...Reading Response #4 My initial reaction to a “Modest Proposal was that it was going to be about adoption or child trafficking. But after reading “A Modest Proposal I was very surprise and start to get highly upset while reading it. I don’t understand how Jonathon Swift in his right mind thought it would be okay to make fun of killing children and eating them or wearing them as an accessory. Being a mother I would lose my mind and do life in prison if someone took or even thought about making me sell my child. Johnathon Swift went overboard with his satire because an innocent defenseless child’s life is nothing that should be played with or considered a topic for a satire. After reading the “The Rape of the Lock”, I think Pope was a bitter...
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...Voltaire successfully composes possibly the most well-known satirical pieces of literature. Mad magazine, The Simpsons, and Saturday Night Live, examples of some of the comical staples that satiate our desire for humor. In our society, satire is among the most prevalent of comedic forms. This was not always true. Before the 18th century, satire was not a fully developed form. Satire, however, rose out of necessity; writers and artists needed a way to ambiguously criticize their governments, their churches, and their aristocrats. By the 18th century, satire was hugely popular. “Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own”. (Swift) Satire as an art form has its roots in the classics, especially in the writings of Voltaire. Satire as it was originally proposed was a form of literature using sarcasm, irony, and wit, to bring about a change in society, but in the eighteenth century Voltaire, Jonathan Swift and William Hogarth expanded satire to include politics, as well as art. The political climate of the time was one of tension. Any criticism of government would bring harsh punishments, sometimes exile or death. In order to voice opinions without fear of punishment, malcontented writers turned to satire. Voltaire’s Candide and Swift’s Modest Proposal are two examples of this new genre. By creating a fictional world modeled after the world he hated, Voltaire was able to attack scientists, and theologians with impunity. Jonathan Swift...
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...Surprise Ending for A Modest Proposal John J Bradley IV Professor Nancy Pettigrew Humanities 112: World Cultures II November 5th, 2012 A Modest Proposal by Jonathan shift is a literary work of the 18th century that takes a symbolic aim at the greed of England’s renting policies and a plan to reduce the burdens, in this case children, caused by it. According to Sayre (2011) Swift composes with his tongue lodged in his cheek, quite possible, as never before. You can detect this in his work from the outrageous suggestions intended to lift the burden of children in poverty-stricken Ireland and alternatively to reap benefits from them. It is earlier stated that the proposal would be geared toward Irish families that could not afford to provide for their children, thus the slaughter of their children to cater the English would be the possible solution. The ‘Surprise Ending” in this proposal would be the revelation of Swift’s true proposition, the consideration of the poor and rebuttal of policy makers with realistic ideals to correct this ever so abundant problem. According to Lynch (n.d.) Swift preferred living in England, although he was Irish, which causes him to begrudge the policies toward his own people. With that being said, it becomes clear that the proposal will indeed have a surprise ending when swift speaks of his American acquaintance discoursing the subject, offering refinement. Although prior Knowledge obtained from Native Salmanaazor of Formosa Island offered...
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...Constance White November 11, 2011 In “A Modest Proposal,” Swift talks about the English landlords proposing that Irish infants be sold as food at the age of one, when they are plump and healthy. He thought that it would be good to give the Irish a new source of income and the English a new food product to help their economy. He stated that “his proposal, if adopted, would also result in a reduction in the number of Catholics in Ireland, since most Irish infants—almost all of whom were baptized Catholic—would end up in stews and other dishes instead of growing up to go to Catholic churches”. By 1703, the Irish Catholics owned about ten percent of the land. Meanwhile, legislation limited the rights of the Irish to hold government office, purchase real estate, get an education, and advance themselves in other ways. As a result, many Irish fled to foreign lands, including America. .Because so many Irish parents that cannot find a decent job to support their children would spend all their time walking the streets begging. Meanwhile, the children would grow up to become thieves or emigrants. This situation presented a serious problem for Britain, especially since their are so many Irish children. Each year, several hundred thousand babies were born to Irish parents. Swift said that if you subtract those who are born to well-to-do parents, those who are stillborn, and those who die after birth as a result of disease or accident, you are still left with about...
