Fable; Children's Literature
A fable is a story that conveys some sort of moral or lesson, using animals as the main characters. This goes hand in hand with the narration style of The Jungle Book. Our narrator is an unnamed man-who-talks-to-animals, who is now relaying the stories to us as though they're true. We're supposed to believe these wild jungle tales actually happened, like they're legends, and we learn from them.
And speaking of learning from these tales, this educational vein is part of what makes this book children's literature, too. What kid wouldn't want to read about a child raised by wolves and a childhood spent exploring the jungle? It's the perfect cover to molding young minds.
That said, we find ourselves with a few questions: What do we learn from these stories? Many of the tales are about the Law of the Jungle or the Law of the Beach. Should we apply these laws to our own lives? The Law of the City or the Law of the Suburbs? What can men learn from animals? And, in this day and age, what remains relevant? Over to you, Shmoopers.