“A Modest Proposal”
Jonathan Swift
I read this essay before I went to bed one night, and alone in my dorm room, I was disturbed. Swift begins by describing the poor in Ireland, especially the plight of women who cannot support their children. I followed his dialogue and tried to anticipate his coming points, but I was thrown off by his suggestion to sell babies as food. Perhaps it was because I read the essay late at night or that I was unfamiliar with the time period or the author, but I couldn’t discern what Swift actually meant by writing this. I couldn’t believe that he truly wanted to “stew, roast, bake or boil” children, but he provided so much argument for his point, along with statistics of how the whole nation would benefit, that I couldn’t be sure if he was using irony.
My reading of this essay reminded me of the danger of using irony. It is very easily misunderstood, confusing the reader and preventing the author’s message from reaching the audience. Irony is less dangerous when spoken because inflection helps clarify the actual meaning, but words on a page lack the clarification necessary to understand the humor.
By the way, I understand he was being ironic now. I don’t think he actually wants to eat baby meat.
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1 comment:
Jonathan Swift is an interesting writer. You have to understand the culture and history of his background to appreciate his writing as he is a master of satire. I loathed him for a short period when I was first introduced to him in my college English in high school. My teacher loved Gulliver's Travels and insisted on shoving it down our throats in a sense. I became so tired of the story behind the story. Now looking back, it is amazing as my teacher thought it was.
It seems to me that the whole point of "A Modest Proposal" is to colorfully advance his point that something needs to be done about the impoverished society in Ireland. It is disgusting to think of literally, but an incredible way to paint the issue for readers.
This is a great essay to make us think about irony, but an even better example of how to use satire skillfully and comically. Thoughts about important and controversial issues can be written in language that readers can think about in a more visible way than abstract philisophical way.
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