I have never actually read the Jungle Book in its' entirety before (seen the movie..), but I really felt like the first chapter discusses a really interesting idea. Was man meant to live in nature (as opposed to separately from it). Mowgli finds himself as a child, adopted by a pack of wolves. Baloo and Bagheera both take him under their wing and teach him the ways of the Jungle. Shere Kahn, however, manages to turn the Jungle against Mowgli, and does everything in his power to kill him. During a meeting with Bagheera towards the end of the chapter, Mowgli expresses his concern: "And what is a man that he should not run with his borthers?...I was born in the jungle. I have obeyed the Law of the Jungle, and there is no wolf of ours from whose paws I have not pulled a thorn. Surely they are my brothers!" (870) Mowgli finds himself in an awkward social situation. He is innocent in every way, yet he still faces persecution because of his background. I feel like you could pretty easily discuss this from a speciest approach, but I want to look (briefly) at whether or not you can expect to live harmoniously with nature. I feel like nature is a beautiful, spiritual, and personal thing for everyone. It is also the most dangerous and risky place for a human to exist. The only environment more dangerous than nature itself is the city. It is almost as if an invisible barrier exists between human culture and natural culture. Over the years, we have become so removed from nature that it has become absolutely foreign to us.
Not only is foreign and dangerous to us, but we are the same for it. As a whole, we always seem to be harming nature in some way. In the Jungle Book, Bagheera confides to Mowgli that he used to be a caged cat. In the white seal, we see another negative effect of humanity on nature: "Yet Seat Catch never chased a beaten sea, for that was against the Rules of the Beach" (878). I feel like most people have a firm grasp on this idea that humans tend to be bad for animals. I grew up in seeing pictures of oil-drenched birds, road-kill, and animals with those can-holders stuck around their necks. It is a sad truth, but half of changing is knowing.
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