It all started with the Spanish-American War. It led to the Philippine AmericanWar. The U.S. attempted multiple invasions of the Philippines. It began when President McKinley claimed that God Almighty instructed him to make the Philippines an American colony. Then, Spain agreed to take the Philippines to its new imperial power. After that, Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden”, which I was disappointed in at first, helped me to understand. The speaker tells us in the opening of the poem that they are gathering their most elite men to invade Philippines. This disappointed me. It said in the second line that it would “Send forth ye best breed” (Kipling). It was likely that the Philippines would be conquered since they were gathering the best people. I understood the quote better when I translated it. It meant that only the most courageous and strong would go forth and be colonizers/soldiers. This immediately disappointed me. This poem is a disgraceful example of the way it started. The speaker then becomes racist and makes it seem like they are more superior to me. The speaker reminds them that they are going to be conquered. This line, to me, was racist and it disgusts me. Another example is slavery. This was when Africans believed that Whites were superior to them. In this instance however, Whites are not above any other person, even if it felt like they were. Overall, I found the middle annoying and didn’t agree much with what was being stated.
The speaker then states that “The White Man’s Burden” is over. We can see that “The lightly offered laural/ The simple, ungrudged accolade:” (Kipling 56,54), means the war is over. I felt relieved, especially when it ended with such “ungrudged.” praise. I was both sympathetic and understanding of this quote. It was over. All that was wanted had been done. However, none of them ever conquered the other. This is why my interpretation is the best. The Treaty of Paris signed between the United States and Spain ended the Spanish American War.
U.S. & Spain. This was a relief. The Spanish American War lasted just eight months. It was a worldwide war that was being fought on the ground in the Philippines and Guam. The Philippine American War on the other hand was a local conflict, fought between U.S. forces and Filipinos. While it was more brutal, it wasn’t a global conflict. The poem’s end was not so bad. It was easy to see how everything came together.
Overall, I felt many emotions. It was a good poem, even though it made me feel ill. Although it was about war, I can still use it every day. This poem helped me see the bigger picture of what is happening around me. Even though people might hurt me, I know how strong my character is and I will move on, strong.
