Burdens According To Race Class and Gender (Short Paper)

Imperialism is something that is everywhere. In the cars people choose to drive, the places they choose to eat, even the issues they deal with in day to day life. In the following essay I will discuss the affect of Imperialism on persons in relation to their social class, race and gender according to The Black Mans Burden and The White Mans Burden Imperialism is defined as “The belief in the desirability of the acquisition of colonies and dependencies, or the extension of a country's influence through trade, diplomacy” this definition can be applied to the poems in question because in one way or another the main characters in the poems, be they white or black men, are being controlled by a larger purpose than personal gain. Though the burdens being described in both poems are both described differently, they are still cited as burdens regardless.On one hand the burden in Kipling’s The White Mans Burden is described as something the reader should “take up” (Kipling 1) while in the case of The Black Mans Burden the burden is described as something that one must “pile on” (Johnson 1) these two descriptions of what needs to be done with the burdens both makes their interpretations and meanings different. By allowing the burden in The White Mans Burden to be taken up the person who may be carrying it is being given a release. With The Black Mans Burden the burden is only being added to. This is something that is both seen in The Poor Mans Burden as well as The Black Mans Burden I felt as though with this connection, being poor and black are often things that are interwoven with each other. While I also agree with Ben's point that the speaker is saying it is appropriate for the person in question to take advantage of a local resource instead of going to places like Cuba or Hawaii I also feel like even with the convenience of being locals people are still being exploited wheter they are from Cuba or Hawaii. The main point of imperialism is to control smaller groups of people or in a larger sense countries. Lower classed indiviguals ie: brown and yellow people are more likely to be controlled by things like colonialism, capitalism or imperialism. Strangly although certain races are highlighted in all three of the burden poems, for some odd reason I am left with the idea that, although the person who may have the burden has shifted, ultimately the white man is still to blame for the burdens that follow after Kipling's poem

Posting on behalf of Diana Nemtzov --FL

I want to discuss the internal conflict going on with the characters throughout the story. It is apparent that identity plays an important and critical role in everyone’s lives and development. Most evident is Minke’s struggle to fit in with others around him and to discover his identity. Sadly he can’t fit it as either a native or a pure blood, due to his unique character. A question was brought up yesterday, is his internal conflict self inflicted, or can we say that outside forced are responsible such as the colonizing mission?

I believe that Minke is not at fault. Society comes with discrimination; it has its expectations and rules. When a person behaves differently then the members in the society they are often rejected. Minke is experiencing this rejection as he struggles to find his place in the world. Society looks down upon his native culture and makes him embarrassed to be native in any way. It’s sad to see that society’s rules take precedence over personal wants and needs, to the point where it begins to take over. I found this aspect of the story to be quite interesting because this is something everyone experiences and can often relate to.

Civilization and Colonialism

Posting on behalf of Jose Calle --FL

Civilization and Colonialism both have the same outcomes, to conquer and to rule the uncivilized, in the poem “The Poor Man’s Burden,” By George McNeill and in the novel This Earth of Mankind, by Pramoedya Ananta Toer illustrate this mutuality between civilization and Colonialism. As we discussed in class civilization or a civilize person is well educated, a leader, has a specific religion, power and most important is driven by reasoning. This ideology of enlightenment is used within colonialism. In other words colonizers (British, United States) are using civilization in order to colonize. At the beginning of empires as we discussed empires used ideology of believes of truth with out questioning to conquer land and people. In similar way Colonialism is conquering by using the ideology of civilization. What I can see the only change was the idea from religion base to reasoning conquer but not the method.

Civilization then is a tool used to colonize easily without questioning. In other words given some reasoning to people makes them easy to conquer. The knowledge given to the colonist is the required in order to govern. If the religion was no longer an effective weapon then turning “salvages” into civilize “manhood” through reasoning was easy to get the same outcomes where political, economical and ideological: land, exploitation, wealth and power. For instance in the novel, “Sing Veni, vidi, vici—I came, I saw, I conquered,” (p. 22) this phrases is used to describe in both imperialism (Civilization) and colonialism as one because at the end both are conquer whether through civilization or ideological. The relationship between civilization and colonialism is mutual and mutually complement one another. For example Minke in the novel who depend on the Europeans teacher in order to learn reasoning. Minke a privilege Native who goes to H.B.S. a prestige Dutch high school is a symbol of Colonialism and civilization. The fact that Minke is learning how to write and read or I’ll say bringing him into a new world of reasoning through this ideal making him easily to be control or conquer. As we discussed class he is unique and he doesn’t realize that because he is the only native in this school. I believe the fact that he is becoming more like a European makes him forget where he comes from or who he is.

I have a question; can we say that civilization is Imperialism in modernity? How can civilization be if the only way to acquire to civilized people is through uncivilized actions? Doesn’t exploitation is uncivilized?

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