Imperialism and Western Culture - Essay Example

Firstly, with regards to some of the main prejudices that are presented, the reader can aptly point to the fact that Kipling refers to these faceless masses of brown people as half man half animal, half baby has to double, uncivilized, dangerous, and inhabiting lands full of horrors and terrors. Within such a simplistic an overly horrific definition, it comes as no surprise that the majority of the poem points to the fact that these individuals to whom Rudyard Kipling is referring are subhuman and require immediate assistance from white Europeans as a means of civilizing themselves and achieving a degree of previously forgotten or corrupted humanity.

Such an understanding necessarily reduces the overall level of appreciation that any of these European stakeholders, reading the poem, could understand with regards to the depth and complexity of culture and societal dynamics that were exhibited by the individuals to whom this wide and overarching definition applied. . etation of the white man’s burden is warped and exhibits a number of fundamental flaws, it should also be understood and appreciated that Kipling places the work, time, energy, and money of the civilized/”white” world at the behest and service of those were less fortunate (Greenblatt & Abrams, 2006).

Although the means by which Kipling differentiates these individuals is unfair and ultimately prejudiced, some degree of appreciation should be had for the fact that rather than forcing one’s will or societal norms upon the other, Kipling approaches this dynamic of “burden” from the perspective of one who seeks to perform an unpaid and otherwise unappreciated service. From such an understanding, it can be realized that Kipling is in fact placing white man on a lower societal pedestal than those to which he is attempting to integrate.

Although this is obviously not the primary thrust nor intention that Kipling is seeking to bring about, the realities of this dynamic are presented throughout the poem as the invocation to “take up the white man’s burden” is likened to the necessity for each and every able-bodied Christian to take up the cross and suffer on Christ’s own behalf (Klima, 2010). Within such an understanding, the reader can come to a greater appreciation for the means by which servitude and a type of humility that one might not expect is exhibited throughout the poem in question.

Essay 2: With regards to the link and relationship between civilization and the individual, these two concepts and definitions although inexorably interwoven are nonetheless quite distinct. With respect to the individual, the reader can and should realize that the individual is the only through and actionable definition that exists within these two terms which will be