Transcript Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”

Jonathan Swift’s
“A Modest Proposal”
Who Was Swift?
• Dates: 30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745
• was an Anglo-Irish (a privileged social class in Ireland)
satirist (witty ridicule intended to provoke social
change), essayist, political pamphleteer, poet, and
priest.
• He became Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin
• Most famous English prose Satirist
• Published several works anonymously or under
pseudonyms
• He was born into a family with literary connections
• He was well-educated
• Famous works: Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, A
Journal to Stella, Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the
Books, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity,
and A Tale of a Tub.
Context
• Ireland had been controlled by England for 500
years.
• The government was a Protestant-run aristocracy
(government ruled by the highest social class),
but the country was made up of a large
population of poor Catholics.
• In 1707, Scotland joined in a union with England,
but Ireland was denied the same courtesy.
• Ireland suffered under tough trade restrictions,
and the government in Dublin was limited.
Context, Continued
• Swift was born in Ireland’s ruling class.
• Swift spent a lot of time in England, so his loyalty
was sometimes questioned.
• He was a supporter of Irish causes and was a
“patriot.”
• In the 1720’s, he became increasingly involved in
Irish politics. He recognized the injustices brought
on by England’s rule and spoke out against them
(political pamphlets, essays, satirical prose).
• It was during this period (in 1729) that Swift
wrote “A Modest Proposal,” exposing in a satirical
way the worsening conditions in Ireland at the
hands of English rule.
“A Modest Proposal”
• Rather than shock and outrage those he
sought to criticize, the satire was largely
received as a joke.
• This was the last of his writing about Ireland
economics and politics; he would write mostly
poetry later in his life, for which he is less wellknown.
“A Modest Proposal”
• Full Title: "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the
Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to
their Parents, or the Country, and for Making
them Beneficial to the Publick.“
• ** Why “modest?”
• He describes the purpose as to "find out a fair,
cheap, and easy Method" for converting the
starving children of Ireland into "sound and
useful members of the Commonwealth."
• The poor children were living in squalor, sparsely
clothed and inadequately fed.
“Proposal”
• Swift uses 2 types of reasoning:
• 1. Economic (comes at it from a “numbers”
standpoint) and
• 2. Moral (turn a problem into a solution for
the good of the country)
• What exactly is his proposal?
“Proposal”
• Of course, Swift doesn’t really intend for
anyone to eat babies.
• The essay is a SATIRE: genre of literature (and
art) that uses irony and sarcasm to provoke
social criticism and change using wit. It is
intended to be funny.
• Can you think of examples of modern-day
satire?
Modern Satire
• Stephen Colbert is a popular modern satirist.
• Jon Stewart is another popular modern
satirist.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K13HdTs
W_E0
• http://www.colbertnation.com/
• http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Types of Satire
• Horatian: sympathetic, playful tone; light humor; criticizes folly
• (Colbert/Stewart)
Juvenalian: harsher tone; more insult than humor; moral indignation;
criticizes evil (O’Reilly, other ‘political pundits’)
• ”Juvenal was a poet active in the Roman Republic during the
first century CE, best known for his bitter attacks on the public
figures and institutions of the Republic, with which he
disagreed. Where his predecessor Horace utilized gentle
ridicule and absurdism to point out the flaws and foibles of
the Roman society, Juvenal engaged in savage personal
attacks. He utilized the satirical tools of exaggeration and
parody to make his targets appear monstrous or incompetent.
While he occasionally utilized humor to make his point,
Juvenal's satire had more in common with the invective of a
political pundit than the primarily humor-driven form favored
by most modern satirists.”
Modern Satire
Swift’s Rhetorical Style
• Complex sentence structure (confuse
us?)
• Litotes (understatement by denying
opposite of what you mean)
• Gratuitous Details
• Mathematical Terms (reckon,
compute)
•
Argument
• Presents numbers– facts and statistics– to convey the
problem at hand: increasing population of poor who
are starving and destitute.
• Presents a plan– facts and figures about consumption
patterns, price per pound, outcome, etc.
• He goes so far as to suggest recipes and present the
idea as being a good one for more innovative cooks.
• Gives a moral argument: Parents will treat their
children better because they will be more valued;
husbands will have more respect for their wives and
their part in feeding the population.
• This will solve a problem.
Opening Text
• Opens with imagery of the destitution of the
poor: “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 an alms.”
• Where does Swift get his idea? “”I have been
assured by a very knowing American of my
acquaintance in London, that a young healthy
child well nursed is at a year old a most
delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food,
whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled ...”
Other Benefits…
• Swift says, “There is likewise another great
advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent
those voluntary abortions, and that horrid
practice of women murdering their bastard
children, alas! too frequent among us! sacrificing
the poor innocent babes I doubt more to avoid
the expense than the shame, which would move
tears and pity in the most savage and inhuman
breast.”
