What Do Swift's A Modest Proposal and Joyce's Araby Have in Common - Essay Example

In Swift’s A modest Proposal, it is clear that her intentions were to bring out to light what was happening to Ireland. Many people were fed up with the government in place as it did nothing to alleviate the life of the common person in the country. The rich were always getting richer while the poor became poorer (Swift 23). Swift aims to target Ireland’s politicians, the falsehood of the English plus the degradation which she saw on the Irish People. Swift was fed up with the many empty promises posted by their leaders in power to help those needy in society, something that never materialized (Swift 24).

In his book, Swift uses satire in representing her grievances in regard to the matter. She provides her own solution that can be equated to mockery too. Her solution was to end poverty by reducing the population of the poor. This can be done through the eating of poor children under the age of 1 year by the rich. Her solution was absurd adding to the mockery on the many solutions that never materialized (Swift 27). Swift manages to address issues like poverty, famine, overpopulation, and homelessness in this paper.

In contrast, Joyce’s Araby aims at portraying Dublin life at its realistic point through a young boy that lived in it (Norris 45). Describing every sense and environment in which the boy lived, the author managed to bring out the parallels of life between the rich and poor in society. The poor had to succumb through the poor living conditions and struggled to make ends. In addition, Joyce adds a theme of discovering love through the innocent young boy (Norris 46). The young boy had a crush on Manga’s sisters and did what he can to please her, something which in the end did not go as he had planned due to lack of money. A situation which most people expect to turn into happiness, ended up in a sad note when the boy missed seeing the show and get to please a girl. Joyce aimed at portraying the implication of poverty of social, economic, and spiritual well-being of people living in Dublin (Norris 48). Read More