Rudyard Kipling's Poem The White Man’s Burden: A Post-Colonial Study

Abstract

This paper critically examines Rudyard Kipling’s 1899 poem “The White Man’s Burden” through the lens of postcolonial theory, particularly focusing on Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism and the notion of the “Demonic Other.” The poem, written during the United States’ occupation of the Philippine Islands, is presented as a call to empire under the guise of humanitarian duty. However, it simultaneously reinforces a racially hierarchical worldview by portraying colonized peoples as inferior, irrational, and in need of Western intervention. Kipling’s representation of the colonized as “half-devil and half-child” illustrates the imperial discourse that justifies colonial domination as a civilizing mission. This paper argues that such portrayals are not benign literary tropes but ideological tools that serve to naturalize and moralize imperial expansion. Drawing on the theoretical insights of scholars such as Edward Said, Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin, the paper identifies how colonial literature constructs the East as the “Other” a static and inferior reflection of the West. Said's critique of Orientalism underscores how literature has historically functioned as an instrument of empire, promoting Western superiority and suppressing the agency of colonized subjects. Kipling’s poem is shown to fit into what Ashcroft et al. described as the first phase of postcolonial literature, where Western authors write from a position of imperial authority, masking ideological assumptions behind claims of objectivity and moral responsibility. Through a close reading of key lines from the poem and a discussion of its wider cultural implications, this study reveals how “The White Man’s Burden” perpetuates a discourse that dehumanizes the colonized while glorifying colonial power. In doing so, it contributes to the ongoing scholarly effort to deconstruct colonial narratives and expose the mechanisms of cultural domination embedded in Western literary traditions.