Jonathan Swift's essay, "A Modest Proposal."
1. What is the problem that Swift
identifies in his society? What does he want to do about it?
Jonathan
Swift identifies the problem of poverty within his country of Ireland
2. Is his suggestion serious? If not, what is
the purpose? What is he making fun of?
I
do not believe that Mr. Swift is being serious in this essay. His purpose may
be to get the people of his country to sit down and critically think about a
way to remedy this dilemma. I suppose that Mr. Swift is making fun of his government
and others who have tried to fix these problems with little to no success. It
seems that he feels their ideas have been so absurd that there would be no
other way to get their attention then by going to extent of slaughtering their
children to rectify the situation.
3. Is his solution logical?
What kind of evidence does he give to support his position?
I do not feel that his suggestion is a logical solution to the problem. For hundreds of years since this essay was written, scholars and economist have struggled to find a solution to poverty and they have yet to succeed. Click here for a link to a website that shows what people today are doing to fight poverty. Mr. Swift provides a good deal of evidence to support his position. He uses the fact that there would be less children to provide for and that the children who were born, would be a benefit in the way cattle can provide for a family. He also states that this would increase marriage and decrease abuse of woman from their husbands. He does give a good argument even though he is not serious in his writing.
I do not feel that his suggestion is a logical solution to the problem. For hundreds of years since this essay was written, scholars and economist have struggled to find a solution to poverty and they have yet to succeed. Click here for a link to a website that shows what people today are doing to fight poverty. Mr. Swift provides a good deal of evidence to support his position. He uses the fact that there would be less children to provide for and that the children who were born, would be a benefit in the way cattle can provide for a family. He also states that this would increase marriage and decrease abuse of woman from their husbands. He does give a good argument even though he is not serious in his writing.
Hello Michael,
ReplyDeleteFirst I like the layout of your response. It is very clean and organized. I agree with your assertion about those previously trying to solve his country's problems of poverty. I especially picked up on the teasing/sarcastic tone when he lists more realistic ideas for fixing problems. It is to make fun of them for not thinking of such solutions sooner. Also good point about his ideas, while not serious, as good support of his satirical proposal.
-Jordan