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A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift

1184 Words5 Pages

Samuel Westermayer
Professor William Adams
Intro to Humanities C100
01/25/17
A Modest Proposal My initial thoughts about the work was a mixture between humorous and, quite honestly, disgust. It really pushes the bounds on the right or wrong matter and makes us realize that we all have natural human morale’s that won’t ever let us get driven to a certain point in our ethics, no matter how much logical sense it may make or how dire the situation. The aspect of this story that interests me the most is the fact that Jonathan Swift tries to be as convincing in his solution on the subject as best as he can. He drives multiple solid points on how it would help the current state of the economy, yet it even seems to him that as logical of a solution …show more content…

Catholics in Ireland were socially regulated by the laws introduced in the late 1600s. The laws were implemented and basically designed for Catholic suppression. These laws kept Catholics from voting, holding office, or from even obtaining any sort of education (classroom.com). Catholics were not even allowed to will their land to their eldest son as Protestants did. This made it to where the land had to be divided up between all the male heirs, which effectively reduced their share of land that barely left them with room for profitable crops. Some of the Irish poor lived as tenants on estates of English landlords. There the tenants would work the crop fields and basically all the profit that was made from that labor, went strictly to paying rent. Most of the time the soil was so overworked that it produced poor quality goods, which led to a less than sufficient means to provide and take care of the family. Of all these circumstances, none were worse than having to work in workhouses. The atmosphere and environment in workhouses were so appalling that only the most desperate of the desperate would consider taking on workhouse services. Life in Ireland was incredibly hard, dealing with poverty from an overwhelming population and strict social laws destroyed the average Catholic life, which eighty percent of Ireland’s residents were …show more content…

Before he was born, his father had unfortunately passed. After his father’s passing his family was still left with a pretty decent living. Swift would be able to move forward in his life and obtain one of the best educations Ireland would have at its time. Swift then moved to England where he spent a lot of time engaging in English politics. Ireland was a country that was heavily controlled by England for nearly half a millennium. Ireland was denied union with England in the early 1700’s, whereas Scotland actually was granted access to England at about the same time of Ireland’s denial. Because of this, Ireland suffered heavily from the trade restrictions that were set from England. Regardless of the harsh shape that Ireland had become from lack of trade, Swift remained patriotic towards his homeland. Upon viewing the state that Ireland was going into because of the restriction set by England, it caused Swift to feel extremely compassionate towards the inequalities and the manipulations Ireland was suffering from its more controlling big brother. Towards the last twenty or so years of Swift’s life, he spent a major portion of his time challenging the English politics. He quickly began releasing several essays and propaganda in response to the decaying state of his homeland, most famous of which is A Modest Proposal (biography.com). I believe Swift’s purpose was to sarcastically reveal Ireland’s problems to England and propose

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The modest proposal is of course anything but modest: It is savage, frightening, perhaps even insane”(Mcgill.enotes). Overall this essay is very disturbing, in the thirty-first paragraph the reader gets a sense of hopelessness when Swift refuses to hear any argument on his proposal saying that, “let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients”(1729:Swift.para 31). This piece of literature is similar to fiction in a way that is gives details insights on the time and place of Ireland, but we know that it is a pamphlet published to propose a radical idea to help change the situation of Ireland. If this was a piece of fiction one wouldn’t take it seriously but even when it’s non-fiction one cannot take seriously this absurd idea of cannibalism i.e. the wealthy eating the children of poor and should take it as a satirical piece of

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In fact, he refers to “A very worthy Person, a true Lover of his Country, and whose Virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased, in discoursing on this matter, to offer a refinement upon my Scheme”(17). As a result, Swift shows that even the most patriotic person to both Ireland and Britain (since Ireland was under British control at the time) realizes that within this current situation of poverty, this proposal is a solution and can be acted out in many different

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He really goes into great detail to the way he thinks can cure the great epidemic. “ A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter. I have reckoned upon a medium.” (Swift 2)From this you can tell just how harsh/sarcastic tone Swift is when describing the poor children in Ireland. Which any reader can tell that his passage is also a dig a the government for not doing anything for the poor families in

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1729, a Papist infected Ireland was being devoured by the taxes that the British placed on them. The taxes were turning into what once was a glorious place into ruins. Jonathan Swift, an Englishman and Irish sympathizer, realized that someone had to do something to wake up the British. This lead to the creation of A Modest Proposal, a pamphlet heavy with irony and juvenalian satire, which was how Jonathan Swift planned on compelling the British to do something about the poor situation in Ireland. His use of rhetorical devices gets his point across in an effective and powerful way.

