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Effects of imperialism on the modern world
Effects of imperialism on the modern world
Effects of imperialism on the modern world
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Nineteenth century Britain was a dominate empire across the globe. Despite the country’s loss of a major colonial force — the United States — the country still dominate world trade, allowing for a sense of pride to be installed within the hearts of the English. As exposed throughout Virginia Woolf’s, Mrs. Dalloway, the mindset of the British was one of grand superiority. Due to the success of the British empire's colonial expeditions, many British citizens felt as though their country was the greatest and most advanced in the world, creating a sense of superficial, self-centered, pride, as reflected through the character of Clarissa. This pride, however, had many dangerous side effects later in history. British Imperialism, combined with unnecessary pride, caused many racial issues for England that would be fought over for centuries to come. The British interest in India grew as the need for new world markets and trading ports expanded. Many western Europeans longed for the distant goods of the East, but did not care for the expensive prices that international trade had to offer. Rather than allow for the creation of a global exchange, many countries developed their own system and cooperations for importing rare goods. One of these was East India Company. However, in 1858, England, no longer wishing to pay for the extra expenses charged by the Company, established a colonial control over India (Kaul, BBC News). This exchange of European control sparked a two year long “Great Rebellion,” an attempt made by Indians to end the Raj — or British Imperialism. With the help of Indian princes and many other local leaders, the British controlled over 300 million Indians (Insert Internal Citation Here). The Raj was solely used a... ... middle of paper ... ... the shocking changes occurring globally. For example, Aunt Helena, representing the aging generation who remembers Britain’s global glory, begins to go blind and is in need of glass eyes. Helena’s eyes and loss of sight represent a national disillusionment with the ending of the British Empire. Culturally, the English were so full of unjustified pride that they could no longer physically see the social injustices created by Britain’s Imperialism. The common factor amongst all three instances of British Imperialism was Britain’s greed for economic opportunity. Greed is often caused by unjustifiable pride, which Britain undeniably had. England was so willing to achieve various advancements to its own economy that it created long lasting and devastating destruction in three other regions of the world. These countries still face lingering effects from British greed.
In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa Dalloway undergoes an internal struggle between her love for society and life and a combined affinity for and fear of death. Her practical marriage to Richard serves its purpose of providing her with an involved social life of gatherings and parties that others may find frivolous but Clarissa sees as “an offering” to the life she loves so well. Throughout the novel she grapples with the prospect of growing old and approaching death, which after the joys of her life seems “unbelievable… that it must end; and no one in the whole world would know how she had loved it all; how, every instant…” At the same time, she is drawn to the very idea of dying, a theme which is most obviously exposed through her reaction to the news of Septimus Smith’s suicide. However, this crucial scene r...
The british thought of the native indian people as barbaric, so they felt no shame in putting them to work with little or no pay. The british attempted to convert the indians to christianity and educate them. This did more harm than good, and the damage done to the indians well being was devastating. however The situation backfired on the East british company. A massive rebellion consisting of sepoys, (Indian soldiers who loathed the british company) Attacked the british. The Attack was seen as unsuccessful to the eyes of the natives. But the result of this rebellion was the crash of the east british company a year after the incident. It was becoming obvious to the british that their actions were leading to indian frustration. Even though the east british company was no longer official, the land was still being used for factories and crop production. An official labour payment was established, which softened the british up. It was the perfect time for famous anti colonist Gandhi to speak up and spread the word. This led to many policy adjustments, political complications and british frustration. Gandhi's following of indians greatly overpowered the remaining british
The Regency Period in England was an extravagant era often associated with prominent social, political, economic, and artistic advancements. It took place in the early 1800’s and was a time of much elegance and aristocracy. Movies and books set in this time period all seem to highlight the elegance and romance that was prevalent at the time. Famous Regency Era literary works, such as Pride and Prejudice, portray young English women getting their happily-ever-after endings with their true loves. Unfortunately, such endings did not actually happen to real women of the era because they lived very austere and vapid lives. They hardly had a choice in many of their lives’ decisions and had little to no career options. These women were raised from birth to be lady-like, obedient, and agreeable in order to attract respectable men to marry, as they were fully dependant on men. Women were essentially treated as property passed on from their fathers to their husbands. They had many restrictions placed on them and often weren’t even allowed to walk outside without proper accompaniment. Because the expectations placed on women were so rigid and absurd, some feminist authors from the time ridiculed these social standards in their writing. Famous novelist Jane Austen was known for satirizing many social customs of the Regency Period in her romantic fiction novels, placing a special emphasis on women’s rights. Pride and Prejudice in particular depicted protagonist Elizabeth Bennet as a smart, headstrong, free thinking individual who didn’t let negative outside forces sway her beliefs. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen challenges the social propriety and creates her own ideals for women through Elizabeth Bennet’s independence, intelligence, and stron...
Set just after one of England’s worst tragedies, Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway is a vivid picture of the effects of World War I on London’s high society, often in glaring contrast to the effects of shell shock suffered by war veteran Septimus Smith. For members of high society, the War’s impact is largely indirect, mainly affecting their conversations at posh social functions. Although the war has had little impact on these people, some strive to develop a deeper understanding of the War’s main consequence: death. For Septimus, who has endured the direct impact of the War as a soldier, however, the memories and traumas of the War are more real than the peaceful life to which he has returned. At the urgent pleas of his wife, doctors unsuccessfully attempt to help him regain the blissful ignorance of war that he once had. Woolf illuminates a perpetual clash between those who merely understand the War as a continuing news story, and Septimus, who knows it as a frightening reality.
