A Modest Proposal
It doesn't take long to summarize the short "pamphlet" that is Swift's Modest Proposal. To remedy the problem of the poverty-stricken, oppressed and uneducated population of Catholics in Ireland, Swift's projector calmly and rationally proposes that thousands of the children should be killed and eaten. This will help both the overpopulated poor, who can't afford to care for their children anyway, and the rich, who will get a good meal out of the whole process. Even in his introduction he explains the reason for his proposal: "for Preventing the Children of poor People in Ireland, from being a Burden to their Parents or Country; and for making them beneficial to the Publick."What follows is a very artful attempt to justify such a seemingly outrageous scheme. Yet throughout the discourse, the projector never loses his cool, but proceeds to logically lay out the ground work for such a proposal.The following reasons he uses to advance his plan are summarized below. First, eating the poor children will solve the problem of population among the papists, or the Catholics. Second, it will make the remaining papists richer, since they will have such valuable commodities to sell in exchange for rent credit, etc. Third, it will help the econ
He appears to be a self-inventor kind of person, indeed a down-to-earth thinker. I could name a country which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it. On a basic level Swift indicts the English Protestants for their cruel and inhumane treatment of the papists, or poor Catholics, through both political and economic oppression. "5) "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. Theme Analysis Swift's dehumanizing satire strives to shed light on the horrible situation of English/Irish tensions in Ireland. "Yet perhaps even more criticism is heaped on the Irish for not recognizing the horror of their own situation, and not taking constructive steps to remedy the problem. Finally, the projector defends his intentions in offering such a proposal, explaining that he has no personal advantages which will be derived from his plan, since his children are all too old to kill and his wife is too old to have more children. "10) "I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country. His awful proposal is a result, an echo of sorts, of the terrible suffering of the speaker's own fellow citizens. "6) "Infants' flesh will be in season throughout the year.
Common topics in this essay:
Parents Country,
English Protestants,
Modest Proposalwould,
Ireland Swift's,
Profiles TheProjector-,
Modest Proposal,
Analysis Swift's,
Ten Quotes,
Preventing Children,
Metaphor Analysis,
people ireland,
modest proposal,
proposal preventing children,
ireland burden parents,
burden parents,
ireland burden,
poor children,
poor people,
children poor,
preventing children,
people ireland burden,
children poor people,
reason proposal,
explains reason,
preventing children poor,
|
Acceptance Essays
