Jonathan Swift and Katha Pollitt, separated by 200 years, share a common interest in the welfare of people. Specifically, the two authors write of different experiences regarding the underprivileged women and children in their particular countries. While my experience might be limited in the environment of poverty personally, I have had some exposure to underprivileged youth and their families. My perception of poverty is based on attending both primary and secondary school in a depressed socioeconomic community filled with single mothers living in government funded housing on the north side of Houston. From my experiences, I have found that, while divorce can be damaging for children, the deterioration of family values in society doesn’t …show more content…
While divorce can either bring or relieve emotional burdens, the biggest burden generally revolves around finances. It is not a new phenomenon that poverty has deep, damaging effects on children. In Jonathan Swift’s 1729 essay, “A Modest Proposal”, it is clear that a single parent’s life has not changed when it comes to bearing the weight of poverty. He even goes on to suggest the idea of eating children, rather than putting them through the pain of poverty. Nevertheless, our communities urge the importance of a strong idealistic family rather than attempting a stronger attack on improving the lives of poor single parents. While I was fortunate enough to be raised in a household with an upper middle class income, I have seen first-hand what it is like for the lower class to survive. The families of most of my close friends in high school struggled to find money for even the most basic essentials of everyday life. Personal transportation was never an option and some couldn’t even afford to eat a school lunch. What I have noticed is students in that situation feel partially responsible for the lack of finances in their families. Because of this sense of responsibility, the child will focus less on school and more on providing for their families. It’s difficult for millions of Americans to grasp on to the fact that there are children in America who go to bed hungry. Far too often the blame is placed on the single parents who are trying to raise them. Maybe, instead of shaming them for getting a divorce, we try helping them and their fight to successfully raise healthy
Life has plenty of harsher circumstance where attention should be focused on. Not all that comes out of divorce hurts. Of course, divorce is no fun at times, but once families settle, the freedom of the family allows for a peaceful home. When Kingsolver’s daughters friends tell her they are sorry that she is a part of a divorced family, she replies with a giddy answer, “Our house is in the country, and we have a dog, but she can go to her dad’s neighborhood for the urban thrills of a pool and sidewalks for roller-skating. What’s more she has three sets of grandparents!” (Kingsolver, 2014, p. ?). What better than to have two homes, to live in the country, and have three sets of grandparents? Children of divorce, along with the parents, face hardship, but once freed from the bondage of marriage, separation allows the children to mature in a safe environment, and to enjoy both sides of the family. Sadly, divorce rates have grown in the past decade, but the families are finding opportunities to make the best for their children and themselves. Should the attention then be focused on something with a need of help? Yes. Kingsolver claims, “The number of children in the U.S. living in poverty at this moment is almost unfathomably large: twenty percent.” (Kingsolver, 2014, p. ?). If the
For a positive future, it is only common sense that a generation of healthy children must be raised. A stable family unit and personal attention seem logical ways to rear successful young people. Yet statistics show that in 2003, approximately 37,000 marriages and 21,000 divorces occurred in Kentucky; other states showed very similar ratios, such as Ohio, with about 73,000 marriages and 40,000 divorces (NVSR, Pg. 6). Clearly, many students already have “broken homes” as obstacles, but the homogenous
A “Modest Proposal” is written by a man who had been exiled from England and forced to live among Irish citizens for many years during which he observed major problems in Ireland that needed a solution. The writer of this piece is Jonathan Swift, and in his proposal, “The Modest Proposal,” Swift purpose is to offer a possible solution to the growing problem of the homeless and poverty stricken women and children on the streets of Ireland. Swift adopts a caring tone in order to make his proposal sound reasonable to his audience, trying to convince them that he truly cares about the problems facing Ireland’s poor and that making the children of the poor readily available to the rich for entertainment and as a source of food would solve both the economic and social problems facing Ireland.
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.
Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a shocking satire that discusses the dire poverty in Ireland. It says if one is born poor, they will stay that way unless society puts them to use. Children are food to be eaten. In an economic slump, children will be used to feed and clothe Ireland’s population. Swift’s purpose for writing A Modest Proposal was to call attention to the exploiting and oppressing by the English to the Irish.