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Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a very interesting take on how the Irish government should cure the famine that the country was then facing. However, the entire proposal was completely bizarre, and the whole point of the essay was to bring attention to the idea that they needed a solution to the all the problems they were experiencing but the proposal was definitely not it. He even had a strongly developed plan as to how his proposal would work which makes the reader feel as if he is serious about selling children, eating them, and using their skins as a fashion accessory; however, ultimately this proposal was not his true goal. Jonathan Swift skillfully used different styles of writing, such as imagery and irony, to show why the

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During the time, Ireland was a poor country, overpopulated, had many beggars, and was highly taxed. England was mistreating Ireland and Ireland was too weak to fight back. Ireland was dependant on England politically, economically, and militarily. The Irish people were very passive, and this angered Swift. An article reads: “In the middle of this mess, some lucky sons of guns managed to claw their way to the top of Irish society.

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This essay will be analysing a close reading of Jonathan Swifts ‘A Modest Proposal,’ focusing on the literary technique of satiric meaning and the effects this has on the overall message including references to the definition of satire from Murfin and Ray. The use of Satire is present in Jonathan Swifts ‘A Modest Proposal’ since it involves “using irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm to expose humanity's vices and foibles (Murfin and Ray 251),” which we can identify predominantly in the dialogue of the text. The essay will be anaylsed through referring to one set reading provided by Barbara Bengels ‘Swifts modest proposal’ and how Swift uses the proposal to discuss the “Children of Poor People (in Ireland) Being a Burden to their Parents, or

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Dr. Jonathan Swift uses rhetorical devices, logical, ethical, as well as emotional appeals to highlight the difference between Swift’s satirical attitude and the narrator’s serious attitude concerning poverty and starvation. In order to understand the nature of Swift’s proposal,

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Swift makes his point adversely, putting together morally unsustainable positions in order to cast fault and slurs far and wide. He progresses through a series of surprises that at first shocks the reader and then causes him to think critically about policies,

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Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is an essay that intends to draw awareness to the downfall of the Irishmen and motivate readers to find a feasible solution to the problem. The essay was written in a satirical way that has been able to engage readers to read more on the topic and the essay themselves (Smith, 2011). Swift was able to establish a "love-hate" relationship with readers due to being very sympathetic towards the Irishmen in the first part of the essay (Lovin, n.d.). This was able to make readers appreciate the author for his emotions towards the Irishmen. But then, in the latter parts, the author becomes unsympathetic and directed attention more towards the problems that the society faced at the time.

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In Swift’s perspective, his proposal is the change that Ireland needs if it wants to

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Throughout “A Modern Proposal,” Swift makes it a point to use ideas and terms that dehumanized people and their children. This causes the essay to make the reader feel uncomfortable and slightly detached from the world. It appeals to the moral side of people. Many people use this kind of method when writing in order to make the readers feel more sentimental. When people feel more sentimental towards a cause, they are more likely to stand up and stop being so

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“Over the populace, swift was the most absolute monarch that ever governed men and was regarded by people of every rank with veneration and esteem” (Bilson). “He had become known as a man with strong political and religious convictions with a talent for writing savage, even bitter satire” (Aykroyd 11). Dublin ordained him priest on January 13, 1695 (Hunting 4). He had even composed some poems for himself (The Victorian Web). The poems for himself were called “Swift sailed into his rest”, “Savage Indignation There”, “Cannot Lacerate His Breast”, “Imitate Him if You Dare”, “World-Desotted Travels”, and “He Served Human Libery” (The Victorian

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What’s the difference between a baby and a peanut butter cup? The baby won’t stick to the roof of your mouth. Jonathon Swift was a satirist, essayist, pamphleteer, and cleric who became dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In 1729 Swift wrote A Modest Proposal, a satirical essay, suggesting that by selling Irish children it might ease their economic troubles. The pamphlet mocked the heartless attitudes towards the poor.

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Critical Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” In the work entitled “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the theme of social injustice is enhanced by the use of verbal irony to convey a charged message. The ambiguous title and introduction to Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece does little to prepare the reader for shocking content revealed later in the text. Swift’s work is powerful, poignant and persuasive because it strikes at the heart of the modern readers ethics, as it likely would have done for the author’s contemporary audiences. Jonathan Swift’s 1729 masterpiece is a satirical metaphor centered around the pervasive assertion, “the English are devouring the Irish.” Jonathan Swift gives a more comprehensive exordium concerning his work stating that is it “a modest proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents and country, and for making them beneficial to the public (Swift 1199).

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