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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Kipling and Frogs

There was an episode of PBS Nature on the other night entitled The Thin Green Line. It was about frogs and the unique position they hold in nature because they literally have a foot both in the water and on the ground. The show described the habitat encroachment, herbicide/pesticide challenges and natural attacks (a fungus called Chytrid ) that are part of their everyday battle. The images of a line of frogs fighting for their existence conjured by the title are very powerful.

Coincidentally I was reading James Jones' The Thin Red Line. This story is about a WWII US Army company on Guadalcanal. For some reason this title's imagery for me has always been a line of dying, bleeding men. Not nearly as heroic a fight as I see with the frogs.

That is what I love about literature, the way you can layer meaning on top of meaning. With a little background history on the title I now suddenly see the frogs as doomed players in a Greek tragedy.

Now, I don't know if the frog documentary writers, directors, producers were referencing Jones' novel or if they were aiming back to where Jones got his title line, Kipling's Tommy.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep 
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;  
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit  
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.  
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?" 
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,  
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,  
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll. 

Adding the Kipling perspective brings human disrespect and unconcern to the plight of the frogs and our shared environment.

You know, I hope the documentary writers, directors, producers have never heard of Jones or Kipling. I hope they just thought it was a cute title. I prefer to think of the frogs as heroic winners in their battles.


George W. Parker

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