Previous

E. M. Forster, A Passage to India

Like Kipling, Forster was an Englishman who had a particular interest in India, the so-called “jewel” in the crown of the British Empire. But whereas Kipling clearly stated his support of the imperialist “civilizing mission” in poems like “The White Man’s Burden,” Forster had a much more ambivalent take on imperialism. Forster also had a rather different understanding of masculinity. Forster’s novel of 1924, which explores both themes, therefore offers a helpful counterpoint to Kipling’s imperialist, masculinist vision.

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Conrad’s landmark novella offers something of a nightmare vision of what happens when an Englishman fails in the endeavor to maintain a “stiff upper lip” in his relation to supposedly uncivilized “natives.” In this regard, Heart of Darkness offers a useful contrast to the vision of stoicism offered in Kipling’s poem.

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

Achebe’s novel examines the trauma of colonization from the perspective of the colonized. What makes his landmark novel of 1958 an interesting companion piece to Kipling’s poem is the way Achebe examines the shortcomings of an overly strict masculine ideal, and its role in the collapse of the Igbo village of Umuofia. Okonkwo, the protagonist of Things Fall Apart, ultimately loses everything because he clings too hard to a toxic ideal of manhood.

Previous section Historical and Literary Context

Take a Study Break