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1729 satirical essay past Jonathan Swift

A Modest Proposal

Author	Jonathan Swift
Genre	Satirical essay
Publication date	1729
Text	A Small-scale Proposal at Wikisource

A Small-scale Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From beingness a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Publick ,^[1] normally referred to equally A Modest Proposal , is a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously past Jonathan Swift in 1729. The essay suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children every bit food to rich gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole mocked heartless attitudes towards the poor, predominantly Irish Cosmic (i.e., "Papists")^[2] equally well as British policy toward the Irish in general.

In English writing, the phrase "a minor proposal" is now conventionally an allusion to this style of straight-faced satire.

Synopsis [edit]

Swift's essay is widely held to exist i of the greatest examples of sustained irony in the history of the English linguistic communication. Much of its shock value derives from the fact that the first portion of the essay describes the plight of starving beggars in Ireland, then that the reader is unprepared for the surprise of Swift's solution when he states: "A immature healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a nearly succulent nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, broiled, or boiled; and I make no doubt that information technology will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout."^[1]

Swift goes to great lengths to support his argument, including a list of possible grooming styles for the children, and calculations showing the financial benefits of his suggestion. He uses methods of argument throughout his essay which lampoon the then-influential William Picayune and the social engineering popular among followers of Francis Bacon. These lampoons include appealing to the dominance of "a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London" and "the famous Psalmanazar, a native of the island Formosa" (who had already confessed to not beingness from Formosa in 1706).

In the tradition of Roman satire, Swift introduces the reforms he is actually suggesting past paralipsis:

Therefore allow no human talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at v shillings a pound: Of using neither clothes, nor household furniture, except what is of our own growth and manufacture: Of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foreign luxury: Of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming in our women: Of introducing a vein of parsimony, prudence and temperance: Of learning to dearest our country, wherein we differ fifty-fifty from Laplanders, and the inhabitants of Topinamboo: Of quitting our animosities and factions, nor acting any longer like the Jews, who were murdering one another at the very moment their city was taken: Of existence a little cautious not to sell our country and consciences for nothing: Of instruction landlords to take at to the lowest degree one degree of mercy towards their tenants. Lastly, of putting a spirit of honesty, industry, and skill into our shop-keepers, who, if a resolution could now be taken to buy just our native goods, would immediately unite to cheat and exact upon usa in the cost, the measure, and the goodness, nor could always yet be brought to make 1 fair proposal of just dealing, though often and earnestly invited to it. Therefore I echo, let no man talk to me of these and the similar expedients, 'till he hath at least some glympse of hope, that in that location will ever be some hearty and sincere endeavor to put them into practise.

Population solutions [edit]

George Wittkowsky argued that Swift's principal target in A Pocket-sized Proposal was not the atmospheric condition in Ireland, but rather the can-do spirit of the times that led people to devise a number of illogical schemes that would purportedly solve social and economical ills.^[3] Swift was peculiarly attacking projects that tried to fix population and labour problems with a simple cure-all solution.^[iv] A memorable instance of these sorts of schemes "involved the thought of running the poor through a articulation-stock company".^[4] In response, Swift's Pocket-size Proposal was "a burlesque of projects apropos the poor"^[5] that were in vogue during the early 18th century.

A Pocket-sized Proposal also targets the calculating fashion people perceived the poor in designing their projects. The pamphlet targets reformers who "regard people every bit commodities".^[six] In the piece, Swift adopts the "technique of a political arithmetician"^[7] to bear witness the utter ridiculousness of trying to prove any proposal with dispassionate statistics.

Critics differ near Swift'due south intentions in using this faux-mathematical philosophy. Edmund Wilson argues that statistically "the logic of the 'Modest proposal' can be compared with defence of crime (arrogated to Marx) in which he argues that criminal offense takes care of the superfluous population".^[seven] Wittkowsky counters that Swift's satiric use of statistical analysis is an attempt to heighten his satire that "springs from a spirit of bitter mockery, not from the delight in calculations for their own sake".^[8]

Rhetoric [edit]

Writer Charles K. Smith argues that Swift'southward rhetorical style persuades the reader to detest the speaker and pity the Irish. Swift's specific strategy is twofold, using a "trap"^[ix] to create sympathy for the Irish and a dislike of the narrator who, in the span of one sentence, "details vividly and with rhetorical emphasis the grinding poverty" but feels emotion solely for members of his own grade.^[x] Swift's use of gripping details of poverty and his narrator's cool approach towards them create "two opposing points of view" that "alienate the reader, perhaps unconsciously, from a narrator who can view with 'melancholy' detachment a subject field that Swift has directed us, rhetorically, to see in a much less detached way."^[10]

