Donna Kitchings AntiEssays.com The use of satire in writing shows the reader an exaggerated view of a situation or topic that criticizes people’s view to that situation of a topic. It is used either to make the reader laugh or feel disgust for what is being satirized. Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal, is probably the most famous satirical essay in the English language (Bromberg). Born on November 30, 1667, was the son of Protestant Anglo-Irish Parents (Cody). His father, an attorney, died two months before he was born (BIO).
An Eye Opening Proposal In A Modest Proposal by author Jonathan Swift, is an essay that uses satire to make its point. A satire is a literary work that attacks or pokes fun at vices, abuses, stupidity, and/or any other fault or imperfection. He adopts the persona of a concerned economist who suggests that, in order to better combat the poverty and overpopulation of Ireland, the children of the poor be sold as food to the wealthy. As a result, he argues, not only will the population be reduced, but the income of the poor will increase significantly as they sell their children. In developing this outrageous thesis, Swift provides abundant detail, projecting the costs of child rearing, estimating the portion of the population affected, and even providing specific ideas regarding the number of servings a child might provide.
He is sarcastically calling the government of Ireland to action. They are consumed with selfishness and neglect to help improve their country by taking measures that are more charitable. In an ironic and cleverly delivered twist of words, he elaborates on his belief that the rich people are vulcer’s devouring the land, food and additional resources from the less fortunate people making it almost impossible for them to survive. Many of the poor resort to selling themselves as slaves in order to survive and provide for their families.
A MODEST PROPOSAL In a Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift, the main objective was to draw attention to the downfall of the Irish people and motivate readers to find a workable solution. Unlike most essays, this is written for the reader to see through what the narrator is expressing. Swift shows the readers his proposal mainly through irony. Irony can be defined as expressing the opposite of what is meant. This is a great technique of the sense of humor and sarcasm used in the proposal and in Swift.
Scrooge, and by extension the merchant class of which he is emblematic, view the impoverished as worthless, and it is this callous disdain, formed from society’s narcissistic focus, that Dickens seeks to attack. In depicting Scrooge’s personal metamorphosis as a microcosmic example for the change he desired in England, Dickens figures A Christmas Carol as an allegorical tale, highlighting his belief that Victorian society is in need of its own moral conversion, through individual acts of redemption In constructing a character that is apathetic to the plight of the poor, Dickens sharply depicts the heartlessness of Scrooge, and more broadly the prosperous members of British society, towards the less privileged members of society. Through his creation of the “boy and girl”, Ignorance and Want, Dickens frighteningly depicts the destitute underclass that has been created due to the forces of capitalism driving Britain’s industrial economy in the 1840s. In labelling them “Man’s”, Dickens attributes the existence of these “monsters” to the wealthy, like Scrooge, who have ignored their poverty-stricken life. Dickens
In “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the satiric writing approach can be viewed differently with two types of literary criticism theories. The two theories of literary criticism that best fit into the essay are reader-response and Marxism. The criticism theory of Marxism is present throughout the text and is shown through Ireland’s lower class struggle in society. The reader-response criticism explains that there can be several meanings to the work and how the reader comprehends the text in comparison to another reader. Therefore, both literary criticisms can be connected to the essay and further explain its significance.
Matthew Lymbers; 17463270. 1. Fanon, Diamond. The post-colonisation works of Frantz Fanon can be contrasted and compared with the canon of Gayatri Spivak in her book 'Can The Subaltern Speak' and Jared Diamond's 'The Worst Mistake In The History Of The Human Race'. Frantz Fanon's 'The Wretched Of The Earth' characterises the rashness of the bourgeois after the governing body or governing control of post-colonisers has left the country.
A Modest Proposal by Jonathon Swift is a satirical essay written in 1729. It was written in protest of the English treatment of the Catholic people of Ireland. Swift explains and attacks the cruel and unjust oppression of Ireland by the much more powerful, England. The Catholic people had many restrictions put on them. A few of these restrictions are as follows: the Catholics were not allowed to vote, they couldn’t marry a Protestant, they couldn’t attend Trinity College, they weren’t able to obtain orphans, they couldn’t be in the military or even own firearms and they weren’t able to buy land unless they had less than a thirty year lease.
Satire is the use of wit, especially sarcasm, irony, and ridicule to criticize faults. Arguably the most renowned author of satire is Jonathan Swift, chiefly known for his novel Gulliver's Travels, he also wrote numerous other pieces of literature, many concerning the politics of Ireland. His essay A Modest Proposal also brought him great fame. In it he proposed a vile solution for the problems of Ireland in the 1730's which he described as a plea "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" (Intro; 1). He uses satire to address the terrible living conditions at the time in an indirect way.
The word “greasy” has connotations of dirt, which suggests a corruption of the values held previously in Ireland, as well as the idea of ‘slippery money’ giving it connotations of dishonesty and impurity. “Pray” and “prayer” suggest that the church has also been corrupted by money, as well as emphasising the feelings of desperation, as though they are so desperate as to “pray” for more money. Throughout this first stanza Yeats refers to the poems addressee, the middle classes, as “you” which creates an accusatory tone throughout. However in the second stanza, when Yeats begins exploring the opposing views of the rebels, he refers to them as “they” which separates them not only from the “you” in the first stanza, but also everyone else, as though Yeats’ admiration causes him to hold them above everyone else. This is in direct conflict with the corrupting