Looking At Imperial Identity In Rudyard Kipling English Literature Essay

Looking At Imperial Identity In Rudyard Kipling English Literature Essay The work of Edward Said has long been fuel for much critical debate; In Orientalism, Said argues that the whole notion of the Orient is a body of culture, academic and political work that tries to identify the East as them in terms that have evolved through Western Imperialism. In Orientalism, Said quotes Rudyard Kiplings work as exemplifying colonial attitudes to Oriental peoples. (REF) The aim of this essay is to explore the critical material written about the work of Kipling, in particular Kim and The Jungle Books. By using the work of Said as a foundation and starting point to critique Kiplings work, I plan to explore how Kipling presents his young heroes, Kim and Mowgli. According to Saids analysis, there are two factors that must be kept in mind when interpreting Kim. One being that, its author was writing not just from the dominating viewpoint of a white man in a colonial possession but from the perspective of a colossal colonial system whose economy, functioning, and history had acquired the status of a virtual fact of nature. (162) Kipling assumes an essentially uncontested empire of colonies made up of inferior humans. The division between white and non-white was absolute in India and other colonial areas, and is alluded to throughout Kim as well as the rest of Kiplings work: a Sahib is a Sahib and no amount of friendship or camaraderie can change the rudiments of racial difference. (162) According to Said, Kipling would no more have questioned that difference and the right of the white European to rule than he would have argued with the Himalayas. (163) Similar to Said, S. P. Mohanty in his essay, Kiplings Children and the Colour Line, explores this division between the white and non-white. Mohanty argues that Kim has to be read in terms of racial positions and the imperial project. In particular he focuses on issues of spying, scouting, observing and managing: a distinctly political project shaping racial meanings, identities and possibilities. He suggests that Kim is a white hero who can discard his colour as he wishes: He lives and sleeps and east in the open social world of colonial India against a backdrop of an inter-Imperial war between Britain and Russia, but his identity is never something that ties him down. (241) Kim is of white heritage, yet grew up as a street urchin in Lahore, in the care of a half caste Indian woman. Mohanty argues that it is when we begin to take Kims cultural identity seriously as the character can become real and the reader begins to pay attention to the narratives elusive and mystifying cultural vision and wonder about the sources of its motivation. (242) The critic explains that once we being to question Kims education, direct parallels can be drawn to Kims ancestor, Mowgli. Both Kim and Mowgli learn to adapt to strange surroundings and attain a knowledge that enables them to survive their harsh worlds. (242) Mowgli is adopted by the wolves and befriended by the rest of the jungle animals, yet still holds a level of superiority. However in an example that Mohanty gives, taken from the opening of The Kings Ankus, Mowgli and Kaa the python are playing: the fantasy is here not so much of pure freedom as of involvement without any real implication. Kaa could crush Mowgli with the slightest slip; and what Mowgli plays with, in fact, is precisely this. Their inequality reduces to a game. From the beginning of the story, Kaa acknowledges the young human as the Master of the Jungle, and brings the boy all the news that he hears. (243) It is suggested by Mohanty that Mowgli like Kim reveals the capacity to not only inhabit the jungle through a wishful allegorical fantasy, but also to chart and track it as well both of them have the ability to read the world around them and often better than the natives. The native boys Kim is compared with somehow lack the facility that make reading possible, remarks the critic. Another example he gives of this inequality is when Lurgan Sahib teaches Kim and the Indian boy how to observes peoples faces and reactions, to interpret their behaviour and identify motive, Kim seems to learn it quickly, whilst the native boy is left mysteriously handicapped (244) The second factor is that Said recognises is that Kipling was a historical being as well an author; Kim was written at a specific moment in his career, and at a time when the relationship between the British and Indian people was changing. When we read it today, Kiplings Kim can touch many of these issues. Does Kipling portray the Indians as inferior, or as somehow equal but different? Obviously, an Indian reader will give an answer that focuses on some factors more than others (for example, Kiplings stereotypical views some would call