The speaker is the authoritative voice of the poem, delivering a sustained argument for United States and British imperialism. He frames the colonization of nonwhite peoples as an urgent moral obligation and a selfless sacrifice rather than a quest for material wealth. He maintains a paternalistic worldview, preparing his audience for the physical toll and the inevitable ingratitude they will face from those they intend to civilize.

Representing white Western nations, particularly the United States, the colonizers act as the poem's intended audience. The speaker instructs them to leave their homes to build infrastructure, fight disease, and establish order in foreign lands. They are depicted as entering a difficult national adulthood, required to act with patience and humility while accepting a loss of their own freedom.

The captives represent the indigenous populations subjected to imperial control, with a specific historical reference to the people of the Philippines. Filtered entirely through the prejudiced perspective of the speaker, they are described as ungrateful, resistant, and immature. They actively resent the structural changes forced upon them, longing instead for their previous way of life.