The Guilt (PR)

So for my poetry response post, I decided to look at some poems that might relate to imperialism as that's all we are doing in Lit and it makes sense to do so. I then came across a poem that I believed I encountered two years ago in AP US called "The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling.

Take up the White Man’s burden—Send forth the best ye breed—Go send your sons to exileTo serve your captives' needTo wait in heavy harnessOn fluttered folk and wild—Your new-caught, sullen peoples,Half devil and half childTake up the White Man’s burdenIn patience to abideTo veil the threat of terrorAnd check the show of pride;By open speech and simpleAn hundred times made plainTo seek another’s profitAnd work another’s gainTake up the White Man’s burden—And reap his old reward:The blame of those ye betterThe hate of those ye guard—The cry of hosts ye humour(Ah slowly) to the light:"Why brought ye us from bondage,“Our loved Egyptian night?”Take up the White Man’s burden-Have done with childish days-The lightly proffered laurel,The easy, ungrudged praise.Comes now, to search your manhoodThrough all the thankless years,Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,The judgment of your peers!

Said poem is basically written to America as a way to convince them into heading into the Philippines and take up the ideas of Imperialism and having an Empire as the other European countries have done with Africa and Indonesia. The poem itself is a way of to guilt the US into joining the idea of following along with imperialism using the idea of the "White Man's Burden" to modernize the world. It also blends well into the United States' own idea of bringing civilization to the Native Americans and (to quote Mr. Morse) "Cultivate that Land."

However, there is another reason that I chose to look at this poem as it relates to my thoughts on the final chapter of Things Fall Apart. For those of you who have to finish it, spoilers are below. You have been warned. So in the final chapter, Okonkwo decides to commit suicide rather than face judgement in court. The District Commissioner then has someone cut him down and thinks about writing a book about the good they had done in Africa. After reading this section, I then received a one-two slap of "White Guilt!!!!" (Quote by Josiah Rosin March 10th, 2015). It just made me feel so bad and so guilty of what happened to him and the shame for the actions the Europeans caused there. I associate this with White Man's Burden, as I, a white man, am now burdened with so much guilt about the atrocities committed in Africa and how sorry I am for everything that happened.