Rudyard Kipling Imperialism

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Rudyard Kipling grew up in a very unstable home and environment in India, Bombay. He was bullied as a kid and had a bad family life. He turned to writing and reading as a way to cope with his abusive childhood and published his first book in 1902 (Stewart, britannica). His books display a variety of imperialist thoughts that revolve around racist intentions as well. Although Kipling can be read as a well-intentioned imperialist, his stories demonstrate that he is also a racist because he portrays the natives as savages, unclean and an inferior race and believes the help can help the “inferior races” civilize. In the book, Beyond the Pale, Kipling quotes that “East is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet”(Kipling, 33). According to a recent panel talk at Lehigh, Kipling's quote about the East and the West is the “best summary of the Orientalist mindset” The stereotypes assigned to Oriental cultures are that they are oppressive and restrictive when it comes to power and dishonest and obsequious when it comes to being placed in high positions (Singh, An Introduction to Edward Said, Orientalism, and Postcolonial Literary Studies). As an imperialist Kipling only wants the best for his country, but becomes a racist when he calls the east orientals and believes that other cultures are corrupt and will corrupt his country if they were to mix. …show more content…

Kipling is very racist in this short story. Kipling makes it very clear that the white man “culture” is better and superior while compared to any other culture, specifically Indian culture. In 1899 Kipling released White Man’s Burden. White Man’s Burden is Kipling's idea that the task of every white man should be to impose their civilization on the black inhabitants of their colonies. When Kipling

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