A Modest Proposal Essay
My Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s, “A Modest Proposal”
One of Jonathon Swift’s most famous works, “A Modest Proposal” needs to be read after the reader gets a little familiar with Swift himself and why he wrote it. Once you realize the situation and the author’s unique writing ability and thought process the proposal seems a little less farfetched and less sickening. I am in no way in agreement with the proposal just more understanding of where it came from and why he did it. The meaning of the proposal takes a major hit when the situation at hand takes a twist from Swift’s personal situation.
Jonathon Swift was a satirist of the English Enlightenment and wrote a letter to a fellow satirist expressing his hatred of the human race for misusing …show more content…
its capacity for selfish reasons. (Sayre, 2012, p. 775).
The proposal reflects a time when there was terrible poverty in Ireland in the year of 1729 and it appeared that the English were causing and taking advantage of it for their selfish prosperity.
The proposal is to make a point of the English making it impossible for the Irish farmers to pay their rent and causing starvation amongst the Irish families and the only way Swift could see a solution is offered in this writing. This leads into a proposal that would get everyone’s attention to the situation.
I found it difficult at first to read the horrifying details of human babies basically being milled like farm animals. The proposal makes a comparison to the processing of a pig. If getting the attention of the reader took this sick way then my attention and I imagine many others has for sure been received.
The surprise ending or the not so surprise ending for me is his confession of not being able to provide in any way to the proposal he just wrote. He confesses in having a child whom does not meet his proposal criteria and a wife whom cannot deliver anymore children. The proposal he is making exempt his family conveniently from being a provider. That also makes me think he has this idea on how everyone but himself and his family can make the situation better. Is he any better than the English he claims to have caused this situation or the cause of such a
proposal?
Reference(s):
Sayre, H. M. (2012). THE HUMANITIES: CULTURE, CONTINUITY AND CHANGE. Volume 2. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc..
Scholarsbank.uoregon.edu. (1999) Jonathan Swift A Modest Proposal. (1729). Retrieved April 14, 2012 from https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/872/modest.pdf
One of Jonathon Swift’s most famous works, “A Modest Proposal” needs to be read after the reader gets a little familiar with Swift himself and why he wrote it. Once you realize the situation and the author’s unique writing ability and thought process the proposal seems a little less farfetched and less sickening. I am in no way in agreement with the proposal just more understanding of where it came from and why he did it. The meaning of the proposal takes a major hit when the situation at hand takes a twist from Swift’s personal situation.
Jonathon Swift was a satirist of the English Enlightenment and wrote a letter to a fellow satirist expressing his hatred of the human race for misusing …show more content…
its capacity for selfish reasons. (Sayre, 2012, p. 775).
The proposal reflects a time when there was terrible poverty in Ireland in the year of 1729 and it appeared that the English were causing and taking advantage of it for their selfish prosperity.
The proposal is to make a point of the English making it impossible for the Irish farmers to pay their rent and causing starvation amongst the Irish families and the only way Swift could see a solution is offered in this writing. This leads into a proposal that would get everyone’s attention to the situation.
I found it difficult at first to read the horrifying details of human babies basically being milled like farm animals. The proposal makes a comparison to the processing of a pig. If getting the attention of the reader took this sick way then my attention and I imagine many others has for sure been received.
The surprise ending or the not so surprise ending for me is his confession of not being able to provide in any way to the proposal he just wrote. He confesses in having a child whom does not meet his proposal criteria and a wife whom cannot deliver anymore children. The proposal he is making exempt his family conveniently from being a provider. That also makes me think he has this idea on how everyone but himself and his family can make the situation better. Is he any better than the English he claims to have caused this situation or the cause of such a
proposal?
Reference(s):
Sayre, H. M. (2012). THE HUMANITIES: CULTURE, CONTINUITY AND CHANGE. Volume 2. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc..
Scholarsbank.uoregon.edu. (1999) Jonathan Swift A Modest Proposal. (1729). Retrieved April 14, 2012 from https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/872/modest.pdf