Swift has his proposer further degrade the Irish past using language ordinarily reserved for animals. Lewis argues that the speaker uses "the vocabulary of fauna husbandry"^[xi] to describe the Irish. Once the children accept been commodified, Swift'due south rhetoric tin can easily plow "people into animals, then meat, and from meat, logically, into tonnage worth a cost per pound".^[eleven]

Swift uses the proposer's serious tone to highlight the applesauce of his proposal. In making his argument, the speaker uses the conventional, textbook-canonical gild of argument from Swift's time (which was derived from the Latin rhetorician Quintilian).^[12] The contrast betwixt the "conscientious control against the almost inconceivable perversion of his scheme" and "the ridiculousness of the proposal" create a situation in which the reader has "to consider just what perverted values and assumptions would allow such a diligent, thoughtful, and conventional man to propose and then perverse a programme".^[12]

Influences [edit]

Scholars take speculated about which earlier works Swift may have had in mind when he wrote A Small-scale Proposal.

Tertullian's Amends [edit]

James William Johnson argues that A Modest Proposal was largely influenced and inspired by Tertullian'south Apology: a satirical attack against early Roman persecution of Christianity. Johnson believes that Swift saw major similarities between the ii situations.^[13] Johnson notes Swift'due south obvious affinity for Tertullian and the bold stylistic and structural similarities between the works A Pocket-size Proposal and Apology.^[xiv] In structure, Johnson points out the same central theme, that of cannibalism and the eating of babies as well equally the same concluding statement, that "human depravity is such that men volition endeavor to justify their own cruelty by accusing their victims of being lower than man".^[thirteen] Stylistically, Swift and Tertullian share the same command of sarcasm and linguistic communication.^[13] In understanding with Johnson, Donald C. Baker points out the similarity between both authors' tones and use of irony. Baker notes the uncanny way that both authors imply an ironic "justification by ownership" over the subject of sacrificing children—Tertullian while attacking pagan parents, and Swift while attacking the English mistreatment of the Irish gaelic poor.^[15]

Defoe's The Generous Projector [edit]

It has also been argued that A Modest Proposal was, at least in office, a response to the 1728 essay The Generous Projector or, A Friendly Proposal to Prevent Murder and Other Enormous Abuses, By Erecting an Hospital for Foundlings and Bastard Children past Swift's rival Daniel Defoe.^[16]

Mandeville's Pocket-size Defence of Publick Stews [edit]

Bernard Mandeville'southward Modest Defence of Publick Stews asked to introduce public and state controlled bordellos. The 1726 paper acknowledges women's interests and – while not being a completely satirical text – has also been discussed equally an inspiration for Jonathan Swift's championship.^{[17] [eighteen]} Mandeville had by 1705 already become famous for the Fable of The Bees and deliberations on individual vices and public benefits.

John Locke's Outset Treatise of Authorities [edit]

John Locke commented: "Be it so as Sir Robert says, that Aforetime, it was usual for Men to sell and Castrate their Children. Let it be, that they exposed them; Add to it, if you please, for this is however greater Power, that they begat them for their Tables to fatty and consume them: If this proves a correct to exercise so, we may, by the same Argument, justifie Adultery, Incest and Sodomy, for in that location are examples of these as well, both Ancient and Modernistic; Sins, which I suppose, take the Principle Aggravation from this, that they cross the main intention of Nature, which willeth the increase of Flesh, and the continuation of the Species in the highest perfection, and the stardom of Families, with the Security of the Wedlock Bed, as necessary thereunto". (First Treatise, sec. 59).

