The science of eugenics was widely used during the 20th century in the United States to strategically eliminate the reproduction rights of women who were deemed inferior on the social ladder (“What is Eugenics?”). Some women of color, women with disabilities, and women from lower financial classes were sterilized for permanent birth control, and sometimes without their consent or knowledge (“What is Eugenics?”). In Jonathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal”, he proposes to eliminate the poor Irish Catholics to prevent them from becoming a burden to society. However, Swift’s writing style uses persona satire, and irony. Thus, Swift would be opposed to the practice of unfair treatment of humans. In Benjamin Franklin’s letter to Joseph Priestley, …show more content…
he hopes that in the future moral science will arise and expects a new form of humanity. The practice of genetic modification to generate reproduction rights strictly to women of desirable traits is unethical because it promotes racial cleansing and segregation (“10 Horrifying Facts About American Eugenics”). Nevertheless, sterilizing women as a caution to prevent the overpopulation of unfavorable offspring’s would go against Franklin’s improvements in science and Swift’s equal treatment of all humans. The connections of Swift’s idea and eugenics are that they both are immoral, a discrimination of a targeted group of people, and they feed into stereotypical assumptions.
In Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, he insisted that poor Irish Catholics should participate in outrageous behavior that are similar to eugenics. He proposed that in order for the poverty-stricken Irish Catholics to make money, they should fatten up their infants and sell them as a cuisine. As a result, the mothers can make money and prevent their poor children from growing up as beggars, a criminal, or an inadequate member of society. Swift’s proposal to sell infant flesh as a means of profit for the poor families and a delicacy for the rich ties in with the immorality of eugenics. However, this style of writing that Swift demonstrates is a persona of the overbearing protestants who stereotyped the Irish-Catholics. Swift’s proposal has been known for being based on satire and irony. Therefore, Swift’s intentions of creating this proposal were to underline the importance of treating the poor and homeless no less than human beings. Consequently, Swift would most likely be taken back from the cruel practice of eugenics. Since eugenics is a form of controlling human reproduction it is similar to Swift’s proposal to decrease the number of future beggars and delinquent offspring’s. Additionally, both ideas address financially unstable people as a nuisance to society, which encourages stereotypes. Eugenics and …show more content…
Swift’s proposal are both related to each other by preventing the reproduction of targeted groups of human beings. However, Swift would oppose this form of science because of the satire used in his proposal. In Benjamin Franklin’s letter to Joseph Priestley, he discusses moral science as well as his hopes for the improvements in science. Franklin said, “O that moral science were in as fair a way of improvement” (Franklin 128). Therefore, Franklin would not approve of eugenics, because this form of science goes against morality. In terms of ethical determinations, Franklin would oppose of this practice. Franklin states, “men would cease to be wolves to one another, and that human Beings would at length learn what they now improperly call humanity.” (Franklin 128) Franklin refers to humans mistreating one another as the act of a wolves and he desires for it to come to an end. Thus, humans will understand humanity and the quality of life. Since this form of improper treatment was practiced with intentions of creating a master race by blood, Franklin would be expected to advocate for understanding humanity. The excuse of practicing this scientific research was to eliminate the reproduction of unfavorable features in humans. In his letter Franklin seems as if he has high hopes for the improvement of “moral science” in the future. Franklin’s examples of improvements in science include, “agriculture may diminish its labour & double its produce. All diseases may by sure means be prevented or cured” (Franklin 128). Although, he would be horrified to find out about the practice unethical reproductive technologies and preventing nature from creating an innocent life. Eugenicists insisted that parents who had superior traits would reproduce healthier and intellectual offspring’s (“What is Eugenics?”).
