Part I describes the abandonment of Rudyard Kipling and his younger sister
by their parents. Part II continues the story and ends with his
release from what seemed to him like a prison sentence with torture
thrown in.
There
are still a few questions outstanding and points to be made.
Did
Kipling lie about or exaggerate his suffering?
I remember reading somewhere that when Kipling's parents first read the
account of his time in Southsea, they tried to get his sister Trix to
say that it hadn't been as bad as he said it was. This is what
happens in many such cases; people said the same thing to Charlotte
Brontë, when actually she had toned down her account of life at the
dreadful school.
There
is a lot that could be and has been said on this subject. Writers
certainly use their imagination to create good stories. For many,
what happens in their imagination seems real to them, more real even
than what really happened. Some use what happened in real life as
just the starting point for building a whole edifice of fiction. Some
present occasional incidents as happening frequently and such things
as minor criticisms as vicious attacks. This may seem like lying and
exaggeration to some people.
However,
it is not only a case of what actually happened, but the kind of
person it happened to and what the effects were. Some
collective-minded, grounded people might be resilient and recover
quickly; they might let it all go, put it behind them, forgive and
forget and get on with their lives. Others, perhaps more imaginative
and sensitive and wide open to subtle energies, may have little
insulation or resistance and be permanently affected in the core of
their beings. Some people feel everything on an archetypal level;
some get bad feelings in overwhelming and concentrated doses, enough
for one hundred normal people.
I
believe that Rudyard Kipling told the truth about what happened and
did not exaggerate the effect it had on him. I also believe that a
very different type of boy might have been much less affected and
even been treated better. Jane Eyre said much the same thing about
herself.
