"The White Man's Burden"

       In Rudyard Kipling's "The White Man's Burden," Kipling addressed American colonization towards those who would become slaves or below Americans that moved to an area of new possession. When Kipling wrote the poem in 1899, he most likely was referring to the American colonization of the newly attained Philippines. He said many times towards the oppressed in his poem, "Take up the White Man's Burden," and conveyed an acceptance towards American colonization (Kipling). He showed this through his advice towards the oppressed by telling them to "send forth the best ye breed" and by telling them not to "call too loud on Freedom," as if this was their new purpose in life, so that the white man could succeed (Kipling).

       Rudyard Kipling and George Orwell both discussed the exploitation of the oppressed in colonization in their works, "The White Man's Burden" and "Shooting an Elephant," yet their views of colonization differ. Kipling referred to exploitation as working for another's gain and said to the oppressed, "Go bind your sons to exile to serve your captives' need" (Kipling). He also said repeatedly, "Take up the White Man's burden," showing his consent of the exploitations of American colonization. Yet, Orwell conveyed the negatives of imperialism and colonization through the narrator of "Shooting an Elephant." He complained of the evils he saw in the prisons and the way the Burmese treated whites because of the exploitation that they suffered. Orwell portrayed an encounter with colonization that caused him to recognize its evil, though Kipling doesn't recognize it in his poem.

What does Kipling mean in the sixth stanza when he wrote, "The silent, sullen peoples/ Shall weigh your gods and you" (Kipling 1)?