Essay The White Man's Burden and The Recessional

Beginning in the sixteenth century, Europeans made the voyage to a “new world” in order to achieve dreams of opportunity and riches. In this other world the Europeans came upon another people, which naturally led to a cultural exchange between different groups of people. Although we commonly refer to European and Indian relations as being between just two very different groups of people, it is important to recognize this is not entirely true. Although the settlers of the new world are singularly referred to as Europeans, each group of people came from a different nation and with different motives and expectations of the new world. Similarly, the Indians were neither a united group nor necessarily friendly with each other. Due to the

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

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

Even though they couldn’t make the Indians work for them because they outnumbered the settlers they still took their land Zinn states “The Pequot tribe lived in the southern Connecticut and Rhode Island. The colonists wanted this land, so the war with the Pequots began. Massacres took place on both sides...After the Europeans began taking the land, the number of indians was reduced until, in time, fewer than a million remained” (17, Zinn). The colonists went to war with the Indians because they wanted their land. The colonists would massacre the tries and The indians would do the same but as Europeans began taking more and more land the population of Indians diminished. This quote portrays that colonists took the Indians land and gained power along with it. More land meant more power because they needed space to grow crops and then sell them and enslaving the Africans was a more profitable and ever-renewable source of labor.When they got there they settled in the Indians land and they tried to massacre them to take their land. Zinn writes “So you killed the Indians, tortured them, burned their villages, burned their cornfields” (25, Zinn) Another reading states “they set fire to wigwams,and as the indians ran out to escape the flames, the English cut them to bits with their swords” (20, Zinn) The English would

From the very beginning of the exploration of the New World, relationships between the Native Americans and settlers were uncertain at best. Slowly becoming strained after various circumstances, especially those including betrayal. In Chief Powhatan’s Address to Captain John Smith, the betrayal felt by the Native American from the settlers (those lead by Captain John Smith) can be clearly portrayed. In the speech Chief Powhatan makes a claim for peace, mainly through the rhetorical elements those including selection of detail, diction and word choice Powhatan’s speech demonstrates a selection of detail due to the fact that the conclusions are drawn from his own experience. Personal in nature and subjective, demonstrates Powhatan’s treatment of the subject manner.

The author wrote this passage to tell us about the hardships the indians had to go through because of the white man and how the white man said they wanted peace but they didn’t practice it.” On the long winter trek, one of every four Cherokees died from the cold, hunger, or disease.” “The white men of the United States—who talked so much of peace but rarely seemed to practice it.”. The first quote show’s that the indians had to walk a horrible trail in the winter they had to go to the west because the white man wanted the gold on their lands. The second quote proves my point that the white man acted like they wanted peace but they rarely actually showed peace towards the indian

However, some people might of recognized imperialism as immoral, tool for the rich, and undemocratic rule for others. Despite these facts, European imperialism established new reforms and advancements for foreign countries, while providing a chance for European expansion for its growing populations. The belief of racial superiority at the time influenced the many new reforms imposed on foreign countries. Rudyard Kipling, an English writer, portrayed his reasons in the poem “The White Man’s Burden”. In it he described the Eastern people as , “‘...new-caught, sullen peoples / Half devil and half child’”

While in India Kipling was exposed to British imperialism in India. This helped him in many novels he wrote along with poems such as “The Declaration of London” and “A Day’s Work” ("Kipling, Rudyard" Nobel Prize Winners). Kipling moved back to Britain and there he married his wife, Carrie, who was the younger sister of a publisher he worked with. Soon after Kipling married Carrie, he and his wife moved to Vermont in the United States ("Kipling, Rudyard" World Authors). Living in the United States inspired Kipling to write many works staring Anglo-Americans. One of these works, Captains Courageous, tells of the vast lifestyle of a European boy heading for New York, although no one but the captain’s son believes him. This work helps to show Kipling’s views on Americans. The rich European is a liar in the eyes of the Americans. It also reflects on Americas view on foreigners during the time period. Many Americans rarely welcomed immigrants, and typically treated immigrants with animosity. Eventually, Kipling moved back to Britain, where he published most of his poetry. Most of Kipling’s poetry relates to British imperialism. Kipling was accused of being an imperialist and jingoist ("Kipling, Rudyard" Hutchinson Encyclopedia). He shows some of his imperialistic ways in his poem “The White Man’s Burden” where he pleads for the United States to take up responsibility in the

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.

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.

Kipling appears to believe strongly in the good that the influence of the English would have on the native people in the empire. The English claimed India as well as many other territories as theirs, but they did not see the natives of those regions as their own people and sought to make them more civilized. At one point the narrator even says that, “Native States were created by Providence

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