The Representation of Colonized People in Rudyard...

1- Introduction In the modern world history, Western countries have mastered a vast part of the world. And this kind of control, based on domination and subordination, aroused mainly from colonialism and imperialism like the power of the British Empire over many colonized countries in the world. Thus, this imperial power had intensively engaged writers’ attention. Among those major writers is Rudyard Kipling. He is a British novelist and poet who was born in British India in 1865 and died in 1963. Though he lived over thirteen years there, the reader finds that his works espouse the imperial ideology and he came to be recognized as a prophet of the British imperialism(Orwell 116). And this is well manifested in his poem The White†¦show more content†¦Imperialism here is maintaining unequal political, economic and cultural relationships between nations based on the superiority/inferiority dichotomy and, â€Å"promotes the spread of civilization to allegedly ‘backwardâ€℠¢ societies to elevate living standards and culture in conquered territories† (Feuer 4). Thus, Kipling insists throughout the poem on the colonial authority to take up this responsibility and to be virtuous by bringing civilization to the developing world which is seen by Kipling as a â€Å"burden† (1). We can see this in the first line of each stanza, â€Å"Take up the White Man’s Burden†. Besides, he explains the difficulty of this duty while saying: Take up the White Man’s Burden, Send forth the best ye breed Go bind your sons to exile To serve your captives’ need (1-4). This suggests that it is not just the colonized people who are bearing the negative effects of this process of civilization and held in captivity, but also the Westerners may expose their fellows to death which is seen as great sacrifice from the part of the colonial power for the benefits of the natives. Kipling then, represents the White Man as a hero or a God. He held the belief that the White Man has â€Å"A Divine Burden to reign God’s Empire on