In "A Modest Proposal," Jonathan Swift assumes a persona (false personal voice as a writer) and suggests an outrageous course of action. In most of the essay, he does not mean what he says. The proposal is morally abhorrant to the real Swift. Why do you think he writes his "Modest Proposal" rather than saying directly what he believes? What are the advantages (and/or disadvantages) of saying the opposite of what he thinks? Find evidence in the essay that Swift does not want us to take him seriously.Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Question for November 18: A Modest Proposal (pp. 2462-68)
In "A Modest Proposal," Jonathan Swift assumes a persona (false personal voice as a writer) and suggests an outrageous course of action. In most of the essay, he does not mean what he says. The proposal is morally abhorrant to the real Swift. Why do you think he writes his "Modest Proposal" rather than saying directly what he believes? What are the advantages (and/or disadvantages) of saying the opposite of what he thinks? Find evidence in the essay that Swift does not want us to take him seriously.
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Jonathan Swift had been fed up with English rule over Ireland for many years before he wrote “A Modest Proposal”. His pamphlets had little success in changing the hearts and minds of the people of England and didn’t gain as much notoriety as this one essay. Back then suggesting cannibalism was even more farfetched than it is now, and an essay suggesting this would gain wide popularity fairly quickly. Swift’s plan was to generate enough attention for his writing to reach everyone in England. “A Modest Proposal” has many obvious pokes at the horrible conditions in Ireland at the time; more people reading the essay meant more awareness on the true subject Swift wanted readers to know. One quote from the text that clearly reveals Swift’s true intentions is a joke at the end, “ask the parents of these mortals whether they would not at this day think it is a great happiness to have been sold for food at a year old in the manner I prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual sense of misfortunes.” Swift continues on to list a few misfortunes including lack of food, oppressive landlords, unemployment, and no coming end in sight to the poverty, disease and famine. The ‘joke’ is an obvious stab at the English lawmakers who created these problems and will do nothing to alleviate them. Swift’s entire essay is sarcastically saying, “If the citizens of Ireland are such a problem and no one is going to help them, why don’t we just eat them?”
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Dandelion stated in that Jonathan Swift was tired with English rule. “A Modest Proposal” was his opportunity to discuss some major issues presented by the government. His way of discussing these issues, of course, was in a very sarcastic way. If Swift had stated directly what he believed instead of presenting this outrageous course of action, then he would have not gained the same amount of attention that he wanted to bring to these issues. His whole purpose of writing “A Modest Proposal” was to make fun of the government and bring light to, as Dandelion stated, a lack of food, oppressive landlords, unemployment, and poverty. His proposal to the people was to eat the poverty stricken children and make them “useful members of the common wealth.” He, once again, is being extremely sarcastic. In a way, I believe Swift knew that presenting something as outrageous as this was the only true way to show people how outrageous the government was with its actions. Swift is joking, however, as seen in his quote, “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.” You can see that Swift is bringing up the issue of oppressive landlords by stating that have already devoured the parents financially, so they have claims the children as well. “A Modest Proposal” basically shows that the English government was making no effort to alleviate the issues at the time.
ReplyDeleteA Modest Proposal? Clever title for such great political satire, Jonathan Swift clearly wrote this as a way to strike at the policies of the ruling class of the Commonwealth. I don’t see it as a discontent with just the English ruler ship over Ireland unlike decaff; I interpret this as the general discontent of the ruling class of the Commonwealth, whose policies at the time were set against the common people. By distributing this pamphlet swift is informing the general “literate” public the widespread problems of the lower classes of society is an institutional problem; Using cannibalism of children is just the device to shock them into seeing the real problems of hunger, unemployment, the lack of private ownership of property, and poverty caused by the existing policies of the Commonwealth. Swift also makes note that many of the Irish citizens were being lost to the colonies as a way to escape the problems, he is pointing out that this isn’t a bad idea for someone impoverished in the English Commonwealth to do. At the time there was a well-established social order in the Kingdom of feudalism that was coming under attack for the difficulties it put on the common people. By saying that noblemen could eat the children of the Irish and help alleviate the suffering of the poor he is making the point that there are other things that the Nobles could do to solve this problem. But knowing how societies are structured, this is unlikely to happen without public outcry; which is what he intended the article to stir.
ReplyDeleteDecaff13 and Dandelion brought up good points about the idea that during this time the English rule was not its best. Jonathan Swift was sick of the English rule and thought that he would be able to express his view points towards the government better and more affectively through writing satirically. Through “A Modest Proposal” he was able to attack and comment on major governmental issues in a sarcastic tone, so maybe hopefully that he would be able to get his word out but since it was sarcastic he would not get as punished. Also, that being said, through his sarcastic tone he was able to capture the attention he was seeking to help bring change and awareness to these issues. As Decaff13 said, Swift’s main reason for writing this proposal was too kindly poke fun at the government and bring awareness to the fact that there is a lack of food, there are oppressive landlords, much unemployment, and growing poverty. One of the main points in Swift’s proposal that stood out was when he brought up eating the poverty stricken children. When saying this, he obviously did not mean to physically eat these children but rather fix the problem of poverty so these children are no longer! His quote, “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” explains how at these times, the parents were in such financial troubles that through the parents problems, they are intern also hurting the children.
