Theme is a big part of reading a story. In “Rikki-Tiki-Tavi” the theme of the story is the idea of good versus evil. Rikki’s character represents good and the cobras represent evil. Bravery sets Rikki-Tikki apart from the other characters. Darzee isn't brave. He hides from Nag and Nagaina. Chuchundra isn't brave. He comes out at night to avoid danger. But Rikki-Tikki is brave. He fearlessly jumps into a battle with Karait to save Teddy from almost dying. He follows Nagaina into her home to kill her.
When Nag is first introduced in the story he is being explained with words that associated with evil. In the story, it says “from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss—a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-Tikki jump back
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Nag and Nagaina would not hesitate to kill the humans in order to preserve their lives and the lives of their children. Survival is their main desire in attacking the humans and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is spying when Nagaina explains their plan to Nag. Not only is killing for survival regarded as acceptable behavior, it is thought of as heroic. Rikki-Tikki- Tavi is seemed to be a hero for killing Nag and Nagaina. I think that the only character who doesn’t at killing is Darzee the tailorbird, who refuses to help Rikki destroy the Cobras’ eggs and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi calls Darzee ‘‘a feather-brained little fellow’’ for not understanding that the act of taking life is vital to his own self-preservation.
The narrator’s choice of adjectives in describing the snakes, then, is not justified by any evidence of deviant behavior. The perception of the snakes as evil, therefore, is based solely on the snakes’ adversarial relationship to Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and especially to the human family.Indeed, the narrative voice’s bias towards the human family’s point of view not only casts the snakes as evil, but it idealizes and, therefore, depicts as well as the human family. Rikki-Tikki thinks that he is lucky for being adopted by a human family because ‘‘every well brought- up mongoose always hopes to be a house