A Modest Proposal by Jonathon Swift
Blog #1- What is Satire? Does A Modest Proposal qualify as satire?
What really is Satire? Satire is basically a joke. In my opinion, satire is not fully used for humor but it is an attack on the satirist used as a weapon of wit. In this case the satirist is not really using satire to be humorous but to use it in a feeling of disgust. Jonathon Swift's proposal is basically mounting his frustration about more and more people living in poverty and going hungry, all because of the Potato Famine in Ireland during the 19th century. Swift's philosophy is to get people off the streets and stop going into poverty, he believes that people should eat their children. This is a type of satire because it is keeping the reader's attention, even though he really didn't want this to happen. He believes that people should eat their children because it will solve the problem of going hungry. He thinks that children should be sent into the meat market at the age of one and they must be healthy. H said in his proposal that the mother of the child should breast feed up until the time that they leave the child in the meat market, and the mother should also stay very safe while she is pregnant because a defected baby is not what the definition of healthy is. Also, if the baby somehow came out defected the meat market would not accept the baby. The baby must be plump. The mothers will sell their child into the market to prevent poverty and then it will also prevent more families from going hungry. This is his way of saying that politics is just a bunch of bull.
Blog #2- What social/health issue is being examined in A Modest Proposal?
The social and health concern that is being acknowledged in, A Modest Proposal, is that people who cannot take care of their children are having babies. This is causing a serious problem because the mothers who can’t take care of their children go out on the streets and become beggars, and ask for food and money so they can support themselves and their family. Also, the children that live and grow up on the streets learn to become thieves. This is even worse because if children grow up to be like that then there will be more thieves in Ireland. The fact that babies are being born into families that cannot take care of their children is the cause of another problem called overpopulation. Overpopulation is a big problem because if you think about it, it causes lack of food which, in the end, goes back to the problem of people living on the streets as beggars. Also, what makes overpopulation worse is the Potato Famine which is also causing lack of food, furthermore, the English Oppression made it harder for people to get food any other way. Jonathon Swift attacks the concern with his resolution of sending off babies into meat markets as a way to get money and food. Yes, this proposition is ridiculous yet, it simply grabs the reader’s attention. It doesn’t matter if the reader thinks his thoughts are crazy or not because it will make you think if there really is a proper fix to the social and health concern of Ireland that is recognized in A Modest Proposal.
Blog #3- Who is the "proposer"? Who is the audience?
In A Modest Proposal, the proposer, or author of the solution to the problem in Ireland is known as Jonathon Swift. The audience of this piece of satire is all of the people in Ireland. Swift proposes in this satire that Ireland needs to make the changes of prejudice, overpopulation, and poverty. During this time the population of Ireland was going through a rough time because of the overpopulation and poverty. The people who could not financially afford to have children were having babies, and that’s what was causing the overpopulation. Consequently, there was not enough food to feed all of the people of Ireland and that was what caused poverty. Since there was so much overpopulation and poverty, it led to extreme amounts of theft. Furthermore, the children that were being born and grew up on the streets of Ireland would evolve into criminals all because of their parents who were not financially stable to raise a child. It was upsetting because the children would beg and steal just to fill their own stomachs. In this satire, Swift basically proposed to eat their children to solve the overbearing problem of poverty and overpopulation. The real reason Jonathon Swift wrote this article was not for this proposal to be passed, but to bring awareness to problems at hand.
Blog #4- What is irony? Is there a difference between the "proposer" and Swift himself? Do you detect any irony to what he is saying?
Irony can best be described as an instance of words which contrast themselves in order to grab attention by creating an amusing surprise or shock to the reader, or audience. In A Modest Proposal, Jonathon Swift uses exaggeration and sarcasm to create a feeling of disbelief, which brings to their attention the real problems in Ireland. By dramatic use of contrasting reality and his satire, the audience sees that there are many problems including, poverty, overpopulation, and prejudice in Ireland. I believe that there is a huge difference between Jonathon Swift and the proposer in his satire. This is because Jonathon Swift would never recommend killing one’s own children in order to solve problems pertaining to poverty and overpopulation. On the other hand, the proposer in the story obviously is trying to influence people to slaughter their kids in order to solve these problems.