Economic themes [edit]

Robert Phiddian's article "Have y'all eaten however? The Reader in A Modest Proposal" focuses on two aspects of A Modest Proposal: the voice of Swift and the vox of the Proposer. Phiddian stresses that a reader of the pamphlet must larn to distinguish between the satirical vocalization of Jonathan Swift and the apparent economic projections of the Proposer. He reminds readers that "there is a gap between the narrator'due south meaning and the text'due south, and that a moral-political argument is being carried out by means of parody".^[nineteen]

While Swift's proposal is obviously not a serious economic proposal, George Wittkowsky, author of "Swift'south Modest Proposal: The Biography of an Early on Georgian Pamphlet", argues that to sympathize the piece fully it is important to understand the economic science of Swift'south time. Wittowsky argues that non enough critics have taken the time to focus directly on the mercantilism and theories of labour in 18th century England. "If one regards the Modest Proposal simply as a criticism of condition, about all one tin say is that weather condition were bad and that Swift's irony brilliantly underscored this fact".^[20]

"People are the riches of a nation" [edit]

At the showtime of a new industrial historic period in the 18th century, information technology was believed that "people are the riches of the nation", and there was a full general organized religion in an economic system that paid its workers low wages because high wages meant workers would work less.^[21] Furthermore, "in the mercantilist view no child was too young to go into industry". In those times, the "somewhat more humane attitudes of an earlier day had all but disappeared and the laborer had come to be regarded as a commodity".^[19]

Louis A. Landa composed a conducive analysis when he noted that it would have been healthier for the Irish economic system to more than appropriately utilize their human assets by giving the people an opportunity to "become a source of wealth to the nation" or else they "must turn to begging and thievery".^[22] This opportunity may have included giving the farmers more than coin to piece of work for, diversifying their professions, or fifty-fifty consider enslaving their people to lower money usage and build upwards financial stock in Ireland. Landa wrote that, "Swift is maintaining that the saying—people are the riches of a nation—applies to Ireland simply if Ireland is permitted slavery or cannibalism"^[23]

Landa presents Swift's A Modest Proposal every bit a critique of the popular and unjustified maxim of mercantilism in the 18th century that "people are the riches of a nation".^[22] Swift presents the dire country of Republic of ireland and shows that mere population itself, in Ireland's case, did not e'er mean greater wealth and economy.^[23] The uncontrolled saying fails to take into account that a person who does non produce in an economic or political mode makes a country poorer, not richer.^[23] Swift as well recognises the implications of this fact in making mercantilist philosophy a paradox: the wealth of a country is based on the poverty of the bulk of its citizens.^[23] Swift however, Landa argues, is not only criticising economical maxims but also addressing the fact that England was denying Irish citizens their natural rights and dehumanising them past viewing them every bit a mere commodity.^[23]

The public's reaction [edit]

Swift'due south essay created a backlash inside the community subsequently its publication. The work was aimed at the aristocracy, and they responded in turn. Several members of society wrote to Swift regarding the work. Lord Bathurst's letter intimated that he certainly understood the message, and interpreted it equally a work of one-act:

12 February 1729–thirty:

I did immediately propose it to Lady Bathurst, as your advice, particularly for her terminal boy, which was born the plumpest, finest thing, that could be seen; simply she fell in a passion, and bid me transport you word, that she would not follow your direction, only that she would breed him up to be a parson, and he should live upon the fat of the state; or a lawyer, and then, instead of being consume himself, he should devour others. Yous know women in passion never listen what they say; but, as she is a very reasonable woman, I accept almost brought her over now to your opinion; and having convinced her, that every bit matters stood, nosotros could non possibly maintain all the ix, she does begin to recall it reasonable the youngest should raise fortunes for the eldest: and upon that foot a human may perform family duty with more than courage and zeal; for, if he should happen to get twins, the selling of one might provide for the other. Or if, by any accident, while his wife lies in with one kid, he should go a 2nd upon the torso of some other woman, he might dispose of the fattest of the 2, and that would help to breed up the other. The more I think upon this scheme, the more reasonable it appears to me; and information technology ought by no means to be bars to Ireland; for, in all probability, we shall, in a very little time, be altogether equally poor hither as you are there. I believe, indeed, we shall carry it farther, and non confine our luxury only to the eating of children; for I happened to peep the other day into a large assembly [Parliament] not far from Westminster-hall, and I establish them roasting a swell fat swain, [ Walpole again ] For my own role, I had not the to the lowest degree inclination to a slice of him; but, if I guessed right, four or v of the company had a devilish mind to be at him. Well, cheerio, you begin now to wish I had ended, when I might have done information technology and so conveniently.^[24]

Modern usage [edit]

A Small Proposal is included in many literature courses as an example of early modern western satire. It as well serves equally an introduction to the concept and use of argumentative linguistic communication, lending itself to secondary and mail service-secondary essay courses. Exterior of the realm of English language studies, A Modest Proposal is included in many comparative and global literature and history courses, every bit well as those of numerous other disciplines in the arts, humanities, and even the social sciences.^{[ original research? ]}

The essay's arroyo has been copied many times. In his volume A Modest Proposal (1984), the evangelical author Francis Schaeffer emulated Swift's work in a social conservative polemic against abortion and euthanasia, imagining a future dystopia that advocates recycling of aborted embryos, fetuses, and some disabled infants with compound intellectual, concrete and physiological difficulties. (Such Baby Doe Rules cases were then a major business concern of the U.s.a. anti-ballgame movement of the early 1980s, which viewed selective treatment of those infants equally inability discrimination.)

