Anthropomorphism Character Analysis

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 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 that 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 very human, when saving Teddy and his family from the cobras, who live in their garden. Rikki's heroic characteristics that are very human include courage, loyalty, and cleverness. Rikki-tikki-tavi shows courage throughout most of the story, which is a common characteristic in human heroes. Rikki shows courage when he decides to fight against the cobras because he knows that he could potentially lose his life to them. In doing this, it makes him the hero of the story because he is risking his life, not only Teddy and his family, but also the wellbeing of the garden and the animals who live there. He shows a lot
Rikki is very loyal to Teddy and his family because they let him live in their home. Rikki feels the need to protect this family with his life in order to repay them for their generosity. When Rikki overheard that Nag, one of the cobras, was going to try and kill his new family, Rikki immediately became determined to keep Teddy's family safe at all costs. He knew that he must eliminate all of the snakes, especially the two cobras, Nag and Nagaina, and their eggs, in order to keep his new family safe. Although some animals can be trained to be loyal to their human families, it is unusual for an animal, like Rikki who has never been trained, to be loyal to his family. These examples show Rikki's heroic quality of loyalty, which is also a human