What the heck? Let me first just share my initial thoughts. I was reading along and thinking that a legitimate proposal was about to be made concerning the poor and starving people of Ireland. You can bet I was very surprised when Swift proposed the purchase and consumption of babies. Quite frankly just reading about his proposal made my stomach upset. I can not even wrap my brain around eating a person. And eating an infant is an even further stretch than an adult. As I read "A Modest Proposal," I pictured Swift as with the up most seriousness proposing his idea in all sincerity. I could here the calmness and seriousness of his voice in my mind. This is what gave me the creeps the most. The reading was hard to follow as it is several hundred years old and we do not talk that way. Also the math was hard to follow but I believe he was generous in his calculations. After some pontification over the ending of his proposal I think that Dr. Swift was not serious. I would like to think he was trying to be clever in an obscure way. It is possible that Jonathan is a true patriot for his country and was fed up with how impoverished Dublin/Ireland was becoming under the rule of England. For all I know he hoped the very idea of it would sicken the English and have them running scared. Overall I think there was some deeper point to this proposal in a sort of way that was pointing out just how bad things had gotten. Or maybe Dr. Swift was a loon but I don't think he was so I will stick with the former.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
A Modest Proposal
What the heck? Let me first just share my initial thoughts. I was reading along and thinking that a legitimate proposal was about to be made concerning the poor and starving people of Ireland. You can bet I was very surprised when Swift proposed the purchase and consumption of babies. Quite frankly just reading about his proposal made my stomach upset. I can not even wrap my brain around eating a person. And eating an infant is an even further stretch than an adult. As I read "A Modest Proposal," I pictured Swift as with the up most seriousness proposing his idea in all sincerity. I could here the calmness and seriousness of his voice in my mind. This is what gave me the creeps the most. The reading was hard to follow as it is several hundred years old and we do not talk that way. Also the math was hard to follow but I believe he was generous in his calculations. After some pontification over the ending of his proposal I think that Dr. Swift was not serious. I would like to think he was trying to be clever in an obscure way. It is possible that Jonathan is a true patriot for his country and was fed up with how impoverished Dublin/Ireland was becoming under the rule of England. For all I know he hoped the very idea of it would sicken the English and have them running scared. Overall I think there was some deeper point to this proposal in a sort of way that was pointing out just how bad things had gotten. Or maybe Dr. Swift was a loon but I don't think he was so I will stick with the former.
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I had the same initial reaction as I read.. Jonathan Swift has quite the imagination
ReplyDeleteAs I have read a handful of blogposts, we all have the same reaction and question...why would someone eat / think / writing about -- eating others. Whether it was common in that time period or other reasons....
ReplyDeleteHe was a very creative writer and had some interesting thoughts but this was meant to be a satire. It wasn't serious. It was just a way to mock the heartless behavior towards the poor in Ireland.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I didn't read the historical context until after writing my blog post because I thought he was being completely serious - his tone was! My initial reaction was quite similar!
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