How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
This is the story of the great war that Rikki-tikki-tavi fought single-handed, through the bath-rooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee cantonment. (1)
This beginning is straight up tells you that Rikki-tikki is going to be the hero of this tale. Now we just need to find out who the victim, erm, antagonist will be.
Quote #2
When [Rikki-tikki] revived, he was lying in the hot sun on the middle of a garden path, very draggled indeed, and a small boy was saying: "Here's a dead mongoose. Let's have a funeral."
"No," said his mother; "let's take him in and dry him. Perhaps he isn't really dead." (3-4)
The British family's kindness puts them on the side of good. Honestly, it's a rare family that finds a near dead animal on the side of the road and thinks, "Let's take it home."
Quote #3
[Nagaina] had crept up behind him as he was talking, to make an end of him; and he heard her savage hiss as the stroke missed. (30)
Are the cobras the evil characters? Well, if the sneak attack isn't a dead giveaway, we don't know what is.
Quote #4
But just as Teddy was stooping, something flinched a little in the dust, and a tiny voice said: "Be careful. I am death!" It was Karait, the dusty brown snakeling that lies for choice on the dusty earth; […]. (34)
We know Teddy is good because of the way he treated Rikki-tikki when he was near death. And Rikki-tikki's protection of Teddy here is a bid to protect goodness. (Plus, it's just good manners: you save me, I save you.)
Quote #5
Teddy's mother picked [Rikki-tikki] up from the dust and hugged him, crying that he had saved Teddy from death, and Teddy's father said that he was a providence, and Teddy looked on with big scared eyes. Rikki-tikki was rather amused at all the fuss, which, of course, he did not understand. (37)
Hm, this is interesting. It's almost as if Rikki-tikki says he sides with neither good nor evil. He just does what he does because that's what he does. What do you think?
Quote #6
"So long as the bungalow is empty, we are king and queen of the garden; and remember that as soon as our eggs in the melon-bed hatch (as they may to-morrow), our children will need room and quiet." (54)
Ah, it's the old "evil force trying to take over the kingdom" story. Classic. Oh, sure, it's only a garden in India, but for the critters, it might as well be a kingdom. But… they only want "room and quiet" for their kids. Are they really evil? And wasn't it their kingdom that got taken over first?
Quote #7
"I was not a day too soon," he said; for he could see the baby cobras curled up inside the skin, and he knew that the minute they were hatched they could each kill a man or a mongoose. (85)
Nag is first introduced as evil because he ate a baby bird, and now Rikki-tikki is about to go straight up heroic baby killer on those eggs. What's the difference? The baby cobras can kill a man or mongoose. Baby bird, eh, not so much.
Quote #8
"If you move I strike, and if you do not move I strike. Oh, foolish people, who killed my Nag!" (88)
Nagaina's evil is shown through her vengeance. It doesn't matter what happens. The only thing that will cure her hatred is death. That's pretty evil. (We guess.)
Quote #9
Rikki-tikki knew that he must catch her, or all the trouble would begin again. (101)
Here's the thing about these classic Good-versus-Evil stories: it's winner take all. There's no Mediocre, or "Good on Some Days, Evil on Other Days." Rikki-tikki knows this, it seems, almost instinctually.
Quote #10
"It is all over," [Rikki-tikki] said. "The widow will never come out again." And the red ants that live between the grass stems heard him, and began to troop down one after another to see if he had spoken the truth. (103)
And, of course, good wins in the end. You didn't think it would happen any other way, did you? This is a children's story, people. (Well, "good" if you ignore all the British/ India business.)