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...Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” observes a heavily satirized southern society placed in a time before the Civil War. The topics lampooned within range widely and allow us ample opportunity to address Twain’s commentaries on the assigned topics of religion, education, and slavery. Our protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, is a young man of limited education and religion. Having been taken into a household comprised of a widow and a spinster, the women were determined to rectify Huck’s deficiencies. One of the tactics the ladies used was to educate Huck about both heaven and hell, and to relate his behavior to the likelihood of his attaining one or the other. Unfortunately, the Widow Douglas and the spinster Miss Watson had differing ideas about the delights Providence offered. Miss Watson presented a dry account of a heaven peopled by harp playing singers, while the Widow offered a more attractive proposition. These contradictions caused Huck some consternation as he’d he felt that he’d tolerate the Widow’s heaven, but wasn’t interested in Miss Watson’s, especially as she felt his friend Tom Sawyer would not be there. There may have been a grain of truth to Miss Watson’s statement, as despite Tom having been the person who convinced Huck to return to the ladies’ home, he did so by offering Huck a chance to join his band of robbers and murderers if he would live respectably. That aside, Tom and his gang were not without redemptive qualities. When trying to find a day of the...
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...Davidson Both texts are similar, in the fact that they both are reminiscence on a person’s life after their death. Many differences, however, can be seen throughout the poem written by Jonathan Swift and the Obituary. The opening of both Texts is contradictory as Text A opens with a series of exclamations, ‘His Grace! Impossible! What, dead!, ’which gives an impression of surprise at the death but not a sense of grief is aroused. On the other hand, Text B embarks with a compliment ‘was in his element at the heart of the action’; both openings give a clear implication of the withdrawal of the rest of the text. The structure of both are also at a contrast, Text A is an elegy so Is a farewell to the dead but the fact that Swift writes a satire elegy therefore removes the traditional aspect of an elegy. Text B is an Obituary, but although also a farewell to the dead, it is read at a remembrance or a funeral so is written with aspiration to honour William Davidson and not undermine him in the way that Text A is. Text A is written with a sarcastic and mocking tone, through the poem it is highlighted that the general has earned the disrespected he has received through the mention also of his failures with use of the parallelism of ‘Nor widows’ sigh, nor orphans’ tears’ which gives the impression that no grief is present throughout any of the people he ruled and stresses the expected sympathy lacking in his funeral but also brings across the suffering in which he cause by sending...
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...IDEAS IN SONNET-130? IS HE COMPLETELY ANTI-PETRARCHAN? [16] 1st part The language spoken and written of great romances is often poetic, passionate, and filled with metaphors of beauty and devotion. In short, the language of love is the language of exaggeration. William Shakespeare ‘s most powerful description of love is when he satirizes this method of writing and in so doing instead claims that honesty and sincerity are the greatest literary devices when speaking the language of love. Shakespeare's sonnet number 130 demonstrates this. This sonnet hooks the reader from the very outset while maintaining sonnet structure and using literary devices as a source of irony. Shocking the reader by using an unconventional method of satire to introduce a topic is the most effective way to hook an audience. Shakespeare begins his sonnet with the line; "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun -" (line 1). The reader immediately becomes curious to the poet’s reasoning for speaking in this tone. The first quatrain of this poem introduces the topic of beauty.The second quatrain enhances the topic and adds sentiment. In the first quatrain he describes the looks of his mistress, while in the second quatrain he relates how these looks affect him. The third quatrain releases this sentiment, the narrator concludes that he is aware of the ordinary nature of his mistress. The sonnet also satirizes literary devices such as metaphors and similes to enhance its theme. Conventionally...
