Kipling’s imperial legend framed mastery of the world as an alliance with the elements

Evidence

The foundation legend, as Kipling tells it, starts from the fundamental reality of the people of the British Isles. Surrounded by the sea, they need and win the help of the three elements of Water, Wind, and Sun through the invention of the Ship. The ship made the always dangerous alliance with the elements possible and made the Englishman master of the world. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 540

Categorization

• XREF: The imperialist foundation legend is a concrete worked example useful for the Orientalism module: a self-justifying narrative that converts domination into elemental necessity.