Rikki Tikki Tavi

Teddy and his parents start off as Rikki-tikki-tavi’s rescuers but soon become the ones in need of protection as Rikki-tikki-tavi recognizes the family as his own and becomes loyal to them.

Teddy, as a young boy, is the character most directly threatened by the snakes as well as the family member to whom Rikki-tikki-tavi becomes closest. Given Teddy’s youth, the fact that the snakes target Teddy suggests anxiety about the viability of the imperialist project going forward; Rikki-tikki-tavi, having accepted that project, devotes himself to defending Teddy in particular, even sleeping in Teddy’s bed. Otherwise, Teddy is a flat character, though interested, excited, and even empathetic when he first finds Rikki-tikki-tavi.

Teddy’s father is also a flat character, showing consistent trust in Rikki-tikki-tavi and his ability to protect the family. He may be a member of the British military; he certainly exhibits courage and his own protective instincts when he beats Karait with a stick and shoots Nag with his shotgun. At the same time, the story depicts his interventions as somewhat out-of-touch, as Karait is already dead by the time Teddy’s father intervenes. Rikki-tikki-tavi scoffs at this, suggesting that the British colonists’ unfamiliarity with India may be a liability in some circumstances.

Teddy’s mother, although flat, has a minor character arc; initially unsure of Rikki-tikki-tavi, she soon becomes overwhelmingly grateful for his protection of her family. Anxiety for her family is in fact her defining trait; she is a scream in the background of Rikki-tikki-tavi’s fight with Karait and later cries over Teddy after his close call with Nagaina. Her passivity during these episodes is in keeping with 19th-century norms of femininity, but it also contrasts with the courageous actions of another mother figure—Darzee’s wife—amplifying the latter’s bravery and resourcefulness through juxtaposition.

The cobras Nag and Nagaina are the main antagonists, threatening Rikki-tikki-tavi, Teddy’s family, and the animals in the garden. Upon his first meeting with Rikki-tikki-tavi, Nag associates the cobra’s origins with Hinduism, saying, “[T]he great god Brahm put his mark upon all our people when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the sun off Brahm as he slept. Look, and be afraid!” (4). As one of the few overt references to India’s culture and people, this statement carries particular weight. Given the cobras’ obvious villainy—the story characterizes both Nag and Nagaina as “cold,” cunning, and devoid of empathy—the effect is to demonize resistance to British rule, even in the form of adherence to one’s native traditions.

That said, the anthropomorphism of Nag and Nagaina creates parallels between the snakes and more sympathetic characters like Teddy’s parents and Darzee and his wife. Where real cobras are solitary and do not raise their young, the story depicts Nag and Nagaina as a husband and wife concerned with the welfare of their offspring; they want Teddy and his family gone so that Rikki-tikki-tavi will leave and allow their eggs to hatch and their children to grow. The story particularly stresses Nagaina’s maternal love for her children. It is this love that makes Nagaina “worse [i.e., more dangerous] than five Nags” in Rikki-tikki-tavi’s eyes (11), and during her final confrontation with Rikki-tikki-tavi, Nagaina flees in hopes of saving her final egg. Since motherhood was central to Victorian conceptions of womanhood, Nagaina in some sense embodies the dark side of those female gender norms.