Theme Of The White Man's Burden

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”, ...

Weighed down, overwhelmed, accountability, and responsibility. These are all aspects of having a burden, but what exactly is the burden of a white man? Labor? Money? Extreme temperatures? No, far from it actually. In the poem the White Man’s Burden, Kipling portrays the “Burden” as having to civilize the uncultured heathens of Africa. The family in The Poisonwood Bible have this particular burden. However, the family is divided on how they think about this so called “burden”.

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

“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

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

In history, colonization was a truly popular tradition practiced by great and powerful empires in order to extract and retrieve all materials necessary to support their homeland. However, in order to achieve such sense of commerce and well-being, those colonists who had the power, had to colonize weaker and far less advanced societies. Great powers such as Britain and France would then travel to these societies and implement their rule in order to gain prosperity. Some, those who benefited from colonization, felt that the practice of colonization was an obligation to better the “uncivilized,” societies and help them advance, but the emotional and physical hurt that came from colonizing outweighed the positive aspects. The intention was good, but the manner in which colonization was carried out was poor. This topic is immensely controversial that pieces such as Kipling’s poem, “A White Man’s Burden,” and Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart,” have been written in order to support or go against colonization. But despite much debate, colonization has been a tradition that has caused those regions being colonized much struggle and negativity.

Throughout the duration of “The Poisonwood Bible” one truth remains increasing evident, the westerners, the christians, and even the United States of America have no business messing around in the affairs of the Congo, a people they know so little about. Nathan Price, so sure that he can save these uncivilized people, the Tribe of Ham, from God’s wrath, he sacrifices his own family. It turns out however, that he, like those before him, the Underdowns, and the US misunderstand the local customs, ultimately leading to their failure. “The White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling is a very famous poem that takes the opposite stance to that of Barbara Kingsolver. Kipling argues that it is the more civilized, more intellectual, more holy white man

The burdens to the white men are the “newly- caught sullen people”. According to the text they are half devil and half child. This referrers to their child-like and devilish behaviors. Kipling feels that it is racist and wrong. The poem gives strong details about how this pertains to imperialism and Kipling’s views about it. He thinks it is wrong “to seek another’s profit and work another’s gain” and guide people “slowly to the light”. “Slowly to the light” hints that the white men were trying to guide them to Christianity and change them. I know this because Jesus is often referred to as the “light”. It is important for the white men to assume or take for granted the burden so they can “gain profit by others”.

The concept of the “white man’s burden” exemplified white supremacist beliefs and contradicted America’s fundamental beliefs in freedom, liberty and democracy. Kipling described the people whom white men should rule over as “new-caught” and “captives”; the language Kipling used to describe these people that America was supposed to be aiding is the type of language one would use to describe prisoners or even animals (Foner, 71). The idea of a “white man’s burden” of ruling over non-white people contradicted America’s belief in democracy because it promoted the idea that white people should govern non-white people without their consent. The notion of the “white man’s burden” was a blatant example of America’s prioritization of Anglo-Saxon superiority over America’s core beliefs in freedom and liberty being unalienable

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.

     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