• Assumes that abortion is a decision based on
materialism rather than morality. Does he have a
point?
• What is ironic about his reasoning?
Language
• “I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand
couple whose wives are breeders…”
• “I am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl
before twelve years old is no salable commodity”
• “I have been assured by a very knowing American of
my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child
well nursed is at a year old a most delicious,
nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed,
roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it
will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.”
• Swift’s language likens human beings to “statistical
entities, economic commodities, and animals.”
Specifics
• “He proposes that the 120,000 Irish children born in a year should be
disposed of as follows: 20,000 should be kept for breeding and
continuance of the population, but only a fourth of these are to be
males, in accordance with the practice common among breeders of
livestock ("one Male will be sufficient to serve four Females"); the other
100,000 are to be fattened and then sold as a culinary delicacy”
• He then discusses the price of the meat and the marketing.
• He mentions, “since a one-year-old baby weighs, on average, only
twenty-eight pounds, the flesh will be relatively expensive. These
children, therefore, will be marketed primarily to Ireland's rich landlords,
who, as Swift points out, "have already devoured most of the Parents"
anyway.” What does he mean by that last statement?
• The new food source will be available year round!
• And, “The cost of the meat will be ten shillings, and the profits of the
sale will be mutual: the mother will make eight shillings, and the
landlord who buys the child will not only have "four Dishes of excellent
nutritive Meat," but will also enjoy an increase in his own popularity
among his tenants. In times of need, the skin could also be used for
leather.”
Taking the Idea Further?
• He then tells of a friend's proposed "Refinement on my
Scheme," which was that, in light of the shortage of deer
on the estates of Ireland's wealthy Gentlemen, teenage
boys and girls might be butchered as an alternative to
venison (they can’t find employment anyway!)
• Swift resists this idea, protesting that "their Flesh was
generally tough and lean...and their Taste disagreeable."
• He also speculates that "some scrupulous people might be
apt to censure such a practice (although indeed very
unjustly) as a little bordering upon Cruelty."
• He then acknowledges a general concern about the vast
number of elderly, sick, and handicapped among the poor,
who are no more able to find work than the children. But,
he is unworried because “these people are dying off fast
enough anyway.”
The Effect
• Swift was an “astute economist”
• He pits ruthless logic against human social and
political reality.
• Part of the effect is that the “reader
[will] feel that the argument is bad, without
knowing quite where to intervene”
• We are left to pit moral judgment against other,
more rigidly logical kinds of argumentation.
• What is he trying to convince us of?
After the Shock: His Messages
• To point out the self-degradation of the nation
• “fatten up the starving people to feed the rich” – shows how
much the lower classes suffer at the hands of the upper class.
• People as livestock- shows that the citizens are dehumanized
under the oppressive rule.
• Breeding– becomes a commentary on the Irish Catholic values;
they “regard marriage and family with so little sanctity” that
they become like “breeding animals.”
• Critiques the barbaric lengths which we go to protect
economic profitability.
• The idea of cannibalism can be interpreted as a metaphor for
how we “devour” each other– and how big nations can devour
little ones.
• Perhaps it is a commentary on consumption– we “consume” all
of our resources; the only thing left to consume is ourselves!
Swift’s Targets
• Swift takes aim at the wealthy; he views them
as irresponsible, greedy, and morally
indifferent.
• Swift takes aim at political leaders; he views
them as failures.
• Swift takes aim at the Irish poor and Catholic;
they are too wrapped up in social and
religious “mores” that do not help their cause.
Other Ideas
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Swift alludes to other ideas for solving this problem:
Taxing absentee landowners
Buying domestically manufactured goods
Rejecting "foreign luxury"
Reforming morality (particularly in women)
Instilling "Parsimony, Prudence, and Temperance" in the
people
Promoting Patriotism
Abandoning factions– come together as one people
refusing "to sell our Country and Consciences for nothing"
Encouraging landlords to treat their tenants justly,
Enforcing honest practice among merchants
He calls these ideas “naïve and unrealistic”– WHY?
Wrap Up
• Swift says he remains open to other ideas, but they
must address the problems as effectively as his
proposal does.
• Other ideas must include: "advancing our Trade,
providing for Infants, relieving the Poor, and giving
some Pleasure to the Rich."
• He lends credibility to his argument by saying that he
cannot profit from his idea; his youngest child is
already too old to garner him a profit.
• In the end, Swift shows just how neglected the Irish
poor have become; in fact, even cannibalism would be
an improvement over the conditions they currently
endure. This is a very powerful message.
Questions for Consideration
• [T]he chief end I propose to my self in all my labors is to vex
the world rather then divert it. -Letter to Pope, 29September
1725
• How and why does Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” vex us?
• How does the mode of argument of ”A Modest Proposal’
• relate to the “dark side” of the Enlightenment?
• How does Swift use the tools of classical argument to critique
Enlightenment thinking?
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Pictures