Satire and social solutions in Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

Journal Writing

"a Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift

As the name suggests, this is a proposal put forth by the writer on the way to help Ireland out of the problem of beggars along the streets and an ever increasing population of poor people within the nation. Indeed, he not only views his suggestions as viable towards decreasing the population of the poor, but to also earn the country foreign money that will help strengthen the economy of the nation at large.

When the wrester opens up his police, he begins by outlining the genuine problems of the nation in particular relation to the poor people the nation dwelling in the cities. He gives statistics of the people who are victims of poverty hence turned to beggars in a bid to show how dire the situation is within Ireland. It is at the point where he starts giving his suggestions, or the so called expedients that the reader comes to realize that the article is actually satirical amid shock at the suggestions. He gives several expedients all of which are ridiculous and involves selling off any two-year-old child in form of human meat and in particular the females to other countries to be consumed as food. This is not a practical solution, however he uses it to satirize the systems that were in place by then.

The speaker in this article can be said to be a nihilist, one who thrives in the pain of others and cares less about the comfort and welfare of others, has a canal mind and acts in an inhumane manner. This is derived from the outrageous suggestions he gives and how much conviction he has on them.

The other expedients outlined in paragraph 29 are a sobering list of actual suggestions that can be implemented, it somehow marked the end of the satire and brings to the fore the real solutions to the real problems that were facing Ireland at the time, suggestions and measures that if implemented could potentially solve the economic challenges that were facing the country and lead to lesser beggars along the streets.

Part 2

"The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles" by Emily Martin

The use of metaphors has been predominantly left for the literature field and languages, however, it is possible to employ the use of metaphors in the science field to describe or define scientific processes. This makes science to be more than just descriptive in nature but one that can also use metaphors to express the intended message. One good instance is the process of reproduction and the contrast between the male and the female reproductive systems' contribution towards the reproduction process. The generation of the sperms and the eggs at their varied stages can be metaphorically used to emulate the life process of the human being of either gender. Indeed, even the gender roles in the reproduction process has been metaphorically depicted in the process of egg and sperm production and utilization and as women are scientifically known to be reaching the menopause faster than men, so is the egg and the sperm part of this metaphor to explain the life cycle of men and women separately.

The use of active and passive voice in the scientific research serves to emphasize the facts as have been proven when an active voice is used or to propose a thesis when a passive voice is used in doing a report in a scientific research. The active voice is also used to indicate an organism that participates in a process and on the other hand the passive voice is used to indicate a subject which acts as a receiver or sufferer of a process in scientific research. Example in paragraph 7, Assuming that a man 'produces' 100 million sperm per day, this sentence in passive voice would be, Assuming that 100 million sperms are produced by a man per day.

The essay has an overall progression that defines the entire stream of ideas within it. It starts with the old age beliefs that there were about the function of the sperm and the egg, the interaction that was believed to be in existence and the results of the fusion of the two. Then the writer comes to question the beliefs as they were citing weaknesses that were found within the belief systems that there were. He then progresses to give the new research that were conducted and the new findings such as the coat of the egg being of more use than merely being a nuisance to the flow of the sperm. He then puts forth the social expectations of this field of research. This gives his piece a progressive approach to the subject.

Part 3

"Pig Lovers and Pig Haters" by Marvin Harris

In this article, Harris aims at bringing the duality of the subject matter, which is the love and hate of pigs. He uses a language that can be categorized as objective or neutral without leaning on one side to appear as though he is supporting that side. He gives the historical and cultural roots that exist in the love for the pig as well as the hate for the pigs. His diction is a factual diction that outlines the data, numbers, historical records and maps in a bid to support his finding for either side hence making his article reliable and dependable for facts.

There are various facts about the pig that Harris outlines and the most significant is that the pig just like any other domesticated animal mingles with its own feces and urine, just as the cows do and hence Harris does not understand why the pig was picked as a victim even in the historical communities. Harris is also intrigued by the pig bones that were traditionally used as ammunitions. They bones are the ones that were used by archeologists to determine how that particular society that lived in that region used to treat the pig in terms of being a holy animal or evil, edible or not hence this is a physiology that Harris has taken keen interest upon.

The consumption of beef and pork in the North America does not make sense in any way. Weather one looks at it from the Harris point-of-view or otherwise, excessive consumption of beef in the North America is not healthy as there are more people getting obese and dying of heart attack, yet the meat and pork that is consumed holds a lot of fats and cholesterol hence dangerous to the health of individual consumers.

Part 4

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King

There are various reasons the Luther gives for the protests and fundamental among them is the fact that the black community as a minority had by then waited for more that 340 years for the constitutional and God given rights to be given to them, hence could not wait any longer but to go for them. He further says that advocacy for equal rights and recognition were yet another reason since "Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds." He also mentioned the rampant injustice as a reason why the riots took place. He winds up by saying that the riots could not wait any longer since the black community had been a victim of broken promises for far too long hence the time to act was then. About the reason why the protests had to be pursued the way they were, Luther indicates that it was the white power structure of the city that left the Negro community with no other alternative.

