American Imperialism

Society has a great impact on literature. Although there are various works that mobilize and even pivot society to take action on certain issues, the authors of such texts are influenced by the society they live in. Therefore, society defines literature periods more than the actual writings do. Throughout British literature, despite the different epochs in both history and literature, it is evident that there are some overarching themes. During both the romantic and Victorian eras, some of the overlapping themes were those of imperialism and colonialism, globalization, and the superiority of the British. Even in modernist and present day literature, these themes have huge relevant connotations as illustrated in George Orwell’s “Shooting an

This is because the British Empire is considered to have lasted for at least four centuries culminating with the transfer of Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997 (Ghaforian and Gholi 1362). Even then, the British Empire still had fourteen other territories around the globe that it continues to oversee although they are considered independent states. Thus, it is clear why both of these themes would have such a broad impact on writers since authors were already familiar with colonization since the romantic era in British literature. Although both concepts have a great deal in common, there are great differences between imperialism and colonialism which set them apart. Paul Melia in “Imperial Orwell” points out that imperialism means “the acquisition of territory in order to extend dominion” while colonialism refers to when people from a country move in huge numbers to a place they control (12). These essential differences help illustrate how authors use both terms simultaneously in order to convey their messages as the British did both throughout their history. Still, authors are able to deliver a more powerful narrative if they were personally involved in such epochs as Orwell was in “Shooting an

This is illustrated as Muldoon in “Meeting the British” focuses on the first encounter between the British and Native Americans in present-day the United States. Despite the fact that the author writes from the standpoint of a Native American instead of a British, the author focuses on the theme of colonialism as Muldoon believes “history is a dynamic phenomenon” (Lesman 85). Therefore, Muldoon tries to make the reader imagine what the first Native Americans must have thought when they met their British counterparts. Alike Orwell, he also tries to convey an antagonistic message about colonialism despite the fact the author is writing about a time in the past. His first two lines, “We met the British in the dead of winter/ The sky was lavender” illustrate the antagonistic tone of the author (lines 1-2). This is because the word “death” alludes to what eventually will become of them as the two civilizations