Analyzing The Poem 'The White Man's Burden'

Draft One In the poem, “The White Man’s Burden,” Rudyard Kipling explicitly writes about the deterioration of society as a union. The metaphor in line two suggests that the white men have to “wait in heavy harness,” (Kipling 5) due to the fact that these “strangers” are weighing down, or burdening, the “worth” of the whites. Kipling persists on labeling the white men as higher up than the natives, whom he referred to as the “fluttered folk and wild” (Kipling 6). The strangers in this society, as shown in the quote, are compared to animals that aimlessly wander the streets of their village. They are mocked and belittled. Such people are referred to as “half deviled half child” (Kipling 8). They have become such a “burden” for the white folks, who have to help out the world’s inferior, uncivilized animals.
In his opinion, even though the Swiss made him feel like a stranger as well, Americans isolated him out of feelings of hate and disgust. In a village of 600 people, the Swiss were shocked to see him, and often referred to him as a “living wonder.” Baldwin explains how the kids of the village would also call him “Neger,” in the streets. Similarly enough strangers outlined in “The White Man’s Burden,” were labeled as lazy (“sloth”), uncivilized (“heathen”), and foolish (‘folly’) (Kipling