A Modest Proposal Essay Humanities PDF

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An essay on Jonathan Swift....

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Running head: A MODEST PROPOSAL / JONATHAN SWIFT

A Modest Proposal / Jonathan Swift Essay Author: Kevin Dougherty Western Governors University

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A MODEST PROPOSAL / JONATHAN SWIFT

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Jonathan Swift was a successful Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric who was born in Dublin. Swift was the preeminent satirist of his day and is remembered for many works. Chief among them was a pamphlet he authored called “A Modest Proposal” in 1729.

In this satirical work, Swift proposes that as a solution for the dire

conditions and starving masses in Ireland, that the Irish should eat children born into poverty. Swift wanted the absurdity of the proposal to draw attention to it.

Over the course of the

pamphlet, he makes step-by-step, logical defenses of his proposal, and takes advantage in the making of those defensive points to mention numerous situations that he actually was addressing. Swift vents his aggravation towards the mockery of Irish politics, the abuse of the wealthy, and the decay of the standard of living. Swift blames not only the English exploitation, but also Ireland’s inability to mobilize on their own accord. Swift uses dark imagery to color the pieces opening, immediate drawing the reader in. “It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the 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. 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 who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbados.”[

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To understand Swift’s case, which he goes on to make for the systematic slaughter and consumption of our children, we need to look at the context of in which it was written. Swift’s Ireland had been under the oppressive thumb of England’s rule for nearly 500 years. Ireland

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suffered from a weak voice in Parliament and restricted trade regulations. By the 1720’s, Swift’s political views became well known through a series of pamphlets, essays, and satirical works that criticized Great Britain. In 1729, Swift wrote this in response to the worsening conditions in Ireland. The complicated relationship that Swift had with England leads him to be sympathetic towards the injustices suffered by Ireland at the hands of England. Swift lived from 1667 until 1745. This coincides with what is known as the age of Enlightenment – which is generally agreed to mean from the end of the 17th century through most of the 18th Century. This period saw a great change in government, philosophy, science and the arts. Human thought and understanding were being expanded at great pace through scientific discovery. This expanding understanding cause people to question our existence in the world and gave birth to new philosophical schools of thought: skepticism, rationalism and empiricism. These philosophies raised up human reason, the quest for hard scientific understanding and acceptance of human limitation as a means of measuring and governing our expectations. As humans are known to do, our growing understanding began to give rise to a growing yearning for increased independence.

People were tethered to existing social structures and

belief systems. But through time and discovery, discussion and decision, society was embracing a growing willingness to question authority and the order of things. That questioning expanded into many aspects of society from the church and its authority, social gender norms and even questioning the monarchies right to rule. Many meaningful voices spoke out and contributed along with Swift on these issues. Authors like John Locke and Mary Wollstonecraft authored works provoking changes in concepts of government and the treatment of women. People like Denis Diderot worked to compile and preserve human knowledge in a great Encyclopedia. These ideas even contributed to the foundation and formation of a new nation. The author of the

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American Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, imbued many Enlightenment era philosophies into that document. Throughout his life, Jonathan Swift contributed many works besides “A Modest Proposal” that were important to the development of social thought and reform.

He also

authored A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726). He is regarded by the Encyclopedia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language.

Reference (1) Swift, J. (1729). A modest proposal...