In his book A Minor Proposal for America (2013), statistician Howard Friedman opens with a satirical reflection of the extreme drive to financial stability past ultra-conservatives.

In the 1998 edition of The Handmaid'due south Tale by Margaret Atwood there is a quote from A Pocket-size Proposal earlier the introduction.^[25]

A Modest Video Game Proposal is the title of an open letter sent by activist/erstwhile attorney Jack Thompson on 10 October 2005. He proposed that someone should "create, industry, distribute, and sell a video game" that would allow players to act out a scenario in which the game grapheme kills video game developers.^{[26] [27]}

Hunter Southward. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Announcer includes a letter in which he uses Swift'due south arroyo in connexion with the Vietnam War. Thompson writes a letter to a local Aspen newspaper informing them that, on Christmas Eve, he is going to use napalm to burn a number of dogs and hopefully any humans they find. The letter protests against the burning of Vietnamese people occurring overseas.

The 2013 horror pic Butcher Boys, written past the original The Texas Concatenation Saw Massacre scribe Kim Henkel, is said to be an updating of Jonathan Swift's A Pocket-size Proposal. Henkel imagined the descendants of folks who actually took Swift upwardly on his proposal. ^[28] The film opens with a quote from J. Swift. ^[29]

On 30 November 2017, Jonathan Swift's 350th birthday, The Washington Postal service published a column entitled "Why Alabamians should consider eating Democrats' babies", past Alexandra Petri.^[thirty]

In July 2019, E. Jean Carroll published a book titled What Do We Demand Men For?: A Modest Proposal, discussing problematic behaviour of male humans.^{[31] [32]}

On 3 October 2019, a satirist spoke up at an result for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, claiming that a solution to the climate crisis was "we need to consume the babies".^[33] The individual also wore a T-shirt proverb "Save The Planet, Eat The Children". This stunt was understood by many^[34] as a modern application of A Modest Proposal.

On sixteen January 2022, San Francisco Chronicle published an editorial past Joe Matthews titled "Stance: Want true equity? I propose, modestly, forcing California parents to swap children"^[35] in which the author makes "a modest proposal" recommending that rich people requite their children to poor people and poor people give their children to rich people as a way of achieving class equity.

