White Man’s Burden in the 19th and Early 20th-Century Literary Works Essay

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My topic is the idea of White Man’s Burden in the 19^th and early 20^th-century literary works. The issues of colonialism have been skirted in the current literary curriculum. At the same time, the ideas of “White Man’s Burden,” which was first described by Rudyard Kipling, have been prevalent in many works of the time period, especially those considering native America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East (Murphy, 2019). The general public needs to understand the extent of such ideas in past societies to understand how colonialism was idealized and supported, as well as know the names of those who preached for or against it at the time.

My working thesis is that literature of the 19^th-20^th century in Europe and the US portrayed non-European nations purposefully as primitive, uncultured, and antiquated. At the same time, there was opposition to such imperialist views, prompting authors to engage in criticism and satire. The general public must be aware of both sides of the coin and understand how misconceptions of the past are shaping the future. The current curriculum needs to change to include both the political right and wrong works of literature so that these mistakes are highlighted, argued about, analyzed, and rebuked.

The information I will need to conduct this research will include literary works from the 19^th and 20^th centuries, with the two main ones being “White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling and “To the Person Sitting in the Dark” by Mark Twain. Additional information required would be the examples of “White Man’s Burden” as implemented by various western states, showing the effects and inhumanities brought upon the colonized peoples by their efforts. The four main ideas of the argument essays will be as follows:

“White Man’s Burden” was used as a moral justification for western Imperialism;
Some, like Mark Twain, opposed the notions and offered ample criticism;
Western Imperialism caused great grief to all countries that were affected by it;
The negative effects of imperialism are largely absent from western literature.

I could use some help with the annotated bibliography and the essay. Namely, I would need instructions on how to ensure my sources are valid and unbiased. I will also need a proper analytical framework to compare and contrast the findings in various sources.

Reference

Murphy, G. (2019). Shadowing the White Man’s Burden: US imperialism and the problem of the color line. NYU Press.

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