them racialist on the Oriental character) whereas English and American readers will stress his affection for Indian life on the Grand Trunk Road. Sandra Kemp in her 1988 study entitled Kiplings Hidden Narratives, tries to understand and link the relationship between the authors psychology and the authors work. She notes that Kipling was strongly opposed to Indian Nationalism (2) and used his public figure as a writer to draw attention to politics and the political climate in India. Like Said recognises, India was entering a post-Muntiny state and both critics propound the influence of this on Kipling. (2) Baa Baa, Black Sheep, Kiplings semi-autobiographical account of childhood, he reveals recurrent preoccupations as the story dramatizes the difference between the East and West. Throughout his writings Kipling seems to be searching for a structure of belief that would recognise the reality of both love and hate, and the reality of their co-existence. Kemp encapsulates the search for identity within Kim, stating that this structures the action: Who is Kim-Kim-Kim? Quoting this extract from Kim again is Zorah T. Sullivan, who notes that this inner quest and search for an identity suggest possible self-discovery. Sullivan examines Kim and Mowglis mutual [division] between their desire to be loved and their need to control and be feared. (i) Quoting from The Second Jungle Book all the Jungle was his friend, and just a little afraid of him (130). This coincides with Mohantys point regarding Kaa and Mowlgis play fighting. Sullivan identifies that the India Kipling created helped to construct a mythology of imperialism by reflecting both the real and the imaginary relationship between the British and their Indian subjects. (8) By acknowledging the work of Kemp, Sullivan expands upon how Kemp illuminates Foucaults and Saids earlier work on the problems of representing Others: knowledge of others reflects the power of the knowing coloniser who represents natives because they cannot represent themselves. (9) Sullivans work counters Kiplings reputation as bard of empire whose voice represents unproblematically and transparently the discourse of imperialism. Peter Havholm suggests that Saids demonstration of the Orientalism assumed by the implied authors of important English and French novels has set the parameters for much other recent discussion about Kiplings fiction. (2008, 5) According to him, fellow critics such as Sullivan and Moore-Gilbert line up against Saids conclusions; They read ambivalence, anxiety, and a range of complexities in the discourse that may be abstracted form Kiplings stories. (5) Although Saids work added colonial discourse analysis to the art and life of Kipling, this analysis focuses more on the rhetoric of Kiplings fiction than its form. However Havholm observes that the discussion Said started is both productive and fascinating. (4) Bart Moore-Gilbert is another critic who is synonymous with Kipling. In his 1986 study Kipling and Orientalism, Moore-Gilbert seeks to explore Kiplings relationship to the characteristic discourses of Anglo-Indian culture, principally the literary and the political in the 19th Century, as well as providing a critique on Saids Orientalism. Edward Said believes that every form of orientalism is based on simplistic stereotypes that help justify the Wests imperialistic goal of restructuring and dominating oriental cultures. Moore-Gilbert suggests that Saids writing is inadequate and generalises the British relationship to India and Kiplings outlook in his Anglo-Indian writings. Moore-Gilbert acknowledges Saids position. Despite his sympathy for Indian ways, as aforementioned, Kipling feared native rule and was in full support of the British Raj. Moore-Gilbert treats this as a regrettable short-coming, proving that Kipling was a prisoner of his cultural values and proposes that Anglo-Indians and Kipling were not always bigoted imperialists as Said may suggest. Through Moore-Gilberts work, a reassessment of Saids hypothesis of Kiping is formed. John McBratneys article Imperial Subjects, Imperial Space argues that the ordering element of Kiplings vision of empire is the native-born Westerner who inhabits his fictions so insistently. Surrounding the native born is felicitous space or a narrative area in which arising social constraints are suspended and where one can engage in a free experiment of personal identity and social role: Given the tension between juvenile freedom and imperial duty, what finally is the nature of Mowglis identity? (279) Similar to some of the other critics discussed in this essay, McBratney too draws upon Kiplings own identity, and his ability to float between the Anglo-Indian and Indian societies, without religious or social sanctum (282) just like Kim and Mowgli. The special abilities that allow the native-born to play these roles derive