Friday, November 20, 2015

How does Kipling view European imperialism?

Kipling views European imperialism as a necessary burden that must be undertaken.  His view is skewed by ethnocentrism and racism.  In Kipling's view, Asians, Africans, and Latin Americans are an inferior race of people.  They cannot possibly be expected to modernize and become economically successful on their own.  Kipling believes that it is the responsibility of the developed, modern countries (translation:  white nations) to govern over less civilized people (nonwhite.)  In his poem "White Man's Burden" he paints imperialism as an international civic responsibility that has been commissioned by God for Europeans.  It is only through the intervention of modern nations that other countries can hope to cure the ills of famine and disease.  Kipling does not give the sense that this will be an easy task, but one that must be undertaken nonetheless.  

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