A Glimpse Into Imperialism: The Colonizer And The Colonized

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A Glimpse into Imperialism: The Colonizer and Colonized
Extending their power to dominate distant nations, imperialism was founded on the basis of western nations seeking social, economic, and political gains. However, the foremost goal of these Western nations was to gain greater influence on a global scale. The ensuing struggle for power often rendered the natives in a position of helplessness and led them to their imminent demise, surrendering the foundations upon which their society was built to these foreigners. In his book, The Colonizer and the Colonized, Albert Memmi characterizes this relationship between the colonizer and the natives and illustrates the destructive nature of imperialism. Memmi appropriately contends the blatant illegitimacy …show more content…

This fallacy regarding the natives’ inferiority, both in the social and intellectual spheres, is what leads the colonizers to assert their dominance in a way that allows them to take the native’s place in society. With a mindset that further corroborates Memmi’s claims regarding the colonizers, Kipling also asserts the apparent inferiority of the natives with an aim to propagate support for imperialism; he refers to the natives as a “fluttered folk and wild...half devil and half child” (Kipling 1.6-1.8). By asserting that the natives are uncivilized, evil, and immature, Kipling insinuates that they must be assimilated and that they are unable to maintain themselves. Thus, Kipling, and like-minded colonizers, believe that the natives will never be anything more than colonized people and will indefinitely consider them as ‘lesser’. It is this poor judgement that guides the colonizers to greatly restrict the natives’ rights. However, the manner in which the natives succumb to these judgements and its consequential outcomes is immensely detrimental. Orwell portrays these effects in “Shooting an Elephant”, a short story set …show more content…

In Things Fall Apart, the missionaries institute their own system of government which completely ignores the laws and structures that are already in place in Umuofia. Using this new system, the white men punish the clan leaders based on their own laws from their own country and declare “that must not happen in the dominion of our queen, the most powerful ruler in the world” (Achebe 194), implying that the citizens of Umuofia are subject to England’s system of justice and queen. Thus, these missionaries arrive with selfish intentions to expand their own power, rather than to help the natives develop their civilization and autonomy. Furthermore, the white men even declare that Umuofia belongs to the queen, which serves to usurp the existing society. These colonizers, exemplified by those in the Heart of Darkness, continually demonstrate a lack of respect for the natives by asserting, “get him hanged! Why not? anything - anything can be done in this country” (Conrad 58). The manager from the novel announces that he can do as he pleases in Congo since he believes that there are no established laws or any form of regulation. Thus, the colonizers are not fueled by the desire to educate, civilize or help the natives, evident by the

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