Mowgli's rejection by the man-pack

Mowgli's rejection by the man-pack is the decisive failure of his attempted return to human society. After killing Shere Khan and bringing the buffalo herd toward the village, Mowgli is met not with recognition but with stones, accusations, and a Tower musket. The villagers cannot place him within a stable category: they call him a sorcerer, a wolf's child, and a jungle demon, even as Messua recognizes that he has avenged her son's death. Mowgli therefore leaves the village by choice as well as under threat, sparing it for Messua's sake and returning to the jungle with Akela and the unresolved work of Shere Khan's hide.