Summary Of Rudyard Kipling's Attitude To British Empire

Several forces stimulated imperialism. Imperialism arose from a complex mixture of political, economic and social forces one of the forces were a desire for self-sufficiency. These two poems had a strong nature of imperialism in them. Kipling's poem was focusing on white people and how they handled all the problems. Unfortunately this was not the case. As said

In the cartoon, John Bull and Uncle Sam, who represent Britain and America respectively, are portrayed to climb the mountain with carrying the burden of people from the colonised territories of Britain (China, India, Egypt, and Soudan) and America (Filipino, Porto Rico, Cuba, Samoa, and Hawaii), which definitively illustrates Kipling’s poem titled “The White Man’s Burden”. We can see the contradictory facial expression between these two white carriers, who must suffer the ponderousness of the journey, and the people inside the burden, who appear to be very jubilant and partly to gloat over the carriers below them. This contrast also opposes to the conventional racism against non-white, non-Western, and non-Christian people. These rocks of the mountain are also carved with different words which are supposed to characterise the white-privilege class of British and American society in 19th century, such as “barbarism”, “ignorance”, “oppression”, “brutality”, ...

The economic, political, and social forces that were most responsible for the new imperialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were the desire for resources, capitalism, a new consumer market, cheap labor, then nationalism from the Romantics, distractions that prevents revolts, and lastly Rudyard Kipling's "White Man Burden", which epitomizes the opinión held by most of Europe. European imperialism grew from 1870-1920 because of economic, political, and social forces.

“Take up the white man’s burden--send forth the best ye breed--Go bind your sons to exile to serve your captives’ need…” -Rudyard Kipling, The White Man’s Burden, 1897

The German and British people believed that they were better than everyone else. In Document F Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem calling the Africans uncivilized and a burden. The poem displays ethnocentrism, the belief that your culture is better than everyone else. This document provides a new viewpoint of the cause of imperialism; cultural superiority. When Kipling says “ Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child” he is referring to the colonized people. Document B John Ruskin and Freidrich Fabri talk about how the Germans and British are better than everyone, clearly displaying ethnocentrism. Fabri believed that Germany should strive after colonies because they needed to complete with the British to maintain a new position of industrial

In “The White Man’s Burden,” Rudyard Kipling writes, “Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half child...” Kipling is referring to people that were ‘uncivilized’ in accordance to European standards, and in this case, Africans. This demonstrates the superiority they felt in comparison, and in their minds, giving them the right to go in and civilize these people themselves with religion, clothing, education, etc. Kipling also mentions, “Take up the White Man’s burden—The savage wars of peace—Fill full the mouth of Famine—And big the sickness cease.” By this, Kipling meant it was an obligation for the Europeans to feed the starving and to help the sick. It illustrates the mindset of the Europeans who thought they were sacrificing and help the African colonies by colonizing them, whether it was what they truly believed or a mean to make themselves look better. The nationalistic and superior beliefs that Europeans harbored were significant motives for European imperialism in

Cultural attitudes greatly fueled national competition. For example, Rudyard Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden" showed the superiority of the white Europeans towards the Africans (Document F: Rudyard Kipling, "The White Man's Burden," 1899). This superiority shown illustrates the need Europeans felt to help the Africans and improve their conditions. Also, John Ruskin mentioned in a lecture that England need to teach their future African colonists (Document B: John Ruskin, lecture at Oxford University, February 8, 1870). This shows that the Europeans believed that colonization could be a way to educate the Africans, thus imperialism. These cultural attitudes were the roots of

Rudyard Kipling justified imperialism by claiming that it was the white man’s god given duty to help the natives. Kipling said, “The silent,

Kipling also showed how the English empire thought they were superior to the natives of India and Kafiristan in multiple ways. Dravot would compliment the natives he was ruling over by calling them English, “These men aren’t Indian, they are English.” This implies that being English is the right way to act. Kipling also displayed English superiority when Dravot refused to listen to the people he was ruling when they protested against him marrying a woman that was not a god. Kipling too thought that the British gained power in a corrupt manner. This was revealed when Dravot claimed to be friends with one of the gods the Kafiristan people worshipped. Both Dravot and Carnehan took advantage of the natives in a fraudulent manner as did the British. Kipling further showed how he thought the style the British were ruling was poor because both Dravot and Carnehan mimicked British methods. Both characters created a contract, modernized the country they took over, and brought new rules, just like the English. In both the story and reality, the people rebel against the English to reclaim their Independence.

The idea to take over the natives and their villages was all part of their plan. The two Englishmen did not leave India without weapons. They had their camels carry twenty martini rifles that they had hid under a large pile of whirligigs and children’s mud toys. The action shocked the narrator as Kipling did not expect his friends to be so prepared to take the throne. This showed that Dravot and Carnehan were very serious about becoming kings, so much so that they were willing to use force.

Europeans contained the belief that their customs and religious values were the sole method in living. Missionaries from throughout Europe desired to journey to foreign lands in order to teach the civilized and Christian ways of living to the natives. Often missionaries were in competition for converts, and thus supplied imperialism with other drives (Patterson, par. 10). The Social Darwinist ideas were prevalent in this time. The Europeans believed in the survival of the fittest, and it was generally accepted that the Anglo-Saxons were the superior race. In the 1890’s Rudyard Kipling published “Whiteman’s Burden”. This poem defines the white man as responsible for civilizing the “others”. It is supportive of the imperialism of other countries

However, some westerners actually genuinely thought that they should help and westernize the inferior countries of the world. The British went into Africa, thinking that it was their duty to spread their advances of medicine, law, western civilization, and the Christian religion. This was proved to be embraced in the "anthem of imperialism," called the White Man's Burden by Rudyard Kipling. He expressed in the poem that the duty of the "white man" was to teach and help the people who they cast the inferior rank to. However, it is hard to believe that this was Britain's most important goal in their imperialism.

     In one of his most famous poems, Rudyard Kipling said, "Take up the white man's burden!" (146). He was only one of many who believed in the virtues of imperialism in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. During that period, imperialism was on the rise, and Africa was being swallowed up by competing European nations. The imperialists had many arguments supporting imperialism. They said it was beneficial and, in some cases, essential. Their arguments did not satisfy everyone, but that did not bother them. The justifications ranged from economics to social services, while touching on everything else in between (Hayes 222-3).

Rudyard Kipling’s 1899 poem “The White Man’s Burden” epitomizes the European man’s view on imperialism, Euro-centrism and social Darwinism. Four centuries before 1899, such ideas were briefly hinted in the letter from Christopher Columbus to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, however by 1899 these attitudes strengthened and developed fully into their complete meaning. The U.S and Europe’s imperialism in the nineteenth century were the most influential ever in the history of human civilization. The immense motive for imperialism came from social factors including religion and Social Darwinism.

At the close of the 19th century Rudyard Kipling preserved the prevailing attitude of Britain’s intellectual elite in a poem - “The White Man’s Burden”. In his work Kipling confirms the hubris of a generation of Britons who were entirely convinced that they were culturally, rationally, and morally superior to the “new-caught…Half-devil and half-child” natives of the British colonies. This belief in the superiority of western values manifested in the flight of thousands of philanthropically minded Victorians across the British Empire. These emigrants consisted of a section of society driven to do their duty and fulfil the “national