A Modest Proposal
A Modest Proposal is everything that a satirical story should be.
It includes sarcasm and irony as Jonathan Swift takes us through a roller
coaster ride to show us how the poor are treated miserably.
The narrator begins by leading us down a path. He seems sincere
and thinks it is a pity how everywhere you walk in the streets of Dublin
you see the poor begging people for hand outs. He is seeking a solution to
help the commonwealth.
He appears to be a logical, educated person who makes it clear that
he has been studying this subject for years. He then tells us that he has
a solution to help the babies whose parents cannot afford them. We think
his idea will be charitable and will actually help the poor as well as the
nation.
The narrator then does something that I think set the tone for the
rest of the story. He referred to a baby just born as being dropped from
its dam. Animals are dropped from dams, not humans. Therefore poor
people in this story are nothing more than animals.
We are told how the children are a burden and how instead of
requiring food and clothing the rest of their lives, they will contribute
to the feeding and clothing of many people. Any intelligent person would
assume he intends to put them in factories or farms to work and not be on
the streets begging for food. We are also told that his plan will prevent
voluntary abortions and women murdering their bastard babies.
The narrator shows the reader he is serious by producing
calculations that appear to be well thought-out and then showing us,
through examples, That these children have no future.
Up to this point the narrator appears to be intelligent. He is
from the upper cla...
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...eir right mind would want to be
eaten? Yet he tells us that the parents would have been in favor of it.
The narrator commented on how he has no other motive than the
public good for his country but his country does not include everybody.
Only the rich and those who can take care and support themselves.
I think that Jonathan Swift tried to show how terrible the poor
were treated. Everyone was to busy to help them. He compared them to
animals and referred to them as creatures. I think he did this to show
where their society was heading. The rich simply did not care about what
happened to the poor and they were literally eating them out of house and
home. Jonathan Swift wrote this satirical essay so the people would at
least acknowledge that they had a problem. It is to be hoped that enough
people read his essay and tried to make a difference.
The Catcher in the Rye is a story about a teenage rebel who is exploring the world on his own. The author, Salinger, uses many tools to deepen the impression on the reader such as linking the title to the story in an intricate way or creating a complex name for the protagonist. The symbols used in The Catcher in the Rye are there for a just reason, an example being how the author used the title, which is also a poem, as a symbol. Salinger uses the geographical locations, such as the Museum of Natural History, as symbols as well.
The Effectiveness of A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift "A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public" - Jonathan Swift 1729. In reading this you will discover the answer to the above question in three parts; · How effective is it as an argument · How effective is it as a piece of information · How effective is it as satire "A Modest Proposal" first appeared in public in 1729, Swift wrote this article after all of his previous suggestions had been rejected by the Irish authorities. Swift felt the English government had psychologically exiled him and this greatly added to the rage he felt over the way the Irish People were treated or rather mistreated by the English. Although Swift's highest and most prominent concerns were for his own class, the Anglo-Irish, he in the end spoke for the nation as a whole.
Irishmen, educated, father and husband. All these titles make Jonathan Swift more than qualified to be the author of “A Modest Proposal,” published in the 1729. It discussed the astonishing poverty that was sweeping the Irish nation, his home country, during the early 18th century, which in his opinion was not the nations own doing. He adopts a sarcastic tone in order to display to the Irish people the injustices cast upon them, and to inspire his countrymen to rise up from poverty and stand up to those who held them down.
