In the “White Man’s Burden,” Rudyard Kipling explains that it is the duty of the white men to colonize and educate the non-whites living in the countries they were conquering. In this poem Kipling is referring to the colonization of the Philippines. However, this poem can be applied to any of the conquering done by the European’s, especially the most notable ones in the Americas and Africa, as they had the same mindset during their conquers. The burden expressed in this poem is the burden of having a responsibility to those that they colonize to educate them on their civilized ways. The idea that the non-whites needed help from the Europeans because they were severely lacking in civilization, was common during this time, heavily influenced …show more content…
This is an ironic statement because usually captives are not respected and their needs are often ignored. The use of the word ‘captive,’ is odd for the optimistic tone of the poem, but fits the reality of colonization, perfectly. The European’s did not appreciate when their captives did not comply with what they told them to do ( Churchill 99). Churchill explains that the European would often use extensive measures to punish those who did not comply with their demands.(99) The Europeans would burry natives in the Americas, up to their waist, making them helpless to the whippings and other torturous acts they would perform against them. (Churchill 100). The Europeans degraded the non-whites, instead of helping them as Kipling suggests. Helping is not forcing change onto others, and putting them at harm when they are reluctant to accept your help. Therefore, Kipling is incorrect in his description of the Europeans’ actions as an act of bravery that had to be completed. When in fact the Europeans were weak and needed to torment those who differed from them, to validate themselves as a higher race. Throughout the remainder of his poem, Kipling explains how the Europeans are looking out for the best interest of the non-whites. This is evident in the line ‘ To seek another’s profit/And work another’s gain’ (Kipling 15-16). In saying this, Kipling attempts to suggest that both parties, the colonizers and those being colonized, will both profit from the European’s explorations and conquers. However, in reality this line demonstrates the Europeans willingness to exploit, the residents of the places they conquer, into labour in order to fulfill their own selfish desires to accumulate
Growing up as an African-American you are always taught to be twice as good. Twice as good as the white people to receive the same treatment as them. I grew up hearing this same phrase constantly but never really understood exactly what it meant until I got old enough to actually see the kind of world we are living in. The author of the article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” Peggy Mclntosh, took as step into shoes of black America and found that white privilege not only exist, but many whites are blind to it. She gives a clear argument about how white privilege is harmful to our society and how we can work together to fix this.
“I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group,” Peggy McIntosh wrote in her article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Too often this country lets ignorance be a substitute for racism. Many believe that if it is not blatant racism, then what they are doing is okay. Both the video and the article show that by reversing the terms, there is proof that racism is still very existent in this world. By looking into A Class Divided and White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack along with their ability to broaden the cultural competence, once can see how race is still very prominent in our culture.
Kidnapping colonists during the struggle for land in the early centuries of American history was a strong force influencing the images of Native Americans circulating among the Puritan pioneers. During these centuries, the battles between the natives and the Puritans cost thousands of lives on both sides, and countless stories in the forms of captivity narratives revealed truths and myths about the Native people. Although there were countless pieces of literature and propaganda published in this time period, the actual Indian captivity narratives have been narrowed down to works “that presumably record with some degree of verisimilitude the experiences of non-Indians who were captures by American Indians” (Derounian-Stodoloa, Levernier, 9). Through such a narrative by Mary Rowlandson, who was taken captive by the Wampanoag tribe in 1676, the contemporary writer and poet Louise Erdrich shows another side of history that could not have been expressed by the surviving captives hundreds of years ago. That recreation is her poem, “Captivity,” which uses the inner conflict of the captive woman to express both historical feelings of Native Americans and their place among whites, along with Erdrich’s conflicts within her own life.# Coming from a mixed family, with her mother being part Native American, Erdrich experiences a pull from both her European history and Native American heritage. Through her poem, “Captivity,” Erdrich exposes the inner conflict that is felt by both historical women and herself, such as the conflicting feelings and cultural pulls of the two societies through sharing experiences of removal from their known worlds and returns to the white man’s society.
America is a presumptuous country; its citizens don’t feel like learning any other language so they make everyone else learn English. White Americans are the average human being and act as the standard of living, acting, and nearly all aspects of life. In her essay “White Privilege: The Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh talks about how being white has never been discussed as a race/culture before because that identity has been pushed on everyone else, and being white subsequently carries its own set of advantages. Gloria Anzaldua is a Chicana, a person of mixed identities. In an excerpt titled “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she discusses how the languages she speaks identifies who she is in certain situations and how, throughout her life, she has been pushed to speak and act more “American” like. McIntosh’s idea of whiteness as a subconscious race that carries its own advantages can enlighten why Anzaldua feels like she
This Social Darwinism also led to the concept of “White Man’s Burden,” which held the “superior” races responsible for civilizing the “inferior” ones. Martial Henri Merlin also states that “We are entitled to go out to these peoples and occupy their territories; but when we exercise this right, we, at the same moment, are charged with a duty towards these peoples, and this duty we must never for one instant forget.” This view might have occurred due to an exposure to the “White Man’s Burden” concept which had spread throughout Europe. There was also exploitation, which is illustrated by a letter from George Washington Williams, a Baptist minister, lawyer, historian and legislature, sent to King Leopold II of Belgium. According to his account, “There were instances in which Mr. Henry M. Stanley sent one white man.to make treaties with the native chiefs.
Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel was written to answer one man’s question: ‘Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?”. The man who asked this was a Papua New Guinean politician named Yali, who Diamond met while he was walking down a beach in Papua New Guinea 25 years before he wrote Guns, Germs, and Steel. Yali was asking why Europeans (“white men “) have so many manufactured goods (“cargo”, such as umbrellas, clothing, medicine, soft drinks, etc.), while Yali’s people (“ black people”) have so little, and why does what they have comes from “white men”. He wanted to know what had happened to cause Europeans to dominate over other cultures with
In the story “The Middle-Class Black’s Burden” Leanita McClain is discriminated by white people and lower-class African Americans. White people had “Jim Crow” laws to prevent African American mixing with whites in public. Most African Americans during that time are poor but McClain’s family has made it to Middle-class and is discriminated against by lower class African Americas because of her success. The discrimination from lower-class African Americans toward McClain is the most painful of all, which later causes her to commit suicide later on in her life.
Many believe that it is the responsibility and God’s will that one country should dominate over another country or territories. This concept is known as imperialism. Josiah Strong and Rudyard Kipling were powerful men who supported imperialism. Strong was an American religious leader who argued that America was in a race with other countries to dominate the world. Kipling was an English journalist who wrote the famous poem, The White Man’s Burden, based upon the ideas of social Darwinism. How do people justify imperialism? Before one can completely answer this question, the meaning of imperialism must be clear. Webster defines imperialism as the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas. Throughout history, people have used a variety of reasons to justify imperialism. For Strong and Kipling,
Throughout history we have seen many forms of literature. Captivity narratives are one of the many forms that literature that began in early America. They have had a large impact on many readers. As early as the seventeenth century captivity narratives have been read and shared among many (Showalter.) A captivity narrative is a documented experience of being held captive, often by a group or person of another culture or nation (Captivity Narrative.) The captivity narratives that first came about as a result of Indian tribes taking Europeans captive in early America (Captivity Narrative.) The reasons for taking a captive included being able to trade, ransom, adopt, or imprison the person that was captured (Captivity Narrative.) Captivity
The mother countries relied on the colonies for natural resources in order to maintain the newly made industries. One idea used in order to justify colonization was the “White Man’s Burden”. This idea stated that it was the duty of the “superior” power (being the European countries), to spread their ways of life to the “inferior”
Rudyard Kipling’s “White Man Burden” highlights the struggles that white men go through in order to protect non-Westerners. These struggles include lack of recognition when it comes to protecting non-Westerners, “…the blame of those ye better, The hate of those ye guard.” During the late 19th century we see a significant amount of European imperialistic influence in Africa as well as Asia. Many European powers were anxious to get a piece of Africa, increasing tension all over Europe. Chancellor of Germany at the time Otto von Bismarck called a conference of Berlin to ease the tension.
This fallacy regarding the natives’ inferiority, both in the social and intellectual spheres, is what leads the colonizers to assert their dominance in a way that allows them to take the native’s place in society. With a mindset that further corroborates Memmi’s claims regarding the colonizers, Kipling also asserts the apparent inferiority of the natives with an aim to propagate support for imperialism; he refers to the natives as a “fluttered folk and wild...half devil and half child” (Kipling 1.6-1.8). By asserting that the natives are uncivilized, evil, and immature, Kipling insinuates that they must be assimilated and that they are unable to maintain themselves. Thus, Kipling, and like-minded colonizers, believe that the natives will never be anything more than colonized people and will indefinitely consider them as ‘lesser’.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century European countries tried to embark on new territories also called the new imperialism. It became a competition to obtain new territories for ports, coaling stations, and to keep the French, Germans, and Russians from setting up bases that harmed British interests. Imperialism also affected social Darwinism and racism. This led society to believe that some races dominated over others like in The White Man’s Burden by Rudyard Kipling and Black Man’s Burdens by Edward Morel. Kipling’s main argument in the poem is that the white man is superior to the other races.
like Canada and the States. Racism is a part of each and every one of us. No
In the “White Man’s Burden”, Rudyard Kipling claims that it is the duty or burden of the white men to civilize the non-whites, to educate them and to religiously lift them (lecture notes, 2/8). Kipling is specifically talking about the colonized non-whites (lecture notes, 2/8). The idea that the newly colonized non-whites were lacking and needing help from a greater society was common among American whites at this time (lecture notes, 2/8). Rudyard uses the whites’ public feelings towards the issue and writes “The White Man’s Burden” in an attempt to move the whites to help the non-whites because he thinks it is a very beneficial movement for the U.S.