This book is a study of the personal tales of many single mothers, with intentions to understand why single mothers from poor urban neighborhoods are increasingly having children out of wedlock at a young age and without promise of marrying their fathers. The authors chose to research their study in Philadelphia’s eight most devastated neighborhoods, where oppression and danger are high and substantial job opportunities are rare. They provide an excellent education against the myth that poor young urban women are having children due to a lack of education on birth control or because they intend to work the welfare system. Instead, having children is their best and perhaps only means of obtaining the purpose, validation and companionship that is otherwise difficult to find in the areas in which they live. For many of them, their child is the biggest promise they have to a better future. They also believe that though their life may not have been what they want, they want their child to have more and better opportunities and make it their life’s work to provide that.
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.
This study found that divorced women are four times more likely than men to be in poverty, even though the poverty rates have steadily decreased since 1992 (Gadalla, 2008). The author, Tahany M. Gadalla, attributes the 1997 Amendments to the Divorce Act as the reason why women are poor for a shorter time period now (Gadalla, 2008). These amendments made it so that once a financial agreement was made after a divorce, the amount of child support money would increase. This encourages parents to speedily settle their financial problems (Gadalla, 2008).
Jonathan Swift in his essay, "A Modest Proposal" suggests a unique solution to the problem concerning poor children in Ireland. Swift uses several analytical techniques like statistics, induction, and testimony to persuade his readers. His idea is admirable because he suggests that instead of putting money into the problem, one can make money from the problem. However, his proposal is inhumane.
Hunger and poverty will always exist. Needy nations are stuck in a black hole, in which, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. This situation could be fixed, if the poor nations had assistance from those who could spare a few goods. Is it morally good for the better off nations to help or support those who are in need? Who benefits from this sponsorship in the long run? Poverty-stricken nations could seek relief, if the silk-stocking nations aid in supplying goods. Many of the moneyed nations are torn between helping or not, those who are less fortunate. Jonathan Swift and Garrett Hardin have two very different opinions on whether to aid those who were not born into riches. Swift uses a satire for the
In the poem “The Lady’s Dressing Room,” written by Jonathan Swift, one may say he portrays himself to be a chauvinist by ridiculing women and their cryptic habits. However, others may say he wants to help women from the ideals placed upon them by society and prove to be an early feminist. This poem written in the 18th century represented women to be fake and sleazy at first. Then during the 20th century, the feminist movement used it as an attack against women, depicting the poem’s meaning as not valuing their rights and freedoms. The truth far hidden from these points of views became uncovered recently. This essay will explain both sides of the views and using critical thinking will uncover the real message the author intended to portray.
In Jonathan Swift’s cynical essay “A Modest Proposal, Swift gives his own proposal about trying to prevent children from causing problems to their country and parents. In my proposal that is not near as hostile as Swift’s, I propose that tipped minimum wage for waiters and waitresses should be raised.
The divorce rate in the United States is soaring. Accordingly, as the divorce rate increases, so does the number of single parents. When marriages end, and divorce papers are signed, changes have to be made. One larger household is replaced by two smaller households. Instead of one set of bills, there are two. Visitation rights replace family time. Countless adjustments are inevitable. This type of situation brings about confusion, disappointment, and despair in the lives of young people.
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...
The article “Marriage, Poverty and Public Policy” written by Stephanie Coontz and Nancy Folbre, discusses the causes and effects of child poverty. “In Canada and France, single mothers and children in general are far less likely to live in poverty. Sweden and Denmark, which have higher rates of out of wedlock births, have much lower rates of child poverty and hunger than does the United States” (2010:191). Coontz also discusses about the primary causes of poverty are unemployment, poor education, and lack of affordable child care. This shows that two-parent families are not guaranteed to not be in economic stresses, and single parents do not inevitably lead to poverty. Also two parent families may be in poverty due to many reasons like the rising cost of raising children, childcare, being penalized for taking time away from job responsibilities to provide family care, lack of education, and less income assistance. Public policies toward marriage should be improved; eliminating the marriage penalty on taxes or benefit reductions on low-income couples and designing better public