Survival of the Fittest

Moral(s): Only the strong will survive // Survival of the Fittest

The Laws of the Jungle were created for protection for the creatures of the forest. There were sayings for help, understanding and even, security. In an effort to protect Mowgli and the animals of the Forest, Baloo taught Mowgli how to speak to other animals, how to tell what trees were what, where he could travel, and how to conduct himself in different situations. Mowgli couldn’t protect himself physically from other animals and these same animals were bound to the Law, so they couldn’t outright attack him.

As an example for civility and power, the Pack's Laws are upheld and revered, not unlike the Laws of the humans. Every situation has a possible answer and protocols are followed, even if they are not respected. Animals knew their place and when they didn't (i.e Bander-Log), they were considered outcast and were ignored. Within the Pack, there was a hierarchy, with Akala as leader.

Most animals relied on strength and force, while others had to rely on the fear that other animals simply accepted. In Mowgli’s Brothers, Akala claimed that the younger wolves knew that he was aging and positioned him against a kill that was stronger than he was. Interestingly enough, Akala and Bagheera knew that the time would soon come that the Pack would turn against Akala, and thus Mowgli, and a new leader would be accepted.

" [Akala] was thinking of the time that comes to every leader of every pack when his strength goes from him and he gets feebler and feebler till at last he is killed by the wolves and a new leader comes up -- to be killed in his own turn."

While Akala accepted that his time was coming, Bagheera, who was explaining the process of changing command to Mowgli, devised a plan so that Mowgli wouldn’t become victim to the same fate. It is then that Bagheera tells Mowgli to find the Red Flower and bring it with him to the Council Rock meeting. Alone, Mowgli could not stand against the Pack but wielding the feared Red Flower, the boy assumed authority over those stronger. With the fire in his hand, Mowgli commands the Wolf Pack to allow Akala to live on. Easily, the wolves could have overtaken the man-cub, but as he held the weapon of fire in his hand, they were too frightened to do so.

In Tiger! Tiger! Mowgli ventures into the village and is taken into the tribe there. It is in this village that Mowgli learns the ways of man against the ways of the Jungle and the reader is confronted with the strength of Mowgli.

"[Mowgli] did not know his own strength in the least. In the Jungle he knew he was weak compared with the beasts, but in the village people said that he was as strong as a bull."

It was not Mowgli's physical strength that allowed him to gain control over the oxen that killed Shere Khan, but his mental capacity. It's very clear that he could easily be over taken by any group of animals in the jungle, by force; however, no animal shared the intelligence or natural wit to out think Mowgli.

Conclusion: physical strength can be overtaken by mental strength on any given day. Akala knew that the day when he could not longer be the leader of the Pack would come and a new leader would step in and take his place. For Mowgli, there was no one to take his place, because obviously a man-child didn't belong in the Jungle. It was Mowgli's destiny to lead.