Literary devices are used to help the reader connect and understand characters and to give those characters depth. Anthropomorphism is a literary device that is defined as the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object. An example of anthropomorphism is Rudyard Kipling 's "Rikki-tikki-tavi". Rikki-tikki-tavi is a mongoose who is the hero of the story because he saves Teddy and his family, who are people who have taken Rikki into their home. Rikki shows his heroic characteristics, which are also considered human characteristics, when saving Teddy and his family from the cobras, who live in the family 's garden. Rikki 's heroic characteristics that are also human-like include courage, loyalty, and cleverness. …show more content…
Along with courage and loyalty, Rikki shows the heroic characteristic of cleverness, which is a quality found in a multitude of humans. Rikki is very clever when he develops the plan to smash the cobra eggs. He asked Darzee, one of the birds in the garden, to pretend that her wing is broken to distract Nagaina so that he can sneak into the melon bed where the eggs are hidden and kill the eggs. His plan was a success and he was able to smash the eggs, without Darzee getting eaten. Most animals are not smart, let alone clever, so for Rikki to possess this quality is abnormal and unusually human-like. Rikki 's plan to destroy the cobra eggs portrays his heroically human characteristic of cleverness. The story "Rikki-tikki-tavi" is a great example of an animal showing human characteristics. The story shows that you do not have to be human to be a hero or have human qualities. Rikki, a mongoose, is a perfect example of having human characteristics without being human. Rikki shows courage, loyalty, and cleverness throughout the story which are very heroic and human-like. These are all shown through Rikki 's plan to protect Teddy and his family and their garden from the cobras. Rikki becomes a hero through the use of his human-like characteristics despite the fact of being a