Political issues or matters concerning the well-being of mankind is not something new to us. Social and political hierarchies have existed for millennia, yet the ways in which people have voiced their concerns or opinions on sensitive topics related to these hierarchies have evolved over time. One way in which people have addressed important society matters has been through satire. Typically satirical writings are fueled by anger brought about by a political event or societal issue. Instead of voicing their anger directly to the people, Jonathan Swift and other satirical authors, have used satire as “the engine of anger, rather than the direct expression of anger” (Egendorf 40). In doing so,
“Follow your heart, but be quiet for a while first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart.” Heart. Feelings. Trust. All of these concepts said by Carl W. Buechner are philosophies that are spoken of freely in the twenty-first century, where love is limitless and marriage is bound by no restraints. A rich man can easily fall in love with his maid. A poor couple can just as effortlessly run off and get married. However, during the turn of the nineteenth century, this was regarded as foolish, even outrageous. Marriage was for stability, for financial reliability. Love or the “heart” was not at all a necessity, nor even a component to the formula. Happiness in marriage was simply a rare bonus. But Jane Austen proves this contrary in her novel Pride and Prejudice. Her protagonist, Elizabeth, defies the social norm of acquiring a husband for the mere sake of security and instead looks for love. But Elizabeth is no weak, romanticized girl. Her “modern” outlook leads her ultimately to success. Other characters like Charlotte or Lydia will have lukewarm or cold marriages because there were no true feelings of love or even affection; thus, though financial stability is present in Charlotte’s case, there is no intrinsic relationship stability. With this in mind, Austen’s characters’ wide-ranging attributes indicate a wide spectrum of possible relationship developments, but the “happiest” marriage is exemplified in Elizabeth’s because hers is illuminated by full knowledge and mutual love, equating to a secure relationship.
There are two vastly differing works of literature that employ similar elements of satire, whether the story is long or short, essay or novella. In these two works, the authors bring light to ongoing social, political, and philosophical issues of their time and age. The two works I am referring to are Jonathan Swift’s satirical essay, A Modest Proposal, and Voltaire’s novella, Candide, or Optimism. In both A Modest Proposal and Candide, there is a portrayal of irony, cold logic and reasoning rather than emotion, and misguided philosophy. Exploring the issues within these texts can implement a better understanding of not only the literature itself, but also the historical context and the issues of the time. By delving even deeper into these works, one will begin to see the connection that can be made between these texts.
The text is Pride and Prejudice which is about the ups and downs of the connection/relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. The person who changes the most throughout the novel is Mr. Darcy who changes for the affection of Elizabeth. The first copy of Pride and Prejudice was published in 1993 by Wordsworth Editions Limited. Jane Austen is the author and the genre of the novel is Historical/Romance. The book looks at Mr. Darcy and changing his personality, which characters remain static through the book, what Jane Austen is trying to say about the period of time the novel is set in and why Jane Austen has so many characters that stay the same all through the book.
Thomas Hobbs and John Locke have two very opposing viewpoints on human nature. Locke believes that human nature is innately good; Hobbs thinks that human nature knows right from wrong, but is naturally evil and that no man is entirely “good”. Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the classic novel The Scarlet Letter, believes that every man is innately good and Hawthorne shows that everyone has a natural good side by Hester’s complex character, Chillingworth’s actions and Dimmesdale’s selfless personality.
The writer behind “Singers Solution to World Poverty” advocates that U.S. citizens give away the majority of their dispensable income in order to end global suffering. Peter Singer makes numerous assumptions within his proposal about world poverty, and they are founded on the principle that Americans spend too much money on items and services that they do not need.
This essay by Jonathan Swift is a brutal satire in which he suggests that the poor Irish families should kill their young children and eat them in order to eliminate the growing number of starving citizens. At this time is Ireland, there was extreme poverty and wide gap between the poor and the rich, the tenements and the landlords, respectively. Throughout the essay Swift uses satire and irony as a way to attack the indifference between classes. Swift is not seriously suggesting cannibalism, he is trying to make known the desperate state of the lower class and the need for a social and moral reform in Ireland.
Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion emanates the social and political upheaval caused by the war and depicts the transition into nineteenth century realism where class and wealth was considered extremely important in the social hierarchy. She explores the reactions to the newly diverse interactions between different social classes and although she was “no snob, she knew all about snobbery.” Therefore, she is able to realistically portray the views of upper class characters such as Sir Walter Elliot and contrast them to men who have earned their wealth, such as Captain Wentworth. Whilst Britain was involved with the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in the early nineteenth century, the navy had a profound involvement therefore this is not only reflected in Austen’s real life, but also in her novels. This alters the narrative in the novel as a whole as Austen depicts how wealth and being upper class is no longer limited to hereditory but can also be earned through professions such as being in the navy. As a result, the contrasts between the opinions and actions of the men who work for their wealth and the men who merely receive it from their family are profound.