from his identity as neither exclusively British nor simply native. This study also provides the most thorough analysis of that figures hybrid, casteless selfhood in relation to shifting attitudes toward racial identity during Britains New Imperialism. illuminates both the complexities of subject construction in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods and the struggles today over identity formation in the postcolonial world. Moore-Gilbert has critiqued the work of McBratney, regearding it as a fine critical text (2000, 100). The focus of the native born which features heavily within McBratneys article leads to Moore-Gilbert praising him for highlighting that Mowgli is in fact Indian born and there a native himself. However studies from Mohanty and Sullivan highlight that regardless of whether Mowgli is Indian, the jungle become an allegorical platform and he is still an outsider in a strange world. From the critical material explored here, the issue of identity in Kim and The Jungle Books can be seen to be a highly debated topic, of which I have only scraped the surface, with the reoccurring issues of race and cultural factors being behind and self-confusion. Kemp, as many of the other critics concur, uses Kiplings self-reflexivity of his stories, and his stories interrogate the other-self of his childhood (1) Kiplings own confusion of racial and cultural identity is reflected within his writing, not only in Kim and The Jungle Books, but across all of his Indian fiction. This is something that maybe needs to be taken into consideration, as Moore-Gilbert does, when assessing the work of Kipling, using Said as critical foundation.

Rabbit Proof Fence Filming Techniques Essay

At the start of the movie we are given Molly speaks to us in her traditional language, during this duration we are given beautiful shots of Jigalong, and after them we are shown Molly and her family I believe this was made for background information but also to keep the viewers at their seats at the same time. We are also given close ups o the main characters which obviously communicates to us that the character is the one being spoken about. Phillip Noyce manages to tell so much information in such a little story. There are also a variety of close ups during this movie for example when the man takes Maud’s children we receive close ups of Molly, Daisy, Gracie, Maud and Maud’s mother. Close ups are generally used for suspense or to change what we should be attended to such as when we are shown Mr Neville at the start we are given a frontal close up obviously to frame a picture of Mr Neville in his personality and also the type of man he is. We are also shown close ups of Molly when she talks about the ‘Bad people’ that the doesn’t like During the film we are also shown many, many long shots such like when Molly is running early in the morning we are shown a long shot of her running in the morning trying to get to her mother in time. This was used to make a dramatic sequence at the start of the scene, make it feel like there is a chase like something is happening and if you were bored by the movie before you are now. This is also a transition to let people know that these girls are still in danger. After watching the film you realise there is one filming technique which people usually leave out, and that is symbolism The use of symbolism in Rabbit Proof Fence is used to explore the concept that the journey matters and not the destination does not really. Symbolism the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities the spirit birds presence in the story speaks the importance of religion to these girls and the importance of the journey to the girls. The spirit bird in a partial scene of the movie, when the spirit bird appears over an exhausted Molly and Gracie and arouses them from their sleep. This is used to refer to hope and provides in indication that they will make it home, and will have benefited from their journey in a spiritual way. The use of symbolism lends to the notion that it is indeed the journey and not the destination that matters. Another point in the film  worth mentioning is the use of lighting, Different lighting techniques enable the notion of the journey being the thing that matters to be conveyed to the viewer. They use a technique in lighting to create lighting specific to the girls’ moods and this can infer location, time, emotion and the general changing nature of the journey; from a stealthy slow chase to a sprint for their lives; from starvation or unrelenting temperature change to nourishment. After reviewing the film many times I have realised that during the journey there is a punitive brightness throughout most of the journey this could be used to symbolise the unforgiving and harsh conditions of the walk that need to be overwhelmed before the girls can complete their journey.