There are ethical and political questions and often these two interact so closely that one would hardly see the difference. When an issue begins to overstep the lines of basic human rights and not superficial privileges, it is important to separate the ethical issue from political questions since when an issue affects human existence on daily basis, then it is a question of ethics, and injustices are issues of ethics most of the time since one party enjoys yet the other party does not and this is not ethical.

There are several instances where Luther uses parallel structures. One instance is the definition and clarification of just and unjust laws. He also defined and made readers understand the differences between violence and nonviolent direct actions. Luther also used the Biblical illusion to justify the strikes, likening the Birmingham strike with the noble resistance that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego put against king Nebuchadnezzar since a higher divine law was at stake.

Part 5

"Decolonizing the Mind" by N'gugi wa Thiong'o

Ngugi is known for his books that take a swipe at imposition of ones culture upon the other in whatever form through whatever means and he views language as one central tool or medium of culture propagation. When one decides to learn three languages or grows up learning these languages he will inevitably imbibe the cultures portrayed by these languages even in the implicit level. There are some simple and not easily recognizable habits that each language carries and the individual will automatically find himself expressing these as is imbibed through the languages. I agree that English is a carrier of culture and this is evident by looking at the countries that were colonized by British, there are several cultures that they took after the British left and left behind their language which is English being spoken. The dress codes, manner of wedding ceremonies, education systems and so on are easily identified as areas that the British influenced many of their colonies through their language.

The imposition of language can effectively impose the culture of another people to a different group of people. It is also notable that through the use of language, there can be elements of oppression that are enforced on the subjects since the subject will begin to willingly or unknowingly do the dictates of the language imposed, he will be told this is what the English language entails hence when using this particular article, you have to follow it with this and that. It is also apparent that the subjects will start systematically replacing metaphors, imageries and even cultural sayings with those of the English language imposed on them.

When Ngugi decries the foreign influence through books, it is a valid point. Indeed the books that I have interacted with closely, especially in the academic journey since childhood have been American-based hence confining the world view that I have to predominantly American view. I am tempted to imagine that if I was subjected to foreign books throughout in the foreign language, then my world view would be very different since it is true that language ferries culture.

Part 6

"A More Perfect Union" by Barack Obama

Apparently this was a speech that was made by Barck Obama when he was still a senator and was vying for the nomination by the Democratic Party to be the flag bearer. His audience was the members of Democratic Party whom he wanted to support him in the nomination. He appealed to each section of this audience by highlighting the specific challenges that they faced, picking the most common of the challenges the American society faced at the time like racism and the disenfranchised middle class that consisted of the whites as the majority here.

Obama appeals to the American patriotism first by invoking the vision of the cofounding fathers who signed the agreement to stick as the people of the perfect union. He further appeals to the patriotism by clearly indicating that race does not exempt one from American challenges hence the fate is same and that the unity of the races as portrayed by the story of Ashley at the end of his speech is what will save America as a whole.

In this speech, Obama conveniently used religion to try and portray himself as a dependable and family person who was guided by the reverend Wright into wedding and continued spiritual guidance. He also used it to show that we are all fallible him included and that the walk ahead in the campaigns may not be easy but it will be important to remember this. He finally used religion to show that that if misused, religion can be a great dividing factor as it was a heated debate at the time since the remarks that reverend Wright made concerning racism in America.

Obama has effectively addressed the issue of unity of American people as one and in so doing he was careful to address the people from different backgrounds. In a bid to bring the sense that the Americans have a common challenge to overcome and need to unite as one, Obama highlighted the challenges that the blacks face, those that afflict the white, those that afflict the immigrants and the middle class in general and in so doing, appealed to all of them to have a unity of purpose as Americans.

Part 9

"None of the Above: What I.Q. Doesn't Tell You about Race" by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell argue against the centrality of IQ test in determining the level of aptitude of individuals and also dismisses its universal application regardless of the intervening factors. He indicates that there is little chance or role played by the genetic IQ hence claiming that there is an inferior race in terms of IQ to him is misplaced.

In discussing IQ, I will be inclined more towards the direction that Gladwell argued for, to me IQ is widely believed to measure the intelligence level of individuals, but I contest that it fails to capture the entire picture since the same intelligence measuring tests would not be fair if used for people coming from different backgrounds, different cultures and different poverty levels and yet expect to use the same yardstick in determining who is more intelligent among a mixture of people. It is like administering same drug, to a group of sick people with different diseases and observing to see who responds best to medication and applauding them for it.

Bearing the information given in the article, IQ cannot and should not be used to measure mental disability, this is because the IQ tests are standardized and have to regard for the cultural differences and the background of the people undergoing the test. Again the calibrations are very arbitrary such that if used universally, there is a possibility of finding an entire ethnic group in some remote part of the world to be mentally disabled according to the IQ test standards, which cannot be true.