Question

Compare and contrast the portrayal of imperialism in the political cartoon "The White Man’s Burden” and the Kipling poem of the same name.

Answer 1

Answer:

Kipling clearly liked the idea of enslaving the people of one Asian country on the other side of the world. The White Man's Burden was written with the sole intention of persuading Americans not to give freedom to the Philippines. On the other hand the political cartoon is obviously is showing that the white man is carrying all other races on his back, and that without him they wouldn't prosper.

Explanation:

This poem was once very popular. It was written in 1899, at a time when Filipinos were fighting for independence from the United States of America. Many readers today are probably not aware of the fact that the United States colonized the Philippines.

Poem is, by modern standards, extremely offensive. The author calls the population of another race "freshly caught, frowned upon people" who are "half devil and half children." He criticizes them for not accepting white people as "better than themselves" and those who "brought them to the light of day" by colonization.

"White man's burden" is a term synonymous with English imperialism and racism in the English-speaking world today.