The short story Girl written by Jamaica Kincaid is a mother’s compilation of advice, skills, and life experience to her daughter. The mother believes that her offer of practical and helpful guidance will assist her daughter in becoming a proper woman, and gaining a fulfilling life and respectable status in the community. Posed against the mother’s sincere concern for her daughter’s future is Sir Walter’s superficial affection to his daughters in the novel Persuasion written by Jane Austen. Due to his detailed attention for appearance and social rank, Sir Walter has been negligent to his daughters’ interests and fails to fulfill his responsibility as a father. Throughout both literary works, the use of language and tone towards persuasive endeavors reveals the difference in family dynamics and the success of persuasion on the character’s transformation.
In the fourth book of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift uses satire to draw reader’s attention towards his concerns about humanity and uses irony to reveal his cynical views towards human kind. According to the Great Chain of Being, a term developed by the Renaissance that describes a divinely hierarchical order in every existing thing in the universe, human beings are placed a tier higher than animals (http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english /melani/cs6/ren.html). However, by comparing human traits with unpleasant qualities of animals, Swift blurs the definition of human being and questions the hierarchical place of human. In the fourth book of Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver starts his journey as a well-educated European person who is considered to be a decent example of humanity. The first group of inhabitants Gulliver finds on the island where he is dropped off on are the Yahoos. Gulliver is disgusted by the behaviours of these wild creatures at first and he considers them to be animals that are owned by the dominate beings on this island. Gulliver then discovers the Houyhnhnms whom he perceives as brute beasts (Swift 2420) and animals (ibid.) because they share similar physical qualities compare to the horses in England. After a brief interaction with the two Houyhnhnms, Gulliver is taken to the house of a Houyhnhnm whom he will later refer to as his master. Through the interactions with the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver is able to show the ability to reason even though he shares some physical similarities with the Yahoos. Due to this quality and the fact that the Houyhnhnms cannot see his bare skin under his clothes, he is able to live with the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver starts to relate himself more to the Houyhnhnms than the Yahoos becau...
Any change to spare? To roam the streets of Ireland is to walk through a country full of depression, as this is one of the commonly asked questions by the many beggars on its streets. It is the combination of the English, the overpopulation and the prosperous landowners of Ireland that are the cause of the poverty and melancholy of the population. The appalling economic and social conditions that deprive the Irish prevent them from providing sufficient care for both themselves and their children. Many parents, unable to work for their honest sources of revenue, are forced to employ all of their time panhandling for alms. Meanwhile, their children grow up to become thieves or emigrants. Author Jonathon Swift, has proposed a “modest” solution to this on-going problem. In his satirical essay “A Modest Proposal,” Swift effectively argues that the Irish deserve better treatment from the English while suggesting to his readers, in a humorous manner, that the impoverished country should alleviate their monetary and societal issues by selling their children as food and clothing to the wealthy. Swift does this by utilizing a satirical tone while also using verbal irony and pathos to make his point.
In today’s society, there are many who believe that humans have an innate sense of virtue and morality. They are confident that all human beings are born with a perception of what is right and what is wrong. However, there are others who take the traditional biblical stance, in which it is simply human nature to be sinful. In Gulliver’s Travels, the author, Jonathan Swift shows a strong inclination towards the latter thought: that all people are inherently evil. His disposition can easily be seen through his novel’s outlandish narratives that satire the corruptions of humanity. He puts the main character, Lemuel Gulliver, through four distinct journeys, which all inadvertently reveal vices in human society. In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, the theme of corruption is portrayed through the evils of politics, the deceitful nature of humanity, and the characters’ exploitations of pride.