Ireland was suffering a great depression in the 1700s, and catholics across the country were not being fed nor clothed. Children were said to grow up as stealers, beggars and prostitutes. Jonathan Swift choose to write a piece on this issue labeled, "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick." Swift uses satire on the ironic proposal of eating children to test what Ireland will do to not help the poor and feed the already rich.
Well perhaps Swift was on to something, eating children would in fact lessen the chance for more future stealers, beggars and prostitutes. Also, there would go problems with feeding and clothing the creatures. Hey, we could even eat adults as well, unemployed ones of no spectacular value of course. Men could eat their wives if needed, that would solve the issues of divorce for the catholics! Eating people, Cannibalism, is taken too seriously, when people are starving there are plenty of people to eat, they would die anyways, this way we could save ourselves the cost of funerals and burial expense, grandma's about to die? Eat her up while she's still fresh! This would also help the modern over-population crisis in countries like China.
Eating people? NO. Swift's "proposal" to fatten up these undernourished children and feed them to Ireland's rich land-owners. Children of the poor could be sold into a meat market at the age of one, he argues, thus combating overpopulation and unemployment, sparing families the expense of child-bearing while providing them with a little extra income, improving the culinary experience of the wealthy, and contributing to the overall economic well-being of the country is simply barbaric. He actively uses satire to enforce the ludicrous of the situation. People wouldn't REALLY want to eat children! Especially today when children are loved, cherished and spoiled. To eat or kill something so innocent and cute is crazy. This however an effective way to go about persuading an audience on Swift's particular issue.
Satire, as I find it, is a good way to bring in an argument or POV on controversial topics with a lighter air. Humor, especially in America, is a way to get into the hearts of the masses, if a person is funny, they are likeable, there for their views and opinions are that much more easier to accept.
Although, it is very interesting how something so crazily inane as eating children can be funny, but Swift offers a good persuasion when using humor to aid his theme. He conjures up facts and data and statistics, well somewhat considering it was the 1700s, to support his proposal which makes the whole essay even more ridiculous. Real figures for his fake proposal just adds more humor to the situation.
He suggests some recipes for preparing this delicious new meat, and he feels sure that innovative cooks will be quick to generate more. He also anticipates that the practice of selling and eating children will have positive effects on family morality: husbands will treat their wives with more respect, and parents will value their children in ways hitherto unknown. His conclusion is that the implementation of this project will do more to solve Ireland's complex social, political, and economic problems than any other measure that has been proposed.
”I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled ...”
This is just too much! haha. Ohh and I like how he 'gets the idea' from an American. I think that adds to it as well seeing as it is an essay written in Europe.
Swift captures his readers with the explanation and re-telling of the famine and depression in Ireland, he shows a compassionate side and the whole intro is completely serious. And then all of a sudden BOOM! Let's eat children. The fact that it's so unexpected is funny. The proposal draws attention to the self-degradation of the nation as a whole by illustrating it in shockingly literal ways. The idea of fattening up a starving population in order to feed the rich casts a grim judgment on the nature of social relations in Ireland.
No comments:
Post a Comment