Do you think bravery is essential? Courage is vital since it takes a lot of worries to stand up to our enemies. It allows people to face their fears. In Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling, a flood occurred and washed Rikki- Tikki-Tavy, a mongoose, from his burrow, then he met the teddy’s family. Teddy’s family adopted him, and he met those birds in the garden but also cobras. Rikki is afraid of those cobras because of their size. However, since cobras Nag and Nagaina wants to attack Teddy’s family and the bird Darzee, he bravely starts to kill those massive cobras. First, he killed Nag, then those unhatched eggs. Finally, he killed Nagaina; furthermore, he brought peace to teddy’s family and the garden.
In the story, Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling, the author believes that braveness is something that a person could overwhelm their fears and bring peace by winning the opponent with courage. In teddy’s house, Rikki found Nag sleeping. He was afraid. He knew he should kill him to make sure Teddy’s family is harmless: “Rikki-Tikki held on with his eyes shut, for now, he was quite sure he was dead. But the head did not move, and the big man picked him up and said, ‘It’s the mongoose again, Alice. The little chap has saved our lives now'” (Kipling 5). Even though, when he saw the thick and massive tail of Nag, he did not give up. It was his first time for a young mongoose to kill a cobra; Nag’s size made him more frightened. If Rikki didn’t kill the cobra, Teddy’s family would hurt. Eventually, he bravely and slowly went up, then killed Nag. Further along in the story, for a complete peace to the garden and Teddy’s family, he again bravely went to crack the cobra’s eggs and kill Nagaina: “He could see the baby cobras curled up inside the skin, and he knew that the minute they were hatched, they could each kill a man or a mongoose. He bit off the tops of the eggs as fast as he could” (Kipling 6). Here, since if those unhatched snake eggs hatch, there will be more snakes for Rikki- Tavi to kill later. Besides, it is much more hazardous for Teddy’s. Entering the cobra’s nest is an incredibly courageous action, and Ricky risks his life to break all those eggs. Afterward, Rikki went to kill the enormous Nagaina: “He held on savagely and stuck out his feet to act as brakes on the dark slope of the hot, moist earth. Then the grass by the mouth of the hole stopped waving, and Darzee said, ‘It is all over with Rikki-Tikki! We must sing his death song. Valiant Rikki-Tikki is dead! Nagaina will surely kill him underground’’’(Kipling 8-9). He went to fight with the enormous and imitating cobra Nagaina. Overall, He could have just ceded beating up the large cobra, but his bravery made him face the fear. In addition, the cobras had a spectacle- mark on his back that made a mongoose afraid. However, he finally killed both of the cobras.
In conclusion, braveness could make someone face and overcome their fears. In the book “Rikki Tikki Tavi” by Rudyard Kipling, Rikki had met his fear by killing those enormous cobras. By this action, it brought Teddy’s family as well as the garden peace. Many people feel fear when they met something that they afraid of, so how about being confident and confronting those fears?
Works Cited
“Courage.” dictionary, www.dictionary.com/browse/courage?s=t. Accessed 30 Sept. 2020.
Kipling, Rudyard. Rikki Tikki Tavi. Pdf ed., Rudyard Kipling, 1997.
Twitter. www.vma.is/static/files/enska/Bokmenntir/Short%20Stories/RikkiTikkiTavi_Kipling.pdf. Accessed 30 Sept. 2020.