In his poem, “The White Man’s Burden” Rudyard Kipling says that the white people have to send their best people out to work hard for the sake of people who are not nearly as good as they, the white people, are. In the first stanza, he calls them “fluttered folk and wild” and, a little later, “half devil and half child.” He and other defenders of colonialism portray indigenous people in this way because it...
In his poem, “The White Man’s Burden” Rudyard Kipling says that the white people have to send their best people out to work hard for the sake of people who are not nearly as good as they, the white people, are. In the first stanza, he calls them “fluttered folk and wild” and, a little later, “half devil and half child.” He and other defenders of colonialism portray indigenous people in this way because it helps to justify their colonization of those people’s lands.
It is important for defenders of colonialism to portray indigenous people in these ways. When the imperialists do this, they help to justify ruling over other people. When they say that the colonized people are like children, it shows that those people are not ready to take care of themselves. Because they are not ready to take care of themselves, it is proper for and “adult” country to care for them. When the imperialists say that the indigenous people are “wild” and “half devil,” they are “proving” that it is important for them to be harsh with the people. If the people are wild devils, they need a firm hand to keep them in line.
If the imperialists succeed in convincing people of these things, it makes their lives easier. People in their home country and in other rich and powerful countries will support the idea of imperialism. They will think that it is appropriate to take colonies and to act relatively harshly towards the colonies’ populations. For these reasons, it is important for Kipling and others to create a discourse that portrays indigenous people in these ways.
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