Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal - Essay Example

Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal Introduction Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a satirical essay which Swift himself published in 1729. In the essay, Swift makes the proposition that poor Irishmen can abate their economic challenges by selling their children to the noble as food. The essay serves its purpose which is mocking Irish policies and the heartlessness that is always leveled towards the poor. The Surprise Ending in Swift’s A Modest Proposal In the essay, Swift discusses some of the steps that can be employed to solve the problems of high demography and other socioeconomic challenges which were unique to Ireland during the 18th century. Logically, it is expected that in the attempt to advance the solution that the English could do to abate the problems of overpopulation and the propositions that the Irish people and government could factor into practice to assuage the mistreatment of the Irish citizens and the swelling population therein, Swift was going to issue a proposal that is outside the government’s existence and operation. However, as one reads on, he is overcome with utmost shock at Swift’s proposal. Logic subjects the reader to expectations of proposals such as the encouragement and publicizing of family planning, popularizing, facilitating and extending sex education, promoting reproductive health and emphasizing the value of strong, happier nuclear families. On the contrary, the reader is greeted with the sharp and ultimate shifting of position that the best solution of solving the problem of overpopulation would best ensue from an internal change in the Irish government. The crux of the matter herein is that Ireland is so troubled with socioeconomic problems so that it becomes readily anticipatory that the proposed solution should come from any quarters that are outside the Irish government. This is because, all the socioeconomic problems in Ireland are indicative of the then Irish government being moribund (Bengels, 2006). On a personal note, one begins to realize that the story’s ending would be different when Swift begins to advance surprisingly obnoxious and preposterous proposals. Some of the proposals that Swift advances include selling children to the aristocrats for food on the account that young and healthy one year old children who have been well nursed are the most delicious, nourishing and wholesome meal, whether roasted, stewed, boiled or baked. Swift’s Success in Convincing the Audience to Accept the Validity of the Surprise Ending It must be noted that Swift’s work, A Modest Proposal is a work of satire and should therefore not be taken at face value. In the same vein, since A Modest Proposal is a satirical piece, Swift makes concerted efforts to make the audience see the rationale in his reasoning, but not to make the audience see his proposal as a tenable centerpiece. This is underscored by Swift not giving suggestions that would serve as the correctional frameworks to Ireland’s demographic excesses, but by advancing satirical suggestions that would compel the Irish government and its subjects to change their mindsets concerning the socioeconomic problems bedeviling them. One of the ways in which Swift succeeds to achieve the aforementioned feat is by using and detailing calculation depicting the financial gains that would be realized, upon his suggestions being followed. Secondly, Swift succeeds in convincing the audience to accept the validity of his surprise standpoint by ridiculing Irish aristocrats and the nobles such as William Petty. Swift also socially engineers Francis Bacon’s followers to further compound his lampoonery of the way local aristocrats and Londoners managed the affairs of Ireland. Conversely, Swift uses the highest shock value possible to emphasize his standpoint. He achieves this shock value by using stark contrast and irony. At one end, he is describing the stark plight of the famished beggars in Ireland and at the other end, he is issuing the surprising position that a young healthy child who is well nursed is a wholesome meal. It is after reading these passages and ironical suggestions carefully that the reader gets to understand that Swift is neither advocating for infanticide nor cannibalism, but only intends to depict the manner in which the noble and the aristocrat view the less privileged in the society. The crux of the matter herein is that Swift implies that in order for the problems to be solved, it is important that change begins from an internal (ideological) change in the Irish government. According to Bengels (2006), through the use of sustained irony, the author manages to make the reader fall into a two-pronged trap which is: creating a dislike for the narrator; and soliciting sympathy for the Irish. The narrator earns the disdain when he depicts vividly, the glares of the unrelenting poverty, through the use of rhetorical emphasis. Nevertheless, the fact that he has feelings towards the members of his own class creates sympathy on the reader, towards the Irish commoners. This development creates two opposing points of views that insidiously remove the reader from the author, so that the reader can see the plight of the Irish commoner in a less detached manner. A Modest Proposal and Specific Course Learning Outcomes The immediate foregoing exemplifies the manner in which key social, cultural, and artistic contributions contribute to historical changes. By studying Swift’s work and other literary pieces, the society is able to view itself as if it were, in the mirror, and change its socio-cultural mien, for the better. Particularly, in consenting to the notion that overpopulation is a problem in Ireland and then proposing the preposterous idea that children be sold to the aristocrats of the commonwealth as a way of checking overpopulation compels the masses to examine its relations with the government, and thereby sparking demands for the accountability, services delivery and the safeguarding of civil rights and liberties. It is important to situate a society’s cultural and artistic expressions within a historical context for greater understanding. By giving cultural and artistic expressions a historical context, the audience is able to understand better, the theme, the plotline, the author’s ideological persuasion and different implications that characterized a given historical epoch. For instance, in Swift’s work, the reader is able to understand the nature and consequences of a socioeconomically unequal Europe which was still using class differences to make the most out of industrial revolution. The influences of intellectual, religious, political, and socio-economic forces on social, cultural, and artistic expressions are pervasive. This is because, these forces (intellectual, religious, political, and socio- economic) give literary artistes concepts to discuss. The need to discuss these forces is underpinned by man being rational and gregarious. As people draw from the same society, they seek to challenge, defend or improve the status quo by giving reasons. The issuance of reasons for challenging, defending or improving the status quo is what necessitates artistic expressions. References Bengels, B. (2006). Swift's “A Modest Proposal.” Explicator, 65 (1), 13-15. Read More