World Civilizations III Paper #3

Rudyard Kipling was a British poet who wrote "White Man's Burden" in an attempt to

ask America to take up the work he believed in, id est, to spread civilization, enlightenment and

sophistication to the lesser developed people of darker skin tones.

The two artworks depicting the ideal portrayed by “White Man’s Burden” showed many

layers of information regarding what its contemporaries thought of the East. Firstly, one can see

that, from the poem, the upper-class and romantics of the white peoples truly believed that the

Eastern peoples were lost lambs and in need of their enlightenment. This belief is not without

basis. From an objective standpoint, the Eastern peoples were, in fact, less advanced in terms of

socio-economic structures, philosophies of individual rights, technologies, and political

structures. Generally, the Eastern common man was more oppressed than the West, and so were

women. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but the fact is that the “White man” has

indeed progressed more in all the aspects of politics, economies, society, and ideologies.

However, does that give the Western people the right to claim superiority and the right to

change the Eastern way of life? As a pureblooded Easterner myself, I think that this question

does not have a definitive answer. I believe it is an extremely controversial topic, with many

Easterners I know claiming pragmatism and believing that we should be “enlightened” by the

Westerners. However, others argue that we were doing just fine, and that we just progressed in

different directions. However the argument proceeds, it is not my business, and I believe that any

Easterner who wants to be “enlightened” has the right to do so just as any who refuse possesses

the same right. But are the Westerners being ethnocentric and egocentric in their views? I believe

so too. Humans are more or less the same, and though this “enlightenment of the East” may have
come from a good place in their hearts, it shows that they believe in their own superiority as

humans.

To the more realistic things that the artworks point out; firstly, the British carrying the

Asians to enlightenment whilst the American carry the Africans is an apt picture of the times.

British employed colonies in Asia and made money off of India, Singapore, Hong Kong, et

cetera while giving them Western philosophies and ideals. The Americans utilized slavery to use

the Africans as workforce in their own lands. However the stances may be, all I can say is that

the painting is accurate in these relationships.