On the other hand, parents of undesired traits included poverty, criminality, and poor work ethic were thought to be inherited by their children (“What is Eugenics?”). The use of segregation in eugenics also targeted immigrants and foreigners, who were deemed as being unfit for breeding and inferior in society. Therefore, Americans who were deemed superior tended to be white and the inferior groups were primarily consisted of minority’s. Thus, promoting segregation not only of what race is preferred, but a form of ethnic cleansing. This form of systematic cleansing of unwanted groups in society was often times unaware of their misfortune. For example, thousands of cases involving Mexican-origin, African American, Puerto Rican, and Native American women reported unwanted sterilization procedures (“STERILIZED in the Name of Public Health”). Therefore, Swift believes that there is not a superior group of people and Franklin believes in moral sciences, so logically, eugenics is dehumanizing and
unethical. Eugenics was adopted as a means of perfecting the human race by preventing reproduction rights of women. Franklin’s letter to Joseph Priestley states that he hopes moral science will be represented in the future and the value of humanity. Although, the immorality and inhumane acts of eugenics has been tested and has subsequently been banned throughout the United States. Contrary to the use of satire in the proposal, Swift aimed to promote human rights and equal treatment of unfortunate groups in society. As a result, Swift consistently used extreme exaggeration and irony in his proposal hence he assumably would acquire the same emotions towards eugenics as Franklin. Eugenics takes away the natural born rights of every human which leads to degrading women of disapproved races and economically unstable groups. Women of undesired traits were often times given forced sterilization to discourage reproduction. Thus, promoting racial cleansing and segregation amongst social classes. All in all, eugenics goes against Swift’s and Franklin’s beliefs of morality of science and Swift’s urgency for human rights.
In “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift writes of the poor men, women, and children of Dublin, Ireland crowding the streets due to the years of drought and crop failure. He estimates that 120,000 children are born each year and asks the question of how these people are to be provided for. Then he tells of his proposal. He states that 20,000 of the 120,000 may be reserved for breeding purposes, while the other 100,000 be sold to dine on. Swift offers several advantages to his proposal some being: the poor tenants will have something of value in their home, the wealth of the nation will greatly increase as well as the cost of caring for the child will be eliminated after a year, and eliminating the food shortages the nation is undergoing. The only counter argument he offers is that killing and eating those infants will decrease the population so much that it will make it easier for England to concur them. He finishes his proposal with a statement that he himself is not interested in making a profit since his own children are past the right age and his wife not being able to have any more children.
The obvious lack of ethics and morals in this passage cements that this essay is satirical and should not be understood as a legitimate solution to the starvation issue. He later listed the advantages of a system that breeds children for food, these advantages are all very unethical simply based off the fact that they are benefits of eating infants. Swift mentioned ideas including the murder of Catholic babies, eating humans as a fun custom, and giving the poor something of value (their own children). His use of ethos shows the audience that the essay is satirical and emphasizes the extreme ridiculousness of his ideas. Swift’s use of these three devices created a captivating and somewhat humorous satire.
The American Eugenics Movement was led by Charles Davenport and was a social agenda to breed out undesirable traits with an aim of racial purification. Eugenics was a used to breed out the worst and weakest to improve the genetic composition of the human race, and advocated for selective breeding to achieve this. The science of eugenics rested on simple mendelian genetics, which was a mistake because they were assuming complex behaviors could be reduced to simple mendelian genes. After Nazi Germany adopted the ideas behind the American eugenics movement to promote the Aryan race, the eugenics movement was completely discredited.
If Jonathan Swift had written a serious piece simply espousing his true beliefs he would not have received as much feedback, due to the fact that there were already informational advertisements at the time and nobody was interested in reading them. The only thing that would get the people 's attention was something that would create a lasting impression, so he wrote a satirical piece with trenchant humor and mochary. “A Modest Proposal” surprised people and got them thinking about the condition of the poor in Ireland and what should be done to solve it. For example Swift states that “those who are thrifty” can use the carcass of the infant for ladies’ gloves or gentlemen’s boots. This itself can help those reading the piece to begin to think about possible solutions to the substantial issues involving the poor in Ireland. He also proposes that children that are fourteen should be consumed as well so the poor don’t have to go hungry and that it would limit the number of breeders, in an attempt to illustrate the extremity of the circumstances. His sarcastic way of joking enlisted fear in the poor and concern in the rich, helping them realise the drastic issue present in the
In the time frame that Swifts’ A Modest Proposal was written Ireland was going through political, economic, and religious struggles. In 1729 England had contrived, with the help of Irish venality, to wreck Ireland’s merchant marine, agriculture, and wool industry. Prostitutes in Swift’s paper are having kids like senseless people, but yet they can’t afford to feed them. Jonathan Swift proposes that his people should sell the babies and eat them. He thinks this would help solve the problem of over population. Swift tried to give his people pamphlets on how to fix the problem that was plaguing their country, but they ignored them. Swift says “These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants.”(1) Swift proposes that the mothers sell the babies for 8 shillings; the rich would find the child to be a delicacy and the extra money would go to the landlord. So everyone would benefit from this proposal. He does this as a way of making his people aware of what is going on in their
First of all, the title is very under exaggerated and under exaggeration is a characteristic of satire. The proposal the narrator makes is very far from modest. The narrator proposes that eating babies will fix the poverty in society. Swift’s purpose in writing ”A Modest Proposal” was to get the reader to make up their own opinions, without telling them what to believe or talking about morals. The narrator says he has “no other motive than the publick good of my country, by advancing or trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich” when proposing this idea. (Swift) The real purpose in writing this is to get the reader to find real solutions to end poverty and help society unlike this
Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is an attempt to bring attention to horrible the condition in which the poor or destitute people in Ireland are living in. His argument that children of these improvised people should be sold to “the persons of quality and fortune” (A Modest Proposal) for consumption, is Swift’s gruesome way of saying you might as well eat the babies, if no one is going to actually try to fix the problems of the poor in Ireland.
