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¶ … SWIFT'S A MODEST PRPOSAL
Surprise Ending - Swift
The Surprise Ending in Swift's a Modest Proposal
In his essay A Modest Proposal (1729) Jonathon Swift ironically puts forth the proposition that for the betterment of Irish society, children of the poor, particularly Catholic children, because there was an over abundance, should be slaughtered and eaten. Swift maintains that this practice would solve a number of societal problems. It would decrease the number of Papists who are the principle breeders of the nation, as well as the most dangerous enemies, it would turn a liability of the poor, another mouth to feed, into an asset or a valuable commodity,...
The surprise ending is that swift recommends this practice only for Ireland.
At the time Swift published this work Ireland was not an independent country and was far poorer than England. Most of the people born there were Roman Catholics and worked as tenant farmers and agricultural laborers. The land owners were mostly Protestants, many of whom were not born in Ireland and were not permanent residents. This ruling class took advantage of the plight the poor found themselves in, and knew that if the laborer quit, there would…
References
Moore, A. (2002). A modest proposal- Study guide. teachit.co.uk. May 1, 2013, from http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/default.htm
Swift, J. (1729). A modest proposal for preventing the children of poor people from Ireland from becoming a burden on their parents or counrty and for making them benefical to the publick. The Victorian Web. Retrieved May 1, 2013, from http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/swift/modest.html
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
Abortion A Modest Proposal: Abortion for Two Perhaps the most significant debate of recent decades on a political, religious, and social level is that of abortion. Many questions are raised about whether this is a justified right inherent to any fertile woman, or an inhumane practice fostered by a barbaric society. Those who believe it is not right to abort the unborn struggle to make it as difficult as possible for anyone
Modest 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 Public, tells the conditions of poor, rural Irish families facing starvation and desolation caused by brutal oppression from their neighboring and bullying country England in 1729. The length of the title of this essay introduces the satirical form that Swift uses in
Johnathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is a work of satire in which Swift suggests, as a solution to the problem of famine in Ireland, that the starving Irish should eat their babies. This, he states, is a way to cope with the problem of both hunger and overpopulation. Swift makes deliberate use of hyperbole throughout his essay. He uses some of the most common, racist criticisms about the Irish leveled
The primary reason for this is the fact that people like Swift's projector and various politicians like him are far too successful in manipulating language to their own advantage. While Orwell did not live in our day, he was truly a visionary and he is not far off the mark when it comes to politics and the power of persuasion. Swift reinforces this notion with his proposal, which is
Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift is satire? The combination of the bland mealy-mouthed title attached to a horrifying vision of mass-murder might at first seem inherently ironic. But this is no guarantee of satirical humor: after all, when the bureaucratic-sounding title attached to a monstrous plan is the "Final Solution," we have left the realm of ironic satire and entered the realm of actual atrocity. The notion that Swift's