a man from a father's perspective by using metaphors and imagery. His poem is about not being extreme or passive, but finding somewhere in between. This poem was interesting to me because the ideas and values that Kipling believes make up a good man are not the ones that people may think of initially and Kipling presents an opposite viewpoint to traditional views.
Kipling shows us the idea of self-control in a man through dichotomies between ideas. This is shown in "If you can dream - and not make dreams your master." Here, Kipling subtly presents two ideas: being unimaginative, and getting carried away. Through this quote Kipling suggests that somewhere in the middle is where the ideal man would be and that this balance is crucial to keeping in touch with reality while not being boring. Kipling believes that to find this balance you need self control.
This quote makes the reader question their values and place them in the situation. This is the effect of Kipling's language techniques including dichotomy and "If" as a rhetorical question at the start of each line. This rhetorical question and dichotomy provokes the reader into thinking about these values. These techniques used by Kipling made me question how in touch with reality I am as well as my degree of self control.
Kipling sees self control in a positive way and views it as an ideal trait, but some people may see self control differently especially if they have traditional ideas about masculinity. In ancient times, self control was sometimes seen as looking weak or the opposite of being a strong leader. Acting out of anger could have been seen as a positive trait in ancient times due to the strength exerted by the leader. In ancient societies where survival was key, this aggressive nature could reinforce the leader's position and reinforce the idea the leaders need to be strong to protect the people. Depending on culture and time period, masculinity could carry different traits to what it means now. This poem enabled me to thing about how masculinity has changed over time.
This quote showed me that in today's society, reasonable self control is essential. It also allowed me to think about how perspectives change over time. Many of the risks and dangers from ancient times are no longer around today and so uncontrolled aggression is not viewed in the same positive way as before. It is seen as animal like and this shows a change in thinking over time.
If these dangers that once deeply affected our mental state were to return perhaps we would go back to these ideas about aggression. For this reason, it is important to maintain peace so that this aggression does not return because with this aggression would come death and destruction due to uncalculated decisions formed out of anger. This idea about values is also important in today's world when analysing historical events and remembering historical viewpoints and contexts so the situation can be properly understood. A situation seen in the present, may be looked at differently in the future.
On one level, Kipling's piece is about good values and self discipline. On another level this poem could be seen as describing social pressure in society.
Kipling also portrays the idea of social pressure. He does this by using "If" as a rhetorical question in many lines and this creates an effect of doubt in the reader's mind as questions are being consistently posed. The rhetorical questions also build up suspense for the final statement in which Kipling writes "You'll be a Man, my son!". If the person has realised that they do not fit the qualities in this poem, this statement will reinforce the idea that they are not perfect. This was interesting to me because Kipling's view of perfection may not be correct and may even be inappropriate in certain people's lives. However, people are judging themselves based on his ideas when they should be judging themselves based on their own views or what they need to do for survival.
The pressure Kipling puts on his "son" represents today's society in which people believe that they must be near to perfect to succeed in life. His son is a symbol for people in society. This is shown by "You'll be a Man, my son!". In this quotation, Kipling is saying that if you can achieve these values you are a true Man. This forces the Son into a path of trying to find perfection in order to become a "Man".
When a person cannot be perfect, they may become sad after reading this poem. This made me think about how maybe we should not expect too much of people as maybe expecting too much sets people up for failure. This idea is especially important in today's society as depression rates are rising due to things like the internet and increased awareness of other people's lives. The internet may increase depression due to increased access to things that may make people jealous. This made me realise how the internet could be seen a bad thing because it connects us too much and we are constantly informed of the achievement of others in their lives. The relation between depression/unhappiness and Facebook is backed up in studies that show people who use Facebook are less happy than those who do not. This made me think about my use of Facebook and its effect on my life.
I am not sure if Kipling intended to show the idea of social pressure but that is what I took away from it. His intention may have been to inspire and help people but the main idea I took away had the opposite effect, social pressure. In general, I like the poem's values and believe in what Kipling is saying but I am not sure if he was trying to show deeper meaning.
Tim Armstrong
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