ReplyDeleteDandelion is correct when he/she says that Swift is tired of English rule and uses a sarcastic tone to emphasize his disgust of English tyranny and the stagnation of his contemporary Irish poverty. The majority of this essay does indeed disclose important information of the trying times of the people as he explains the conditions that mothers and children are living and how disgusted he is of the matter. Swift also uses his statistical knowledge and observers and synthesizes numerical values to exhibit how the depression has affected the wellbeing of the nation. Where he becomes sarcastic is when he presents his “Modest Proposal.” He claims that children are too expensive as you have to feed them, cloth them and nurture them in which “Breast milk and food for a child for a year should cost only about two shillings,” which he sarcastically states that even that value is unaffordable. So he then, brilliantly, says that there is an easy way to fix all this peril that is occurring. He basically says that since many women are already getting abortions and wasting money on their birthed children that they should just eat their infants that are within a “Reasonable Age,” thus fixing two issue: the unsuitable environment to raise children (because there would be none upon ingesting them) and also to fix the issue of food scarcity. Of course this poem is not intended to be taken seriously and thankfully, to mankind as a whole, it wasn’t. Swift’s sarcasm does bring up the fact that these times need to be changed and people need to mobilize against the English if they have any hopes of making it out of their depression.
ReplyDelete~~~Edgar Allen Moe~~~
I agree with everyone so far. It is quite obvious that Swift’s “Modest Proposal” was written to object to England’s hold over Ireland. His modest proposal is to fatten up children from poor families and sell them as meat to the rich. He says that this will open up jobs for the poor while taking the burden of raising a child off struggling families. Swift is using a technique I like to call shock and awe. He says all of these outrageous things to get attention from the public. Even though these words do not really reflect Swift’s position sometimes the most positive thing you can do in a complacent society is be as negative as possible. This technique usually does not work to change people’s minds. The people who you are trying to convert are the same people who would find this poem extremely offensive back in Swift’s day. And the people who would find his paradox witty and relevant are the same people who already agree with his objections. One section that I feel shows that Swift is just using shock and awe is his statements about abortion. He says his method will “There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions” there is no way he is not being sarcastic in this statement. He goes on to explain some rude things about how the poor mothers get abortions to avoid the money problems instead of not wanting the child.
ReplyDeleteKhalost
In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift uses satire and shock value to convey his message to his audience. As Bagel noted, he was discontent with the living conditions of the common people due to the actions of the upper class. They were being abused and used to gain as much profit as possible, as evident from Swift’s comment that landlords had “devoured most of the parents” of Ireland. Swift seems to believe this was a dehumanization of the lower class, and takes it too it’s natural extreme. In his essay, he breaks humans up into their component parts to get as much wealth from them as possible. Swift suggests creating “admirable gloves…and summer boots” from the carcass of babies and using the flesh as “nutritive meat” to feed the wealthy, suggesting that it will earn the poor some riches and make a fine treat for the those who could afford it. He jumps straight off the slippery slope and demonstrates to his audience what the end result of treating humans as means to a profit will be. The advantage to this is in its blatant absurdity it is able to garner a great deal of attention to the plight of the people. However it does not offer any solutions to combat the problems that are addressed by the essay, as listed by Dandelion as food, oppressive landlords, unemployment, poverty, disease, and famine. He is scathing in his assessment of landlords and those who criticize the poor for not trying hard enough, but he doesn’t suggest an alternative to how change this treatment or give them a better lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteI agree with dandelion and the respective subsequent follows in agreement that Swift’s essay was written in such a satirical tone with absurd societally-abrasive suggestions in an attempt to garner attention. He was trying to display his problems with English government. Too many people write essays containing rants towards the government; it’s easy for your works to go overlooked and create no change. Well, we’re reading in a Literature 205 class in 2011 about some Englishman who had obvious problems with the government. We wouldn’t be reading this work had it not been successful, so Swift’s attention-seeking techniques proved effective. When aren’t so direct with their speech they feel more entitled to full-heartedly say what they want to say without appearing offensive. It’s similar to the role of the fool in King Lear, he may say things about the King that seem rude, but since it is assumed he is making fun, it is excused- But that’s not to immediately say that the content of the fool’s language is insignificant. Almost like a modern-day equivalent of prefacing a statement with ‘No offense’. Some of the most offensive statements are spoken after someone claims ‘no offense’. The main reason Swift wrote in such a humorous tone was to give himself more liberty when writing this essay. It is fairly obvious that Swift is joking in this essay. When he describes the preparation of young children, “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child, well nursed, is at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout.” it is apparent to the reader that Swift is not seriously proposing that the rich buy and eat the poor. If he was seriously proposing an argument to do so he would attempt to make it come off in the least graphic way possible.
ReplyDeleteAuthor Swift decides to write his "Modest Proposal" in a indirect manner because he wants to catch the audiences attention. During this time period England/Ireland was too chaotic in dealing with too many problems for one to listen to another's proposal on the manner. This way Swift is able to catch his audiences attention through his absurd proposals that actually might seem plausible to the public. Swift desires to direct his "Modest Proposal" to everyone in England. Though his proposal seems affective, there are several ad/disadvantages that follow. The advantages to his proposal is that the audience will realize his bleak sarcasm and understand the main point he is trying to get across, however, some might not realize Swift's sarcasm and take him seriously which leads to our disadvantages. The audience might present themselves as gullible and believe Swift's proposal as an actual solution for their problems. They do not realize that Swift's sarcastic remarks are a mockery of the English economy/government. They are the ones that have created these problems that Swift is addressing and yet they have done nothing to solve them. As stated previously, Swift desires to target all person's in the English economy. This is proven through his statement regarding upperclass women and men wearing infant skin as clothing attire. "Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flay the carcass; the skin of which artificially dressed will make admirable gloves for the ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen" (2464). Swift blatantly presents his sarcasm through his statement " For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation , the flesh being of too tender a consistence to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country which be glad to eat up our whole nation without it" (2467).
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