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...Mini Bio (1) ------------------------------------------------- Bassem Ra'fat Mohamed Youssef is an Egyptian cardiac surgeon, satirist, and the host of El Bernameg ("The Program"), a satirical news program broad casted by Egyptian television station Capital Broadcast Center (CBC). The press has compared Youssef with American comedian Jon Stewart, whose satire program The Daily Show inspired Youssef to begin his career. Bassem began his first satirical show in March 2011 in response to the Egyptian Revolution. Entitled The B+ Show, the program was uploaded to his YouTube Channel.[4] The show mainly consisted of satirical political programs via the Internet after the revolution of January 25. Bassem began his presentation on YouTube on March 8, 2011, with more than 108 episodes of the program. The episode view count has surpassed 15 million views on YouTube After the success of The B+ Show, Egyptian channel ONTV, owned by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, offered Youssef a deal for El Bernameg (literally, "The Show").[5] The show premiered during Ramadan 2011 with Egyptian-American engineer Muhammad Radwan as its first guest.[6][7] Youssef has parodied Egyptian celebrities like talk show host Tawfik Okasha, composer Amr Mostafa, Salafist presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, and Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and onetime presidential candidate, in his show. Bassem Youssef was also hosted by Jon Stewart on his show on the 21st...
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...Humorists Essay Alain de Botton argues that the chief aim of humorists is not only to entertain, but to state the messages that might be dangerous to say directly. Satire such as Jonathan Smith’s A Modest Proposal helps to exemplify the fact that joking about a taboo subject humorously, will allow it to become more of an acceptable thing to say. Comedians also tend to exemplify this statement by humorously discussing controversial topics through their comedy routines. Satire such as Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal uses humor to “convey with impunity messages that might be dangerous or impossible to state directly”. He talks about a world where unwanted and malnourished children can be cooked and served to the higher ranked, wealthier people. Swift suggests that this could be the solution to the overpopulation and poverty problems the country is facing. By proposing this “plan” in a humorous, satirical way, it is seen as humorous comedy and not a socially unacceptable ideal. The way the satire is effectively used evokes conversation about the topic through a humorous proposal. This thought-evoking Davis 2 satire brings to light the actual problems that are plaguing the country (in this case, poverty and the separation between the rich and the poor). Another type of comedy that brings out the actual problems being faced by the world is the television show “The Colbert Report”. This popular TV show, hosted by Stephen Colbert, is a parody of a newscast. He incorporates...
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...Swifts Proposal In Jonathon Swifts “A Modest Proposal, Swift main propose is to have a solution to poverty. Throughout the essay Swift, along with the narrator that he creates uses irony to show to reader that we always have solution. Swift in his essay uses irony. Irony occurs between tone and content. Swift argues throughout his essay that we should do something about poverty rather than just ignoring it. The narrator’s purpose is to make everyone aware of poverty and act up on it. Swift begins his proposal with an illustration with the problems in Ireland. It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for alms. These mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants: who as they grow up either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbados. This quote by the narrator highlights the problems of Ireland. The narrator implies that in Ireland that the beggars pollute the beauty of the “great” town of Ireland and mirrors a bad image. Another purpose is that Swift wants the outrage to be directed at the landowner’s conditions in Ireland...
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...Being There is a satirical novel written by Jerzy Kosinski, that being said, his main focus of ridicule was how people are “too arty” when it comes to politics, literature, and just in general, really. There is another idea that is very prominent in the book which is the idea of chance or luck. Kosinski does a lovely and humorously plain and straightforward way of narrating the book. The narration really helps the book to reach its full potential. Chance is an ordinary gardener; he is a bit slower than most. He has always lived in an old man’s house, where he’s tended to the garden, ever since he can remember. But one day, the old man dies, causing Chance to leave all he’s ever known and step foot into a world he’s literally never seen before. In the afternoon of his departure, of his only home, he says goodbye to the garden and to the only place he’s ever been in/ to and wanders out on to the street of New York City. But shortly after his leaving, he gets hit by a limo. This is where one of the themes, chance/ luck, begins. A woman, Eve Rand, exits the limo and talks to Chance. He doesn’t really know what’s going on, but his left leg is injured so he goes with Eve to her home where his new life begins. Chance, or Chauncey, enters the home from medical treatment, but both Eve and Ben deeply admire him once they begin to talk to him. This is where the next theme, “too artsy”/ over-analyzing appears. This theme carries throughout the book, unlike luck. Throughout the book...
