Imperialism In Things Fall Apart And White Man's Burden

545 Words3 Pages
Imperialism is the act of one country's government dominating anothers. The poem White Man’s Burden is about whites carrying on the so called “burden” to civilize, educate and teach religion to non-whites. The novel Things Fall Apart is about Igbos from Nigeria conflicting between Christian white imperialists. The whites come to Umuofia, a southern Nigerian village and try to educate, civilize and teach religion to the Igbos; who were in fact African American. Imperialism is conferred in a variety of different ways in both Things Fall Apart and White Man’s Burden. Resources are one of the main causes of imperialism in White Man’s Burden and Things Fall Apart. “To seek anothers profit / And work anothers gain,” (Kipling 15-16). To seek anothers profit is to strive for others money or success. The Europeans wanted resources for their own good and didn’t care about others needs. The whites found wealth in other countries resources.…show more content…
“Take up the White Man’s burden--” (Kipling 1), to take up the white man’s burden is to enlighten the non-whites on the whites culture and knowledge. This included religion, which in this case was Christianity. Christianity was also brought to the Igbos in Things Fall Apart. “And he told them about this new God, the Creator of all the world and all the men and women. He told them they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone,” (Achebe 145). When the author referrers to him she is talking about the missionaries. When the missionaries told the clan this it caused quite the conflict. They wanted to dominate another country by using religion as a

More about Imperialism In Things Fall Apart And White Man's Burden

Open Document