The Value of Diversity and Multiculturalism in Business

Shequita Rayford English 101 February 10, 2013 The Poverty Class The Poverty Class is a big class in the United States; As the free encyclopedia stated, Poverty is a state of privation or lack of the usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. The number of families in the poverty class has increase or decrease over the years. The races of population percentage of people in poverty is different from one and another. There are a lot of reasons or saturations why a family is in the class of poverty.Some families come from other classes, like the wealthy class or the middle, then down grade to the poverty class for various reasons. Poverty affect different stages in people lives, there are also different factors of poverty. When you are in the poverty class, you can be look down upon from the other classes for different reasons. There are different ideas to help fix the poverty we have in the United States. In the next exceeding paragraphs, I will explaining th e reasons for each statements because I for the poverty class in my own words and views.The number of the poverty class has increase or decrease, but when I research for the number of population in poverty throughout the years. I see that the numbers has mostly increase throughout the years. In 2000 there was 39. 8 million people in poverty, but that number increased throughout the years. Until now in 2012 the percentage of families in impoverished is 16%, and almost 20% are children. The poverty guidelines are determined by the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau contains the amount of money a family will make in a year.By counting each person and the cost of living for that person, additionally adding each person to calculate a number. Then the census determine if the family would be counted in the poverty class or not. The races of people in a population in poverty is different from one and other. Race and gender plays an enormous part in poverty. Minorities pay a big role by 27 per cent, so does Latinos and American Indians, versus 10 present of whites. Below is the percentages of races in the poverty class; Poverty and race/ethnicity 9. 9% of all non-Hispanic white persons 2. 1% of all Asian persons 26. 6% of all Hispanic persons (of any race) 27. 4% of all black persons. There are a lot of reasons or situations why a family is in the class of poverty. One reason can be that a person was born in a family that is poor, I was born in a family that was in the middle class. My family had a house, and my dad own his own construction company. We live in a nice neighborhood in the city of Chicago. But at the same time I remember seeing poverty all around me. You can tell what class a person was by the clothes they worn.You can tell where the area the class live by the surroundings. For example the wealthy live down town in condos or lofts running 3,000 through 7,000 or more a month. Because the cost of living in a city is expense. Another reason can be because the e conomy with low job rates, or the minimum rates of employment was low. Another reason can be because a lot of families have a single parent trying to raise a family from minimum wage or welfare. After my father passed away, my mom was a single parent, she was left well off but then blew the thousands she was left with.So we went from middle class to poor and had to struggle at times. Then I and my mom got on our feet; now I am a mother with two kids. I only want the best for both of my kids, to not be in the population of the poverty class. Some families come from other classes, like the wealthy class or the middle, then down grade to the poverty class for various reasons. Like I said from the paragraph above, my dad past away and me and my mom had to learn how to survive by ourselves. There are a lot of different reasons why one class can go to poverty.One reason can be because of natural causalities, there has been hurricanes, earth quakes, tornadoes, thunder storms, winter storms and other storms. During the last couple year’s people has come upon these storms and lost everything. For an example the storm Katrina kill a lot of people and left a lot of people homeless in the state of poverty. Poverty affect different stages in a person life. If the person works a minimum wage, it’s like living from one pay check to another. I had live from one pay check to another before, paying all my bills and don’t have enough to buy anything for myself.Or don’t have enough to pay all the bills at once. It can affect a person health if their unable to eat a meal during the day. It all can be challenging trying to live when you don’t have enough income to live on. But either way I found a way to challenge difficult situations, thanks to programs to help people in poverty to pay bills, buy food, buy clothing and personal items. There are different factors of poverty. Low- wage jobs is one factor, in our America today, there are a lot of lo w in come jobs. Even if you go to college and get a degree, there is no guarantee that you will get that dream job you want.I know someone with four degrees and still can’t find that dream job that he wanted. Another factor is that