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The White Man’s Burden by Rudyard Kipling Analyzed and explained by Harley Bennett
Dear reader, Racism is an interesting topic of discussion that has been debated many times. We all know that it is morally wrong to hate someone based upon the fact that one race thinks they are superior than the other. It also sparks interesting debates of, “can you be racist towards white people?” and the more interesting, what goes on through a head of a racist person. My family, peers, and at one occasion, myself, have all felt the fire of a racially fueled comment. Because, race is something we can never change, unlike our clothes, feelings, and if you’re strong enough, personality. I feel as if, the poem I’ve chosen today, Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s burden” can effectively explain not only what goes on through the mind of someone who is fueled by racism, but also leave underlying hints of what began racism in the first place, or at least, my interpretation of it. I do hope you enjoy the next few slides and convince you of my theory. Sincerely, Harley Bennett
First let's start off with definitions; what exactly is racism? Racism is defined as, “ a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race “. This issue is what Rudyard Kipling made a poem about, but instead of doing a traditional work on it, he did something different. There have been other works with the examples of life dealing with slavery such as the work of Frederick Douglass and Uncle Tom's Cabin. As it is known, slavery ended in 1865 and this poem, “The White Man's Burden” was written in 1899. But it is not just a poem that explains slavery in different view it is also explaining the dangers America might be under, and that danger was known as Imperialism.
Imperialism is expanding a country's power by military force and that's what America's history consists of. Whether it be exploring new land with the hope to conquer more or to find things to make their life easier, such as technologies are development they hadn't quite thought of yet, or to explore what treasures there were in other lands. Imperialism and racism go hand in hand with the fact that, without Imperialism, racism would not exist; because had America not wanted to expand its power by visiting and taking over other countries, enslavement probably would have never happened. This particular poem, “The White Man's Burden” focuses on when America had to pick up the so called “burden” of Imperialism; their burden is for the white man to send their sons to the new land, the Philippines, to tame these “new caught, sullen people, half-devil, half-child” (Kipling, 7-8).
Artifacts This image was illustrated when a British illustrator collaborated with Rudyard Kipling, it represents how the “white man” is carrying the other uncivilized and uncultured people past all the bad things that their culture and society produces
The poem goes onto repeat itself to “take up the white man's burden” by traveling to that dark unknown land and feeding those who are hungry, to cure their disease and tend to their sick while not getting sick or downtrodden yourself. He says to “veil the threat of terror, and check the show of pride; by open speech made simple” (Kipling, 11-12). Essentially this is saying, make your orders nice and polite but firm with the threat of what you could do to them. He continues on to say that the uneducated half-child, half-devil savages will ask you why you brought them out of bondage and towards the light, why you, the white man, sought to educate them and bring them out of their dark, uncivilized, society. He also warns for them to get disheartened since you, the white man, are acting out of a kindness with nothing in return, and that you shouldn't expect praise for this great honor that you are doing for them. Now, when this was published in 1889, as you can imagine it received a lot backlash for being racist, but that wasn't Kipling's intention. Another picture explaining the white man’s burden but more based towards the african population
Looking at Kipling's background, I found that he was born in Bombay, India [ now known as Mumbai ] born in 1865 and therefore a foreigner to England, despite living their for a majority of his life and taking up a wife from there and having three children. He was sent to England by his father to continue his start his schooling with his sister. He was bullied by the widow that was housing him which resulted in his life there being very miserable. He was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1907, he also wrote Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the story we did some homework on not too long ago.
This poem that he wrote was a bit unorthodox for him to write because it didn't fall in line with his usual work. However, while many, such as Mark Twain, claimed that it was a poem with boundless racism, I choose to think differently. I believe that he was explaining the mindset of what was going on through the white man's head as they took the people from their country. They believed that they were doing something right, something selfless by teaching these “uneducated savages” the proper way of doing things. A more eloquent way of living, but what was not in their minds was that, these people that they were trying to force not only their lifestyle but religion upon, were living the way they were for hundreds of years already.
To wrap it up, not only was Kipling giving others what he believed the white man's mindset was, but I believe he was also explaining that this toxic mindset could lead to what it led to last time, another Civil War. He was trying to explain perhaps that, even if your intentions might be good, trying to force someone else to bend to your will, your way, your religion, can cause friction, because if their previous way was working for them then why try to force something new onto them? Not only that but also, take them out of their home and place of comfort because you, the white man feel as if you're entitled to everything, when in a reality, this land that you claim to have discovered was already discovered and inhabited a long time ago.
Works cited Uncle Tom’s Cabin, edition 1852 from National Museum of African American History and Culture; https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2011.26.6 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 19th century book; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/295409/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-by-frederick-douglass/9780451529947/ Cartoon drawing of an example of Imperialism; https://urpe.wordpress.com/2017/12/28/marx-on-imperialism/ The White Man’s Burden, a drawing; https://childrenliteratureclassics.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/the-white-mans-burden-kiplings-hymn-to-u-s-imperialism/ The White Man’s Burden, The Journal, Detroit; http://mrheathimperialism.weebly.com/blog/white-mans-burden Rudyard Kipling, Poetry Foundation; https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rudyard-kipling
Works cited cont. The White Man’s Burden, US version / The White Man’s Burden and Other poems; https://7thcaussey4thsixweeks.weebly.com/rudyard-kipling.html Extra resources used: https://www.enotes.com/topics/white-mans-burden/in-depth https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-white-mans-burden-meaning-analysis.html
