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The end of an old social order in Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”, an expression of benevolent white supremacy in Kipling’s“The White Man’s Burden,” a savage satirical jab at Belgium’s King Leopold as a ruthless oppressor of natives of the Congo in Mark Twain’s “King Leopold’s Soliloquy,”and a fictional exploration of the Belgian brutality in the Congo in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” all touch on one aspect or another of the late-19th century magnificence of the European Century and its decadence or seamy underside. As the patchwork of alliances steadily decays towards World War, our notions about European Superiority start to crumble as well. Using any of these works that you want to, but being sure to include either the Chekhov or the Conrad, discuss how this process of decadence and collapse of illusions is portrayed by the literature.

What I want you to do is to look at at least two works, one major (Chekhov or Conrad) and one minor (Kipling or Twain), and write down whatever strikes you about the shift in society--world-view, attitude towards colonies and other overseas extension of our power, the expression of people's attitudes in the arts [i.e., play and novella] strike you. If Europeans (and including Americans and Russians with Europeans) are undergoing some sort of major change in consciousness, how is this embodied in these works?