JUKES

English 319 - Dr. Wally Hastings
NSU - Fall 1997

"The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes"

Gunga Dass, as a Brahmin, is a member of the highest of the Hindu castes, and within his own society should expect a certain respect/deference. What has happened to his sense of caste in the Village of the Dead? What standing does that caste give him in the eyes of Jukes? He is the only native given any extensive characterization or description (beginning on 25). "Once I was Brahmin and proud man, and now I eat crows." (26)
Jukes gives a far more detailed description of the dead white man than of any of the natives, including Gunga Dass. Does this reflect a sense of racial superiority? Even granted what he says, that he gathered the information to help identify the dead man, all of the natives will also become dead men - what happens to them seems utterly unimportant. (Does this parallel the reporter's attitude in "The Man Who Would BeKing" that only the events in Europe, or among Anglo-Indians, are of any real importance or interest?) Note too at the end, the fate of Gunga Dass is of no interest whatsoever - did he die in the quicksand? Did he escape? The narrator doesn't tell us and seems not to care, though surely the circumstances of their relationship would seem to indicate some interest.
The story begins with an avowal of its factual truth, then connects to a kind of legend about the native beliefs. The whole first paragraph discusses such legends, which smack of the fabulous travelers' tales of earlier centuries; what do the assertions of truthfulness contribute? (I.e., do they make the story seem more believable, or are they simply storytelling rituals?)

Note that there is a sense of embellishment: "He wrote this quite straightforwardly at first, but he has touched it up in places and introduced Moral Reflections" (21). Also there are numerous early references to his fever/delirium (22) before we get to the hidden village - which is introduced by the statement "I must have lost consciousness" and the assertion that the fever had left (23). There is a strong suggestion in all of this that the story is the result of a delirious spell. Again, at the end: "I fancied that I was delirious. . ." (38) and Jukes again alludes to his own "mad behavior" when he tries desperately to escape from the trap (27).

Consider Jukes' and the narrator's expressed attitudes toward natives in general, toward the natives in the village of the dead, and toward social class.