One of the principal themes in Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway is the English people’s collective loss of confidence in the state of the British Empire after the First World War. Set in London in the June of 1923, the novel opens at the close of a global war that lasted only four years but cost the United Kingdom more than 100,000 lives and permanently shifted the political boundaries and social world order of its people. Each of the novel’s many characters represent a different aspect of the English citizens’ disenchantment with established, presupposed cultural values and worldview brought about by the unexpected lack of glory in victory or dignity in the dead and wounded multitudes. The world Woolf creates in Mrs. Dalloway is both a historical reflection and a social commentary, portraying how the atrocities of war trickle down through the many layers of experience and separation to become deeply ingrained in the country’s collective social consciousness.
India was first controlled by the British East India Company for growing crops like cotton and indigo. During the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857, the British took over the political, economical, and social aspects of India. India became Britain’s most important colony because of the amount of valuable natural resources the country had. Although Britain was the world’s largest employer, structured India’s government and gave Indians freedom of religion and culture, They actually made life for Indians unlivable, structured the government for their own benefit and caused discrimination.
People became really aware of how fucked up the world was, especially in Europe where they often witnessed it first hand. Lady Brett Ashley’s character is really formed by her post-WWI surroundings, her borderline desperate need for independence and constant restless/careless behavior both resulting from a world filled with the destruction of ideals, values, and structure. In the end, Lady Brett Ashley might be a symbol for the entire lost generation and the 20’s themselves - full of anxiety, disillusionment, futile searches for fleeting happiness and love and life despite the horrific, irreversible loss of innocence. Loss of their belief in the ideals, structures, and nationalism that drove self-identity in the time before the WWI, they seem to have lost some core of themselves. The characters are always restless, always wandering, looking for a constant change of scenery, as if looking for an
The physical and social setting in "Mrs. Dalloway" sets the mood for the novel's principal theme: the theme of social oppression. Social oppression was shown in two ways: the oppression of women as English society returned to its traditional norms and customs after the war, and the oppression of the hard realities of life, "concealing" these realities with the elegance of English society. This paper discusses the purpose of the city in mirroring the theme of social oppression, focusing on issues of gender oppression, particularly against women, and the oppression of poverty and class discrimination between London's peasants and the elite class.
...the trials and tribulations of the Britain Chinese community in the Victorian era. She rewrote the stereotypical history with a protagonist who could of been a much younger version of herself in this era. Just as the novelist set herself in that time, it enables the reader to envision themselves in the past.
This book is set in the early 19th century, when the British Empire was encompassing its reach across the globe.
The extensive descriptions of Mrs. Dalloway’s inner thoughts and observations reveals Woolf’s “stream of consciousness” writing style, which emphasizes the complexity of Clarissa’s existential crisis. She also alludes to Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, further revealing her preoccupation with death as she quotes lines from a funeral song. She reads these lines while shopping in the commotion and joy of the streets of London, which juxtaposes with her internal conflicts regarding death. Shakespeare, a motif in the book, represents hope and solace for Mrs. Dalloway, as his lines form Cymbeline talk about the comforts found in death. From the beginning of the book, Mrs. Dalloway has shown a fear for death and experiences multiple existential crises, so her connection with Shakespeare is her way of dealing with the horrors of death. The multiple layers to this passage, including the irony, juxtaposition, and allusion, reveal Woolf’s complex writing style, which demonstrates that death is constantly present in people’s minds, affecting their everyday
Earlier in the text she was talking about how she was surrounded by England history in her life. She was accepting the idea of it and raised by British values. She had many questions about the real England and how her family were impacted by the British
Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, is not a book that can easily be viewed through one critical theory. However, by knowing the historical background of when Bronte developed her novel, readers are able to understand Jane Eyre on a deeper level. The Victorian era was a time of change, and what authors like Charlotte Bronte did was help increase the change by shedding light into problems in Victorian society. Jane Eyre touches on many of the issues in Victorian society like feminist issues, class struggles, and the relationship between Britain and its colonies. Not only can readers see how much society has changed, but also the similarities. By understanding the novel at a historical level, readers can understand the novel through the lense
For more than 200 years before the Indian Mutiny of 1857, there had been a British presence in India. They began as merchant ventures and their holdings on the land were relatively small. Over the years they had expanded, creating forts for protection and larger trading stations. Eventually, to make certain that there would be stability and a successful trade business, Britain deployed many of its armed forces there and also raised forces of natives, thus becoming an active power in 18th Century India. Sometimes by their design but also sometimes by accident, the area of British control began to increase. Their expansion lasted until nearly the entire sub-continent was apart or effected by the empire by the year 1857.
If you look at this impressive colonial history, it might seem that the British, of all nations, should be most used to living side by side with the foreign, exotic countries, strange cultures and nations. But on the evidence of English literature, this is not always so. Furthermore, it is not uncommon to find feelings like uneasiness and fear, ignorance and superiority toward foreign countries in English books.