Rudyard Kipling Imperialism

Rudyard Kipling was a British author and poet who was raised in India during the time of Imperialism. He has written many pieces of literature such as " The Jungle Book" , "White Man's Burden", "The man who would be King" and much more, which all consists the theme of race, imperialism and culture.In his poems and novels, he writes situations which could be described as racist. Such as, describing native Indians as "savages" ," half devil, half child". But his poems and novels can also be described as imperialist. For instance, in his story "Lispeth", the narrator says " It takes a great deal of Christianity to wipe out uncivilized Eastern instincts". This shows that the author, believes that the east is uncivilized and it would take a great …show more content…
The definition of racism is "the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races."(Merriam-Webster). This definition describes Kipling and his beliefs when it comes to his beliefs in imperialism, which includes inferiority of other races, and claiming that people from the East possess characteristics of "savage" and "unclean". In Kipling's story " Baa Baa Black sheep", he tells the story of his life when he was a young boy. In this part of the story, he sees people who are black and Jewish and he describes them as a "hubushi" which is a black man. He also says how " Meeta used to laugh at a hubushi. I don't think this is a proper place"("Baa Baa Black Sheep", Kipling).Meeta was Kipling's servant when he lived in India and she was an Indian woman who helped Kipling's family to raise him. This exemplifies, Kipling's racism and how it was internalized in him since he was raised with it. Not to mention in "Beyond the Pale", another short story Kipling wrote, Kipling wrote a segment in the beginning of the story which says " A man should, whatever happens, keep to his own caste, race, and breed. Let the White go to the White and the Black go to the Black"("Beyond the Pale", Kipling). This idea of separating races conflicts with his idea of spreading Western culture to the East because he believes that they should stay separate. This was a popular ideology during this time. Racism was taught everywhere and it was a common concept. Therefore, Kipling being racist can be easily proved due to the fact most people were racist and it was a common ideology during that time