A modest proposal by Swift is purely satire. Swift try’s to fix Ireland’s problem in a very satiric way. Swift announces his plan to fix Ireland, which is to stop abortions and to eat the babies instead. The babies would be eaten once they are one year old. This would fix the hunger problem and the over population problem. Also they wouldn’t have to waste money on getting the abortion in the first place. Of course the plan is ridiculous, but Swift presents the plan in such a serious tone, he seems to be very serious. If the reader did not know Swift wrote very satirically, they would probably believe that Swift truly wanted to eat babies. Swift never once acknowledges that he is joking. He keeps his serious tone throughout the whole essay. He even presents his argument with many facts about why babies should be eaten. He backs up his argument very well, and he may even be able to convince people that eating babies would solve Ireland’s problem. He even states that since the Ireland’s government is not doing anything to fix the problem, at least he is coming out with solutions. Even if his only solution is to eat babies.
Swift may be very satirical, but it is very hard for the reader to tell. Swift never drops his serious tone throughout the essay. He never once hints that he is joking about his proposal. However him pointing out how bad the problems are in Ireland, that it is almost ironic that eating babies almost makes sense, even though it is completely unethical. That is one of Swift’s main reasons of writing the essay. It was to point out that Ireland has a lot of problems, but no one is trying to fix them. The government is not coming up with any solutions. Also the citizens aren’t either. So Swift decides to just throw out a modest proposal, which is to eat babies to solve Ireland’s problems. I guess Swift decided that if no one else is trying to think of solutions, he can think of the craziest solution to Ireland’s problem. At least he is trying to think of a solution. Swift is also making fun of Ireland that pointing out that it has gotten so bad that eating babies actually makes sense. Swift is trying to get the citizens and the government of Ireland to step up and make some serious changes, so the country can be saved.
If I read the modest proposal without knowing that Swift is a very satiric writer, I would have believed that he truly believes that Ireland should eat babies, and that will solve all of their problems. Swift thought a lot about this solution, and seemed to think of every circumstance that his solution would affect. He even backed up his proposal with a lot of facts and evidence. He really thought a lot about his proposal and how to almost make it sound appealing to the audience. However he was not serious the whole time and was just using this as a joke to point out all of Ireland’s problems. He is trying to get them to change, and if no one is going to try to come up with a solution then he will think of the most farfetched solution he can think of. At least he is trying to help Ireland, while the government of Ireland is doing nothing. Even the citizens need to rise up and make a change.
A modest proposal and be compared to many forms of satiric TV shows now days. For example the Daily Show is a very satiric show. John Stewart presents the news in a very satiric way. He even tries to present solutions that are so farfetched that no one would believe them. But he presents them very comically and it makes it funny to watch. John Stewart will present the actual news, but them throw his own twist on it that makes it funny and satirical. Sometimes John Stewart’s satire can actually point out how bad things are in the world and in the news. Another example is the Colbert Report, where Stephen Colbert does pretty much the same thing as John Stewart. Colbert present the news, but then throws his own satirical twist on it to make it humorous. However our the Daily Show and a modest proposal are alike because they both point out how bad thing can be, even if they offer completely crazy solutions for the problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment