Similarities to Traditional Folklore
...mp” Kipling adds to the story by writing detailed explanations for the reader. The story pauses while Kipling goes off on a tangent as though it were being told out loud. This allows the reader to feel as though they’re the audience. Repetition is another quality Kipling takes from traditional folklore. The pattern of three emerges through the Horse, the Dog and the Ox, as well as when the Camel “Humph’s” three times before the actual hump appears and again in the three days of missed work. The story is in another way similar to traditional folklore in that it confronts what is fair and unfair in human behavior. The animals are faced with a conflict that involves universal emotion, that of fairness and equality. By giving animals human attributes, writing as though it is being told orally and using patterns of three, the story is similar to traditional folklore. Even though Rudyard Kipling writes his stories with likeness to traditional folklore, in many ways “How the Camel Got his Hump” expands on these ideas. There is a main character - the Camel, and a conflict. Unlike traditional folklore it is not the Camel who has the conflict, but instead the other characters who have the conflict with him. When the conflict is resolved there is no reward to be presented other than an overall feeling of equality The story does fit into the standard theme of good versus evil (Scott p.13) if the reader views the Camel as being evil and the others as good. However, the Camel is not entirely evil nor are the other characters entirely good. The story carr...