Analysis: The white man’s burden

The white man’s burden is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling, a British author and poet with ori- gins in the British India. The poem was written in 1899 when Rudyard Kipling was 34 years old – it was posted in the magazine McClure’s with the subtitle “United States and the Philippine Islands”.
“Take up the white man’s burden Send forth the best ye breed. Go bind your sons to exile To serve your captives need.” (Kipling; The white man’s burden; 1st stanza pt. 1)
The poem is a quite long description of the burden mentioned in the title and refers to a bur- den, which the “white man” has put on his own shoulders. It is rather satirical when read, as the poem indirectly can be interpreted as a discrimination of the white mans (British) imperialistic in- spirations and perhaps even megalomania – as one might have expected from the author. The mean- ing of the title is interpreted as following:
The burden of the white man is to “serve his captives need” as written in the first stanza. By this, Kipling refers to how the white man, with a perhaps imperialistic ideology, is to rule the people suppressed by the British colonies, later described as “new-caught, sullen peoples, half-devil and half-child” (Kipling; TWMB, 1st stanza pt. 2). This description of the captives is a caricatured pic- ture of what Kipling believes the white man saw his captives as, while implying the satiric element of the poem. Kipling presents the imperialistic view of the white man, where the non-white men are childlike and demonic. This view proposes that the white man has an obligation to rule over, and encourage the cultural development of the mentioned captives. This development would of course end up with the non-white man completely adopting the culture of the western civilization a semi- assimilation into the white mans “perfect” civilization – as the white man sees his own civilization as a near-Utopia.
The white man’s burden can easily be interpreted as racist, but might as easily be interpreted as a metaphor referring to a condescending view of the non-white nationalities and cultures, identi- fied as a sense of the white man’s ascendancy – the implied imperialism. He implies that this way of approach results in an unstipulated obligation and moral duty to help the less fortunate. To help them “better” themselves, whether they require the help or not.
“Take up the White Man’s burden
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard”
(Kipling; TWMB; 5th stanza pt. 1)
This stanza reflects upon the before mentioned point of view, where the white man’s work is not appreciated by the “captives”.
The poem reflects upon a Christian complex, within the anaphora “Take up the White Man’s burden” (contra: “take up the cross”) which leads to a declaration of independence (seen from the
Christian perspective). This interweaving of Christianity and patriotism aims to delude and force
“The best ye breed” – the young British men – into national-imperialistic actions, and supports a missionary performed baptism of non-religious or people of other religious views from the non- white cultures

Conclusion:
Of course the Burden has a wide variation in relation to the interpretations presented by dif- ferent interpreters, but what most interpreters are willing to agree of, is that the burden is a self- created responsibility, created by the white man to govern and impart their culture to non-white cultures. The burden is in short terms the responsibility to take care of the less fortunate. This bur- den makes the white man superior to most other cultures because it suppresses the men within the colonies, and makes the empire even greater.