Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
Things to Consider:
- British (and American) Imperialism
- Freemasonry
- Race
- Religion
Discussion Questions:
996:
- Describe what, according to the
editors, is significant about Kipling's portrayal of the
working-class imperial soldier.
"The White Man's Burden" (1899)
997-99:
- Describe the impetus for the composition of the poem (i.e.,
its occasion).
- What exactly is the white
man's burden?
- Describe the speaker's attitude
toward colonized people of color.
997:
- Explain: "Go bind your sons to
exile / To serve your captives' need" (3-4).
999:
- Explain the final four lines.
"If" (1910)
998-99:
- What is the essential argument of
this poem?
- Why are Triumph and Disaster considered "imposters" (12)?
Other Discussion Questions (Another Text to Consider):
"The Man Who Would be King" (1888) 
987:
- Explain the meaning and
significance of the epigraph.
- Why is the narrator taking a train at the beginning of his
story? Where is he going and why?
- What is an Intermediate?
989:
- What are the Native States?
(See also 988, fn 9.) Why do they "have a wholesome horror of
English newspapers" (989)?
- Explain the narrator's
message to the man with the red beard.
990-91:
- Does the narrator enjoy his
job as editor of a newspaper? Explain.
993:
- Why have the two loafers
(Peachey Carnehan and Daniel Dravot) sought the narrator out?
995:
- Explain Carnehan and Dravot's
"Contrack."
995-96:
- Describe the "priest" and his
assistant. What are they doing with mud dolls and whirligigs?
997:
- Describe Peachey's appearance
when he returns two years later.
1000:
- Explain Dravot's interaction
with Imbra (the stone idol) and the blond men.
1003:
- Explain the use of Freemason
rituals in the solidification of Carnehan and Dravot's control
in Kafiristan.
- Why do they rename all the
men?
1004:
- Explain the difference in
Dravot's mind between the "sons of Alexander" and the "common black
Mohammedans." (see also 1005).
1006:
- Explain Dravot's and
Carnehan's differing opinions on the prospect of securing
wives.
1008:
- Why does Dravot's prospective
wife bite him?
- Explain: "Neither God nor
Devil, but a man!" (1008).
1010:
- Why does Peachey get
crucified?
1011:
- Explain the significance of
the final exchange between the narrator and the
Superintendent.