there is a lot of single parents in the house holds of families today. A single parent making a low- wage do not equal to success, taking care of your family can be expensed. I know that for a fact, if it wasn’t for the help of my family, I don’t know where I would be with my kids. But life has got much easier since I gotten help from their father now. The Census Bureau stated that 104 million people make twice below the poverty line, less than $38,000 for a family of three.Economic Policy says half the jobs on the nation pays less then %34,000 a year, a quarter pay less than $23,000 annually. When you are in poverty you can be look down upon. No matter if you are a child or an adult, sometimes you have peers to look at you and judge you. I have got those views from a lot of people that believe people on welfare is lazy or just wasting their tax money. Well those people don’t know that person or family situation. Not having welfare, that family would not be able to feed their family without food stamps.People needs to realize that there is a lot of poverty in the world and a lot of people are suffering. Even if that person has a job, the person has to work a 10 thru a 12 hour shift and only making eight dollars an hour for an example. People don’t want to look at the fact that if the government didn’t have these programs that the poverty percentage would be double. There are different ways to fix poverty in America. By continuing to provide welfare for individuals who are struggling paying their bills, buying food for their house hold and buying personal needs for themselves and their kids.Some of the welfare programs that help provide those needs are food stamps and cash assistance. Social Security helps the elderly who can’t work and people with disabilities. Earn income tax credit helps to provide families with extra money at the end of the year, who made under a certain amount money for that year. Our economy needs more decent paying jobs. We all need to help invest in a 21st century education, provide skill development strategy, the rich should pay their fair of taxes to the country, raise minimum wage and provide more health care. I provided my views on poverty and stated true facts.I want my audience to become more educated on the matter and realize how serious the matter can be. Knowing that you can be in one of the other class one day and be in the poverty class the next day. We all should notice how important this situation is although you might say that this is not your situation, nor your problem. But true fully it affects all Americans in some way or form. Works Cited Websites: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States http://www. nytimes. com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/why-cant-we-end-poverty-in-america. html? pagewanted=all&_r=0

Definition and Examples of a Submerged Metaphor

A submerged metaphor is a type of metaphor (or figurative comparison) in which one of the terms (either the vehicle or the tenor) is implied rather than stated explicitly. In the book Myth and Mind (1988), Harvey Birenbaum observes that submerged metaphors lend the force of their associations in a subliminal way but are likely to be disruptive if they are realized too explicitly. Examples and Observations A submerged metaphor is  an implied comparison made in one or two words (usually verbs, nouns, adjectives). Example: Coach Smith mended the losing pitchers hurt feelings. (Not literally; he just tried to make him feel better.)​  (Patrick Sebranek,  Write Source 2000: A Guide to Writing, Thinking and Learning, 4th ed., 2000) Time and Change Metaphors Examples of submerged metaphor in the vocabulary include the lexical sub-system for constructing the meaning, or the set of concepts, that we call time and change. Expressions like time passes, as time goes by are based on the metaphor time is a moving object. Expressions like the elections are approaching, his mistakes are catching up with him are based on the metaphor events are objects moving along a path. Expressions like we are approaching the election, he thought he had left his mistakes behind him, and even we are going to win are based on the metaphor people are objects moving through time.​  (Paul Anthony Chilton and Christina Schà ¤ffner, Politics as Text and Talk: Analytic Approaches to Political Discourse. John Benjamins, 2002) James Joyces Submerged Metaphors Reading Ulysses often depends upon recognizing the submerged metaphor in the stream of consciousness of the major characters. This is especially true of Stephen whose mind works in metaphorical terms. For example, Stephens association of the sea with the bowl of white china . . . holding [his mothers] green sluggish bile which she had torn up from her rotting liver by fits of loud groaning vomiting depends upon his responding to Mulligans shaving bowl as a transitive but submerged metaphor signified by the present members of the metaphorical series--the sea and the bowl of bile--and in turn signifying them (U.5; I.108-110). Stephen is a hydrophobe whose neurosis depends upon metaphors taking precedence over logic.​  (Daniel R. Schwarz, Reading Joyces Ulysses. Macmillan, 1987) Also Known As: implicit metaphor