The Representation of Colonized People in Rudyard Kipling’s Poem “the White Man’s Burden”: an Unrealistic Representation

The reading of The white man’s burden is written by Rudyard Kipling. In this poem is he starts off by saying how white people to "Send forth the best ye breed" to go into "exile" and help their "captives." Some of the other main points stated were how white people should use small words and patiently repeat themselves in order to help the others such as black people in understanding them talking. Some other points

In The Colonizer and the Colonized, Albert Memmi’s essential argument is that the collapse of colonialism is inevitable. According to Memmi, there are only two answers for the colonized to disrupt the system of oppression. The two possible “solutions” are assimilation and revolt. In response to the marginalization of the colonized, both answers carry a high price. In Memmi’s eyes, neither will work in the end. The first of two answers on the road to collapsing colonization is assimilation. Imitation and compromise are not the answer to decolonizing, for neither the colonized nor the colonizer.

“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

Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, Europeans developed a superiority complex when comparing themselves to the people of less-developed nations. During the age of imperialism, many European powers ventured into Asian, African, and South American lands in order to colonize and impose the rules of Western society. Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s Burden”, properly depicted the racist ideals that developed with imperialism, as Europeans believed it was their duty to civilize the people they viewed as savages. Europeans held a racially superior point of view for almost an entire century. In the latter half of the twentieth century, however, waves of immigrants began flooding into various European nations. This caused the perception

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.

The white man’s burden was to convert them into Christianity in order to make them ‘better’. However, I believe the white man’s burden was selfishly driven and ended with the Ibo people left in chaos. The white man’s burden is explained as “[A] hundred times made plain - To seek another’s profit - And work another’s gain” (Lines 14-16). In his poem, Kipling also saw the white man’s burden as greedy. When he says, “To seek another’s profit” (Line 15). He believes that the white people had other motives besides simply spreading their religion. They wanted to take advantage of the abundance of resources the people had. This was a contributor to things falling apart because the white people not only brought their beliefs about God, but also about how to live, and how things should be ruled. They got so power hungry because they knew once they had fully taken the Ibo people over, they could not only take away their faith, but also their land and their

Kim gives a vivid picture of the complexities in India under British rule. It shows the life of the bazaar mystics, of the natives, of the British military. There is a great deal of action and movement, for Kipling's vast canvas painted in full detail. The dialogue in the novel makes use of Indian phrases translated by the author, they give the flavor of native speech in India. They are also touches of the native behavior and shrewdness.

In this poem, Kipling affirms that it is the moral obligation of Europeans to travel abroad in order to educate and civilize foreign peoples, who were considered to be savage and brutish, to the point that he referred to them as half-devil and half-child in his poem. Kipling describes imperialism as a noble cause, complete with the lack of respect and gratitude that noble causes are thought to garner, though he also refrains from directly mentioning or going in depth about the financial rewards of imperialism. H. T. Johnson, on the other hand, draws on the suffering of Africans for his poem, "The Black Man's Burden," and describes what he sees as the hypocrisy of viewing imperialism as noble and righteous. In his poem, Johnson says that imperialists pile on the Black Man's Burden, which is described as the pain and harm Africans faced as a result of being savaged by armies that hopelessly outmatched their own. As his poem closes, he states that he finds it more honorable and noble to instead protect foreign countries from imperialism, accentuating that he finds the noble intentions of imperialism to be hypocritical and

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

Rudyard Kipling’s attitude towards the British Empire was significantly negative. The novella essentially expressed Kipling’s feelings towards British Imperialism and his overall frustration with the British Empire. However, there are several positive qualities of the Empire pointed out by Kipling several times throughout his novella. Despite his mixed feelings, he is ultimately dissatisfied with the British Empire, claiming that it is “the White Man’s Burden”. Kipling was a steadfast imperialist, living in a time of British domination and oppression. He shared similar outlooks with the natives, that the majority of them were oppressed by the government and the wealthy. The upper class was greedy and wanted working men to do all of the work for them so that they could reap the profits. Kipling conveys his attitude towards British Imperialism through parallelism and figurative language.

The original poem “The White Man's Burden” main concept is imperialism. The poet, Rudyard Kipling, believes that imperialism is a burden for the white man however it is necessary. The poem, “The Real White Man’s Burden” written by Ernest Crosby, uses the elements of satire (irony, humor, wit and exaggeration) to compare the concept of what the white man’s burden really is. “We’ve made a pretty mess at home; let’s make a mess abroad”. Crosby is going against the idea of imperialism that Kipling believes in because he believes that countries choose to imperialise because they can no longer control their own country.

Whether through the abuse of animals to produce leather, fur, wool or silk, excessive hybrid-breeding of animals, bullfighting, or scientific research that requires animal experimentation, humans manage to impose their self-important behavior upon any and all animals (“Animal Exploitation.”). The complex went even as far as to create divisions within the human species: drawing lines between race and gender. Through scientific racism, the ideology of white supremacy was founded. With a prime example of “The White Man’s Burden” a poem about the “white man’s” justification towards imperialism; it was their duty to civilize the savage people of color: “Take up the White Man’s burden…on fluttered folk and wild, half devil and half child” (“The White Man’s Burden”: Kipling’s Hymn to U.S. Imperialism”).

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).

“negotiate not only the imbalances of their relations with their own men but also the baroque and violent array of hierarchal rules and restrictions that structured their relations with imperial men and women” Clintock p.6). Exploitation is the colonizers logo and women in this novel are being manipulated for the benefit of the patriarchal society in the same manner the colonizer deploys the colonized for his own means.