The overall portrayal of indigenous peoples in "The White Man's Burden" is far from flattering, to put it mildly. In fact, it is condescending and deeply offensive. The very title is problematic, for one thing. The vast colonial empire of the West is a framed as a burden, not to the native people being exploited but to the white colonialists themselves. Right from the first stanza, colonized people are infantilized, not fully regarded as adult human beings with the ability to make decisions of their own. As such they are in need of the benevolent guidance of the White Man, who is burdened with the expectations of his race's divine civilizing mission:
Take up the White Man's burden—Send forth the best ye breed—Go bind your sons to exileTo serve your captives' need;To wait in heavy harness,On fluttered folk and wild—Your new-caught, sullen peoples,Half-devil and half-child.
When people have been effectively dehumanized ("Half devil and half child") it is much easier to justify manipulating and controlling them. The poem says indigenous folk are also highly superstitious and primitive. It asserts that if you are not careful all the hard work the colonial powers have done in building their empires will be undone by the natives' laziness and ignorance:
Fill full the mouth of FamineAnd bid the sickness cease;And when your goal is nearestThe end for others sought,Watch sloth and heathen FollyBring all your hopes to nought.
Kipling believes that white colonizers try their best to prevent famine and stop the spread of sickness and disease, but all their selfless work can still come to nothing because these dreadful savages remain mired in lazy superstition.
Kipling never shied away from the unpleasant consequences of colonial rule, but the implication here is that the natives are largely to blame for their own misfortunes. Kipling invites the White Man to take up his burden but not to take upon himself any ultimate responsibility for the natives' welfare.
Take up the White Man's burden—And reap his old reward:The blame of those ye better,The hate of those ye guard—The cry of hosts ye humour(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:—"Why brought he us from bondage,Our loved Egyptian night?"
As well as being lazy and superstitious, the natives are also portrayed as ungrateful for the benefits of Western civilization. They would much rather remain stuck in their old, exotic ways, blaming all their troubles on their "betters:" their colonial masters who have sacrificed so much to free them from their erstwhile slavery.
Monday, September 16, 2013
How are imperialized people viewed by Rudyard Kipling in The White Man's Burden? Specific examples required.
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