RUDYARD KIPLING AND SOCIAL DARWINISM RUDYARD KIPLING O

RUDYARD KIPLING AND SOCIAL DARWINISM

RUDYARD KIPLING O Rudyard Kipling was born on 30 th December 1865 in Bombay. O Rudyard Kipling was considered the poet of empire and spokesmen for Imperialist ideology. He wrote stories that brought India magically alive for English readers, like THE JUNGLE BOOK O He is recognized as an incomparable, but controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced.

"The White Man’s Burden" O Rudyard Kipling's, "The White Man’s Burden" is a definite expression of social Darwinism. O During the Industrial Revolution Americans and Europeans were beginning to expand into Africa. O They justified what they did by social Darwinism, applying science to racism.

"The White Man’s Burden" O The Europeans and Americans felt that they, being a more advanced society, needed to rule over and teach the people who were more "primitive" like those Africa to civilize them. O This idea is what the poem is referring to when it says "The White Mans Burden".

Analysis O In the first verse of the poem Kipling is encouraging people to send their best and brightest men out to Africa to explore there. O The people are hesitant because Africa is mysterious and dangerous. Kipling refers to the Africans as "your new caught peoples, half devil and half child.

Analysis O He's basically saying Whites and Europeans are a superior race and that we need to teach the Africans our way of life so they can be happy. O It is comparing other races and any other culture to "half-devil (not Christian) and half-child“ (not educated).

Analysis O A parallel can also be drawn with the charitable view, common in Kipling's formative years: O The rich have a moral duty and obligation to help the poor "better" themselves (whether the poor want the help or not -the terror-) until "they can take their place in the world socially and economically. "

O Social Darwinism tells Conclusion In conclusion, this poem is urging the European and American people to Expand into Africa. them to go in and rule over the more "primitive" peoples of Africa, teaching them Christianity, curing disease, and civilizing them; O All the while trying to make a profit.