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...description the speaker gave of the citizen. The speaker says “ But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.”, I knew that this was an allusion to Ford Motors which had been a huge factory job, which had been what most men did. Later when the speaker says, “And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, a phonograph, radio, a car and a frigidaire.”, it really helped back up my theory because he was working hard to acquire the nicest things which was huge after the war due to having to scrape and save everything. Overall, I enjoyed the poem. The slight satire caught my interest and enticed me the entire poem. Part Two: After our discussion After our class discussion I found out my theory was completely off. The poem was actually satirical about the “Big Brother” and the mold society tries to push everyone into. We discussed how the speaker capitalizes “the Bureau of Statistics” and how that was the first hint of the satire. The speaker used this to show how the government keeps track of everything. As the poem went on, more fake government organizations came up to show how simple and ordinary the citizen was. The last line “Was he happy? Was he free? The questions is absurd; had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.”, emphasized that the government keeps people content by giving the belief there is a choice in our lives. After our discussion I really enjoyed this poem and it possibly became one of my favorites. I never have been one to fit into a mold, I’m...
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...Antionette Wilson Mrs.Eaddy AP Language / Composition Analysis of “A Modest Proposal “A Modest Proposal", Jonathan swift, takes advantage of the overlooked pamphlets, and also constructs a ridiculous proposal. He illustrates how backwards the state of Ireland is and the social classes. Swift proposes that the babies of all the poor parents that cannot provide for their child will need to contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many to help improve Ireland’s economy and standard living conditions. Swift states this because many woman are having children that they cannot provide for and his proposal would be "fair, cheap easy method of making these children sound useful"(3). He employs his sarcastic tone, his insincerity, and idea of how ridiculous the proposal is to make his argument not serious. Swift illustrates the poor living standards in Ireland as well as the corruption in the social classes; he recommends that women sell their children as commodities because they were unable to support their children. Swifts mainly focuses on the social classes in Ireland but shows more attention to the poor class; the rich class would make money off of the poor parent’s children that are being sold, due to the parents not being able to provide for them which forces them to sell their children. Swift reveals bitterness towards papist because he wants them to reduce the number of children "woman murdering their bastard children"(6), and that will reduce the number...
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...Mishra 1 Saloni Mishra Prof. K. Dang English, Research Paper 22nd October 2015 Wordsworth and European Society “Rapine, avarice, expense, this is idolatry: and these we adore: Plain living and high thinking are no more” – William Wordsworth. From his choice of words, Wordsworth expresses nothing but disgust and despair. The idea behind this quote effectively summarizes William Wordsworth’s opinions regarding European society during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and acts as a medium for Wordsworth to voice his beliefs pertaining to the world that surrounded him. Humans, on their journey towards evolution, have been distancing themselves from spiritual pursuits to be lured by the never-ending thirst for wealth. Wordsworth is a poet who is known writing poems that admire the beauty of nature in its most pristine form. Through his poems he also comments on the momentous changes that occurred in Europe during his lifetime. It can be said, that even though nature acts as a major inspiration for most of Wordsworth’s poems, the European society too plays an integral role in shaping the poet’s opinions and the themes of his works. A parallel can be drawn between Wordsworth’s poems, his beliefs and European society. William Wordsworth (7 April 1770-23 April 1850) was the pioneer of the Romantic Age in English literature and was England’s poet laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850. He was born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, part of the scenic region in north western Mishra...
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...Assignment 1: “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift In “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the surprise ending happens when the author indicates that he believes that the young children of Ireland should be fed until they are plump and sold to the wealthy in order to feed them. He states that this would solve the economic and social difficulties that Ireland has faced for so many years. It would also rid the country of the massive number of children that are not being properly cared for. Swift states that Ireland has been enduring significant problems for many years. This has forced people around the country to speculate on solutions, some of which have seemed fairly extreme and complex. The surprise of this story comes at the end and follows a lengthy and highly rational argument in favor of making some radical changes to the country. Swift says that he has realized after going through many of these complicated solutions that the best one was the simplest. This represents a major surprise for the reader, who would have no way of anticipating such an insane solution after a very rational and logical argument. While I was reading I wondered if there was going to be a sudden switch in tone, but I had no way of recognizing that it would be so dramatic. I knew that there was probably an important reason that this text is so important. While reading through the carefully crafted argument that comprises most of the essay, I believed that there would probably be some sort of...
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