Monday, July 30, 2007
Jonathan Swift
I think it's interesting how Jonathan Swift makes a proposal to better the lives of children. For some reason, his first paragraph really tugged at my heart because I could just imagine those little children trailing behind their mother just begging for money and food. It seems like Swift attempted to make a change for single mothers and families living in poverty by appealing to the government. As long as the government caters to the common good of the children and families, it will benefit the country by reducing the number of Papists, increase marriage rates, and so forth.
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4 comments:
I figured I'd reply to this post rather than make a new entry...
UH! Have I completely lost it, or was this guy actually proposing that, in an effort to better the condition of things in this Dublin kingdom, they start EATING BABIES?! He goes on for nearly ten pages, calmly listing the ways in which it would better their society. The title of the essay is even "A Modest Proposal." Is he taking the piss?! How can this be serious? He even says he "can think of no objection that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it should be urged that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom." No objection, huh? How about the fact that you're suggesting that people EAT BABIES?!? If he was in fact being serious, and no one had any real objections to his plan... then, goddamn, what the hell was wrong with Irish people?!
Oh, I also thought it was mighty convienant that he admitted that he would not be able to submit any of his own children to be eaten, because his kid was already too old and his wife was beyond childbearing age... Seriously, was this some kind of ye olde joke?
haha...okay I'll admit, I skimmed this reading. My post was really off and it seems like I support his proposal, but eating babies to better the country is not okay. The beginning paragraph still tugged at me though.
The genius of Swift's famous satire is that he is so reasonable...until, that is, you realize what he is proposing.
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