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Swift as a satirist
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Analyzing the Characters of Waterland
In "Waterland" Swift weaves a magical yet haunting tale of ordinary characters who live through they’re own struggles and problems unadorned by the complexity of world history yet forever revolving around the isolated and mysterious Fenns. His characters are a formidable mix of the stereotyped and the unordinary as he shows us how even the most common person can lead the strangest and most complex life and display a vast range of opposed emotions and thoughts.
"Waterland" is a profound study of human nature that not only displays the intricacies of people but also analyses the men and woman that live among us and for which each of us can find a name. Thus we all know an Ernest Atkinson, a bourgeois born into wealth who finds a meaning in life in the texts of Marx which push him to oppose the life that has been imposed on him thus angering his town and family. Ernest is the most interesting character in that he shows how geniuses and men with unorthodox ideas are often called rebels and segregated from the rest of society in their uniqueness and intensity. Mary in "Waterland" leads a disturbingly bizarre life that ends with her kidnapping a baby; the transformation of her personality following the abortion and her increasing mental instability shows the fragility of the human mind. Her character as that of Ernest is astoundingly realistic and thus one of the most effective characters in the novel.
One of the most compelling characteristics of Swift's writing is his mysterious characters, he only describes people at the most important and relevant part of their lives and the rest is left to the readers imagination. He also surprises the reader by withholding vital information about a character for a couple chapters than suddenly revealing it thus changing the reader's perspective completely. This permits him to build up formidably complex minds in very short periods of time as he only describes what is striking and always brings new dimensions to old characters thus he shows what Mary was like when she was a "little Madonna" and abruptly changes our whole perspective of her when we learn of her adventures thus shedding the first layer of mystery and giving the reader something new to reflect on. Swift also for some of the characters gives us information at the very the beginning of "Waterland" and it takes the whole novel for us to learn how that person died (in the case of Dick) or became insane (in the case of Mary).
How does Swift want the reader to view his speaker? That is, how would Swift want his reader to describe the persona he adopts? Swift wants the reader to view the speaker as a reasonable, compassionate and rational person who has a genuine interest in solving the problems of the poor Irish. In the beginning of the essay, the speaker appears to be a concerned person who demonstrates a keen insight into the issues he addresses. However, this is contrary to the fact that the speaker predominantly relies on random and absurd statistics and logic to present his solution. By acting as someone compelled to solve the plight of the poor Irish, the unknown speaker makes his words more effective and establishes himself as someone who would never make the outrageous proposal that follows.
Would you risk your life to save a lonely friend who was about to die on account of malicious gossip? In the Witch of Blackbird Pond the setting is New England along it's bleak shores. The main character Katherine is from Barbados because her grandpa had just died and she was traveling to America to live with her Uncle and Aunt who did not even know she she was coming. When she arrived her Aunt whose name was Rachel received her with open arms but her Uncle was not as open and wanted her to earn her keep. There was another character who was unmentioned for a while, her name was Hannah Tupper. Kits initial reaction to Hannah was anxiety and fear But she then softened up to Hannah. Her first interaction with Hannah was a helpful one in her time of need and self pity. The view and opinion of Hannah changed through the book from a kind old lady to admiration and unconditional love.
In the small, desolate town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, Ethan Frome lives a life of poverty. Not only does he live hopelessly, but “he was a prisoner for life” to the economy (Ammons 2). A young engineer from outside of town narrates the beginning of the story. He develops a curiosity towards Ethan Frome and the smash-up that he hears about in bits and pieces. Later, due to a terrible winter storm that caused the snow itself to seem like “a part of the thickening darkness, to be the winter night itself descending on us layer by layer” (Wharton 20), the narrator is forced to stay the night at Frome’s. As he enters the unfamiliar house, the story flashes back twenty-four years to Ethan Frome’s young life. Living out his life with Zenobia Frome, his hypochondriac of a wife whom he does not love, Ethan has nowhere to turn for a glance at happiness. But when Zenobia’s, or Zeena’s, young cousin, Mattie Silver, comes to care for her, Ethan falls in love with the young aid. Mattie is Ethan’s sole light in life and “she is in contrast to everything in Starkfield; her feelings bubble near the surface” (Bernard 2). All through the novella, the two young lovers hide their feelings towards each other. When they finally let out their true emotions to each other in the end, the consequence is an unforeseen one. Throughout Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton portrays a twisted fairy tale similar to the story of Snow White with the traditional characters, but without a happy ending to show that in a bleak and stark reality, the beautiful and enchanting maiden could become the witch.
