Master double agent, Harold Philby had the nickname Kim. When Allen Welsh Dulles, an American DCI, died the novel Kim was at his bedside. The words in Kim became an anthem of spies throughout all of the ranks of all of the world’s agencies. In the final 207 pages of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, we, the readers, see a young adventurous boy mature and find a purpose that he can accept in life. Kim becomes drawn into the Great Game, the world of espionage (the second oldest profession). This is a world that for Kim is ideal and utilizes all of his abilities.
“From time to time, God causes men to be born- and thou art one of them- who have a lust to go ahead at the risk of their lives and discover news. Today it may be of far-off things, tomorrow of some hidden mountains, and the next day of some nearby man who has done foolishness against the state . . .When he comes into the Great Game, he must go alone-alone and at the peril of his head. Then, if he spits, or sits down, or sneezes other than as the people do whom he watches, he may be slain.”
That explanation of the Great Game is what draws Kim into it and is what the real spies regard as an anthem. Thay feel that spies are born as spies, do what must be done, and always do it wholeheartedly knowing that they could be discovered and killed ant any moment. Kim does not have similar feelings but is rather drawn in by the adventure. While he had been maturing and conforming to the ways of the British army, his childish giddiness is reexposed and his conformed maturity destroyed when he discovers that he can live as a spy and almost revert to as he had been living (proior to meeting the lama). The saying is that one of the best things in life is to find a job thta you can enjoy. That is exactly what faces and is accepted by Kim. By becoming a spy (a job which he has already practiced for Mahbub Ali, and as the little vagabnd that he had been), Kim is able to appease the British where his roots are, as well as readapt to the lifestyle of fitting in with whoever he was around. So, Kim after taking time and effort (although not desiring it) to mature to the state that the Brits wanted him at, is drawn back to his vagabond roots by his childish curiosity( he becomes envious of Hurree Babu, who has a price on his head) Kim finally matures in the best way that he can, developing a purpose in life that he can enjoy.