Swift supports Puchner’s theme of a lack of individuality which conveys how humans are losing their humanity by using Ireland’s economic issue which forces the poor to conform to the idea of selling their babies. Swift’s story, “A Modest Proposal”, is intriguing due to the fact that he uses Irelands misfortune to suggest a way to bounce back from this economic crisis which so happens to be eating kids from poor parents who couldn’t afford to raise it. In “A Modest Proposal” Swift states that “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for Landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the Parents, seem to have the best Title to the Children” (Swift 33). For Swift growing up in Ireland, he
Imagine reading an anonymous work that promotes cannibalism! Swift eventually had to reveal himself and the purpose of his pamphlet, which was to exaggerate the steps necessary to stop the Irish famine and poverty epidemic. A Modest Proposal is almost a scare tactic. It brings attention to the distances people will go to stop hunger and homelessness. The audience of rich, land-owning men were expected to take the text to heart.
Swift begins his argument by stating his view on the situation and displaying his annoyance. He states, "It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country when they see the streets, roads, and cabin doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms" (Swift 1). He uses melancholic imagery for the readers to sympathize with the suffering children and to understand their situation. Similarly, Swift displays his disgust for the wealthy by stating that "There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children… which would move tears in the most savage and inhumane beast" (1). He talks about abortion and shows how ghastly and disheartening the practice is. Clearly, Swift makes use of pathos to slowly gain the reader’s confidence in preparation for his appalling proposal. He knows that many will be emotionally affected by his proposal because no one would want their own c...
This essay will have no value unless the reader understands that Swift has written this essay as a satire, humor that shows the weakness or bad qualities of a person, government, or society (Satire). Even the title A Modest Proposal is satirical. Swift proposes using children simply as a source of meat, and outrageous thought, but calls his propo...
An Oxford University graduate, Jonathan Swift, in his article, A Modest Proposal, proposes a solution to Irelands growing poverty in the 18th century by proposing the selling and eating of innocent babies. Swift’s purpose is to state the benefits that the poor would gain from selling their one year old children to the wealthy to eat them. He takes on a concerning tone in order to convince the people of Ireland to consider and adopts his obscene plan.
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.
Jonathan Swift, a well-known author, in his essay “A Modest Proposal,” implies that the Irish people should eat children so that they can better their chances of survival. Swift supports his implication by describing how his proposal will have many advantages such as, eliminating papists, bringing great custom to taverns, and inducing marriages. He comes up with an absurd proposal to eat and sell the children to the elite so the Irish can have a brighter future. His purpose is to show that the Irish deserve better treatment from the English. Throughout his essay, Swift uses sarcasm, satire, and irony.
The idea of eugenics was first introduced by Sir Francis Galton, who believed that the breeding of two wealthy and successful members of society would produce a child superior to that of two members of the lower class. This assumption was based on the idea that genes for success or particular excellence were present in our DNA, which is passed from parent to child. Despite the blatant lack of research, two men, Georges Vacher de Lapouge and Jon Alfred Mjoen, played to the white supremacists’ desires and claimed that white genes were inherently superior to other races, and with this base formed the first eugenics society. The American Eugenics Movement attempted to unethically obliterate the rising tide of lower classes by immorally mandating organized sterilization and race based experimentation.