Throughout the novel Bless Me,Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio’s Parents had an adamant ideal of how they wanted their children to live their lives. Maria, his mother, wanted her children to follow the way of her Luna family. Gabriel, his father, wanted his children to travel to California with him. Maria wanted Antonio to become a priest. “Her own dream was that I should grow up and become a priest” (Anaya 5). His father had a dream to move to California. “My father’s dream was to gather his sons around him and move westward to the land of the the setting sun, to the vineyards of California”(Anaya 14). His parents had two different ideas on what they wanted their children to do which stirred up the pot in the house because of it. As a young child growing up he was very conflicted on how he wanted to live his life especially because he didn't want to disappoint his parents. This made a confliction within Antonio’s Identity. Another dream of his mother is that Antonio gets
Therefore, before an analysis can continue, one has to make the assumption that this is strictly a fictional work and Swift had no intention of pursuing his proposal any further. One of the other voices that is present throughout the entire story is that of sarcasm. In order to understand this further, a reader has to comprehend that Swift, becoming infamous after Gullivers Travels, was a member of the upper-class. Right from the first paragraph, Swift attempts to fool his readers by the sarcasm of the dreary scene that Swift presents. For example, he mentions that it is a melancholy sight to see beggars and their children on the street.
...ture the attention of the audience by means of “political pamphleteering which is very popular during his time” (SparkNotes Editors). The language and style of his argument is probably why it is still popular till this day. By using satire, Swift makes his point by ridiculing the English people, the Irish politicians, and the wealthy. He starts his proposal by using emotional appeal and as it progresses, he uses ethos to demonstrate credibility and competence. To show the logical side of the proposal, he uses facts and figures. By applying these rhetorical appeals, Swift evidently makes his argument more effectual.
Although Jonathan Swift and Oliver Goldsmith have two distinct writing styles, their passion for literature, their desire for a better world, and the underlying topic of their work are all strikingly similar. The lives of these two famous authors also resemble each other’s, starting in poverty, living through life’s hardships, and ending in success. Swift and Goldsmith were two of the most famous authors of the 18th century. I believe if Swift and Goldsmith had met, they would have made great friends. For the reason that, along with their passions, their lives were bursting with challenges. Both were born in poverty and underwent numerous challenges, including the death of loved ones and the loss of purpose in life. In addition, Jonathan Swift
Before losing my father, he fell ill for some time and his sickness limited him from working anymore. This added the burden to my mother with her several children and a husband to take care of. Deep down I felt so unfortunate in an era where children at school would be driven to and from school, carry expensive bags and definitely lead an expensive life-style. This comparison made me feel even poorer than we already were. We really never slept hungry at any point, but we almost did on several occasions, but by hard work of my mother to keep us alive and feed. During our hard times, I learned to walk to and from school. This was because this was the only way for me to get to school. I attended a school where, one that did not care if students had uniform or not, whether they walked barefooted or with
When one is asked with a question with deep thought some may ponder upon the answer, whereas others may answer in haste and appear foolish even though they believe they have come to the correct conclusion. A situation where this happens is in Socrates dialogue of Hipparchus, in this dialogue a citizen of Athens and Socrates, a philosopher have contradicting views of what a lover of gain is. Socrates asks a citizen of Athens, “So what is the love of gain?”(225a) and who are those lovers of gain. The comrade, what the citizen is called by in the text, replies saying the lovers of gain are someone who think they should gain from worthless things. However, Socrates knows that does not seem logical, it does make sense for a person to think they
Lack of perseverance is not the major hurdle that hinders upward mobility of women in society. There is a reason why the glass ceiling is a limit, no matter how hard some women may try to move upwards in society it seems that invisible barriers stop them. For instance, many well-educated ladies have run for the highest office. At times, some of them faced opponents that are less educated and with less impressive resumes. Despite this fact, the presidency of the United States of America is yet to be clinched by a
Barnett, Louise K. "Voyeurism in Swift's Poetry." Studies in the Literary Imagination. Spring l984: 17-26.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol C. 9th ed. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 2492-2633. Print.
The Writings of Jonathan Swift; Authoritative Texts, Backgrounds, Criticism. edited by Robert A. Greenberg and William Bowman Piper. Norton Critical Editions. New York: Norton, 1973.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels presents a narrator, Lemuel Gulliver, who recounts his various sea voyages to fantastical lands. During each voyage, Gulliver encounters different societies and customs to which Gulliver must adjust to. in order to be accepted into their society The entire novel serves as a commentary on how people everywhere have a tendency to abuse the power given to them.
The Millennials generation is widely known to be “entitled, narcissistic, self-interested, unfocused and lazy” as Simon Sinek (2016) said in his interview on Inside Quest about the Millennial generation. Essentially, he is saying that Millennials have issues that will cause them problems for developing in the real world. I agree that Millennials are not prepared for the real world and they do have issues. Sinek (2016) starts off by asserting the Millennial generation is unprepared for the world because of by four categories parenting, technology, impatience, and environment.