The Four Feathers: The Meaninglessness of Imperialism Sid Ali Kercenna College

The Four Feathers is a novel commonly read as a pro-imperialistic work of the early 1900s. This conjecture is often strengthened not only by the fact that its author, A.E.W. Mason, was also a politician -a Liberal member of parliament who could have been more or less influenced by Liberal imperialists such as Edward Grey and Lord Rosebery- but also by his own depiction of Omdurman as a coarse, inhospitable city inhabited by a savage race. Yet, this notion falls apart completely when one ceases to look for imperialistic motives within the way in which “the other” is depicted, and turn instead towards the means by which the author has managed to convey the meaninglessness of the quest for power.

In order to get a better understanding of the work and its relationship with imperialism, the first thing to do is to bring to light the so-called “imperialistic values” present within its pages. Starting with the setting, the author has made a clear cut between the pleasant scenery of England, the high green fields of Ireland, and the rough, harsh topography of Egypt and the Sudan. Moreover, the least that can be said about the representation of the natives and their culture is that it is very unfavorable especially the way in which...