Tikki Davi Character Analysis

At the end of the story, Kipling writes: “Rikki-tikki had a right to be proud of himself; but he did not grow too proud…” (p. 134). In “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” by Rudyard Kipling, Rikki-tikki is a brave mongoose who protects an innocent family, consisting of a mom, a dad, and a little boy named Teddy, living in a bungalow in India. He does this by defeating two vicious cobras, Nag and Nagaina, that were 3 times his size. Rikki-tikki has a right to be proud of himself because he was willing to sacrifice his life to defeat them. Rikki-tikki was very brave and courageous to even attempt to protect the family and to guard them from these vicious cobras, so he should feel proud of himself. On page 237, Kipling writes, “‘It must be the head,’ he said at last; ‘the head above the hood; and, when I am once there, I must not let go.’ Then he jumped.” This shows that Rikki-tikki was very quick and calm to think under pressure and was very brave to jump towards Nag. On pages 242-243, Kipling writes, “So he sang a very mournful song …show more content…
‘Just think, he saved all our lives.’” Kipling writes this on page 244 and shows that the mom knew that Rikki-tikki saved them and was very brave to do so. On page 238, Kipling shows that even when Rikki-tikki had just won a battle against Nag, he knew that he couldn’t rest until he settled everything with Nagaina. He shows this by writing, “When morning came he was very stiff, but well pleased with his doings. ‘Now I have Nagaina to settle with.’” Finally, on page 241, Kipling writes, “Rikki-tikki put his paws one on each side of the egg, and his eyes were blood-red. ‘What price for a snake’s egg?’” This shows that Rikki-tikki was clever and smart to save one of the eggs so he could trade a life for a life and save the family. In conclusion, while showing intelligence and cleverness, Rikki-tikki was brave to defeat Nag and Nagaina and has a right to be proud of