Notes [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} A Modest Proposal, past Dr. Jonathan Swift. Project Gutenberg. 27 July 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
2. ^ Swift notes that "the number of Popish infants, is at least three to one in this kingdom, and therefore it will have one another collateral reward, by lessening the number of Papists among us."
3. ^ Wittkowsky, Swift'due south Modest Proposal, p. 76
4. ^ ^{a b} Wittkowsky, Swift'due south Modest Proposal, p. 85
5. ^ Wittkowsky, Swift's Small Proposal, p. 88
6. ^ Wittkowsky, Swift's Modest Proposal, p. 101
7. ^ ^{a b} Wittkowsky, Swift's Modest Proposal, p. 95
8. ^ Wittkowsky, Swift's Modest Proposal, p. 98
9. ^ Smith, Toward a Participatory Rhetoric, p. 135
10. ^ ^{a b} Smith, Toward a Participatory Rhetoric, p. 136
11. ^ ^{a b} Smith, Toward a Participatory Rhetoric, p. 138
12. ^ ^{a b} Smith, Toward a Participatory Rhetoric, p. 139
13. ^ ^{a b c} Johnson, Tertullian and A Small-scale Proposal, p. 563
14. ^ Johnson, Tertullian and A Modest Proposal, p. 562
15. ^ Baker, Tertullian and Swift'southward A Small-scale Proposal, p. 219
16. ^ Waters, Juliet (19 February 2009). "A small-scale simply failed proposal". Montreal Mirror. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved ten January 2012.
17. ^ Eine Streitschrift…, Essay von Ursula Pia Jauch. Carl Hanser Verlag, München 2001.
18. ^ Primer, I. (15 March 2006). Bernard Mandeville's "A Small-scale Defence force of Publick Stews": Prostitution and Its Discontents in Early Georgian England. Springer. ISBN9781403984609.
19. ^ ^{a b} Phiddian, Have Yous Eaten Still?, p. 6
20. ^ Phiddian, Have You Eaten Nevertheless?, p. three
21. ^ Phiddian, Take You lot Eaten Yet?, p. 4
22. ^ ^{a b} Landa, A Pocket-size Proposal and Populousness, p. 161
23. ^ ^{a b c d eastward} Landa, A Modest Proposal and Populousness, p. 165
24. ^ Swift, Jonathan; Scott, Sir Walter (1814). The Works of Jonathan Swift: Containing Additional Letters, Tracts, and Poems Not Hitherto Published; with Notes and a Life of the Author. A. Constable.
25. ^ Atwood, Margaret. "The Handmaid's Tale". www.goodreads.com.
26. ^ Saunderson, Matt (x October 2005). "Attorney Proposes Vehement Game". GameCube Advanced. Advanced Media Network. Archived from the original on thirty Oct 2005.
27. ^ Gibson, Ellie (18 Oct 2005). "Thompson refuses to make $10k donation to charity". Eurogamer . Retrieved 2 March 2021.
28. ^ O'Connell, Joe. "A 'Texas Concatenation Saw' Pedigree". www.austinchronicle.com.
29. ^ Barton, Steve (half dozen September 2013). "Exclusive: Kim Henkel Talks Butcher Boys". www.dreadcentral.com.
30. ^ Petri, Alexandra (30 November 2017). "Why Alabamians should consider eating Democrats' babies". The Washington Post . Retrieved 30 November 2017.
31. ^ Carroll, E. Jean (21 June 2019). "Donald Trump Assaulted Me, But He's Not Alone on My List of Hideous Men". The Cutting . Retrieved 5 October 2019.
32. ^ "What Practice We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal | IndieBound.org". www.indiebound.org . Retrieved five Oct 2019.
33. ^ 'We Demand to Eat the Babies!' Climate Activist Confronts AOC at New York Town Hall, archived from the original on 22 November 2021, retrieved 4 October 2019
34. ^ Malaea, Marika (4 October 2019). "'Consume the babies!': Twitter reacts to a surprise ending to the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez boondocks hall coming together". Newsweek . Retrieved 4 October 2019.
35. ^ Opinion: Want true equity? I propose, modestly, forcing California parents to swap children

References [edit]

• Baker, Donald C (1957), "Tertullian and Swift's A Minor Proposal", The Classical Journal, 52: 219–220
• Johnson, James William (1958), "Tertullian and A Modest Proposal", Modern Language Notes, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 73 (8): 561–563, doi:x.2307/3043246, JSTOR 3043246 (subscription needed)
• Landa, Louis A (1942), "A Modest Proposal and Populousness", Modern Philology, forty (two): 161–170, doi:10.1086/388567, S2CID 159465806
• Phiddian, Robert (1996), "Have You Eaten Yet? The Reader in A Modest Proposal", SEL: Studies in English language Literature 1500–1900, Rice University, 36 (three): 603–621, doi:10.2307/450801, hdl:2328/746, JSTOR 450801
• Smith, Charles Kay (1968), "Toward a Participatory Rhetoric: Teaching Swift's Modest Proposal", College English language, National Council of Teachers of English, 30 (2): 135–149, doi:10.2307/374449, JSTOR 374449
• Wittkowsky, George (1943), "Swift's Modest Proposal: The Biography of an Early on Georgian Pamphlet", Journal of the History of Ideas, Academy of Pennsylvania Press, 4 (1): 75–104, doi:ten.2307/2707237, JSTOR 2707237

External links [edit]

• A Modest Proposal (CELT)
• A Modest Proposal (Gutenberg)
• A Modest Proposal – Annotated text aligned to Common Cadre Standards
• A Small-scale Proposal public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• A Small Proposal BBC Radio four In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg
• 'A modest proposal For preventing the children of poor people From being a Burthen to their Parents or the Land, And for making them Beneficial to the publick. The Third Edition, Dublin, Printed: And Reprinted at London, for Weaver Bickerton, in Devereux-Court well-nigh the Middle-Temple, 1730.
• Proposal to consume the children a brusque moving picture based upon Swift's novel.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

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