Blog #5- Where does Jonathon Swift stand on the issues of poverty, overpopulation, and famine in Ireland? With what social group does he identify himself? What were the causes/effects of the Potato Famine?
Jonathon Swift’s opinion on all of the poverty and overpopulation in Ireland is due to the excessive amount of babies being born into unstable families who cannot get food for themselves let alone for a child. If you think about it, newborns need to be fed every 2-3 hours. He believes that all of these newborn babies and young children that cannot be properly cared for is causing overpopulation, which in the end leads to poverty and famine. Speaking of famine, the potato famine was mainly caused by two main reasons. Initially, disease was a big problem and the disease spread around and got to their crops, mainly the potato. Hence, the potato famine. Given that, all of the potatoes went bad because of the disease. Another reason for the famine was because of the English Oppression. The English were in the midst of being so cruel to the Irish that they would not let them get food any other way. They basically made it impossible. For instance, the English were guarding the waters fully so the Irish people could not fish. Some people got so desperate for food that they ate rotten potatoes, which, in the end made them sick and die. All because of the English refusing for them to live? Sad is all I have to say.
Blog#6- Who will benefit if Swift's proposal is accepted?
If Jonathon Swift’s proposal was accepted into society as a decree, the people who will benefit from the decision would be the Irish people who were deprived and in torment because of the famine and overpopulation. The only ones who will not have the advantage from this decision is the newborn babies that are essentially being slaughtered because they will never have a chance to live their lives. The Irish social group will definitely benefit from the proposal because of the turnaround in the economy in Ireland. This law may or may not have been a good decision because if you think about it, before any of this would happen, overpopulation is causing less food and less jobs which means an enormous amount of poverty. The poverty has caused a lot of disorganization due to theft. If the regulation is set, all of the newborns that are born into non-financially stable families will be eaten. This will stop the crisis of overpopulation and lack of food. Since babies are being killed this early into life, and not growing up into thieves, it will stop a lot of theft. Furthermore, Ireland will have more organization in their country and less poverty and overpopulation. In the end, if this law would be passed it will fix a lot of problems that were going on during the time of the potato famine.
Blog#7- Society Morality Conflicts
As a high school student, I have learned so much about society morality conflicts. For example, popular ones that you hear and learn about a lot is suicide, abortion, and the most important one, drugs. I am only going to talk about the most important one. Death is something that some people look forward to, and others just wait for the right time and wait for heaven. All of those listed above are forced deaths and that is something that I would not want for anyone. Anyway, drugs are something that can help cure pain, but will put you in even more pain if you use them for the wrong reasons or if you overdose. Other types of drugs are something that you do for “fun”, but I would not necessarily call it fun. A lot of teenagers these days are using drugs because of bad family lives, or making the wrong decisions with friends at school. Teenagers can be compared to directions, one wrong turn and sometimes, you can’t turn back around. If you stop, turn back around, you can start life on a new track and get going to the correct destination. When you make the wrong turn it can lead to drugs, alcohol, gangs, and much more wrong paths. If you keep going straight, it can lead to great friends, and excellent family, and a life full of dreams that can be fulfilled. Drugs and other wrong things stop people from living their lives to the fullest. My proposal is that any type of drug in America should be outlawed and destroyed and cannot be shipped in by boats. This includes pharmaceutical and medical drugs too. Not only drugs should be destroyed, but all cigarettes, cigars, tobacco, and marijuana, or anything of that sort should be destroyed. Keeping on a no turn road will help you from going down the wrong path and keep you going straight toward your dream. This is why my proposal is keeping you from and kind of wrong decisions.
