A Modest Proposal Jonathan Swift (1729)

• A Short View of the State of Ireland (1728) presented a realistic account of the Irish economy: “When the hen is starved to Death, there will be no more Golden Eggs.”

• Swift wrote more than 70 tracts on Irish affairs between 1714 and his death in 1745.

• At the time he wrote AMP, Ireland was in its third famine since 1708, suffered extreme trade restrictions, high taxes, absenteeism, 2/3 of revenue was spent outside the country.

• “Old English” first settlers in late 12th century.• In 1542 Henry VIII declares himself head of the

Kingdom of Ireland.• The period 1565-1576 was dedicated to tracts

establishing formal justification for English colonialism.• Sir Henry Sidney advocated taking Ireland by force on

the grounds of strategic necessity and expediency.• How is it that the Irish suddenly become savages in the

16th century?

• Barnaby Rich’s A Short Survey of Ireland (1609) sought to denounce popery.

• Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) burned 300 Protestants at the stake in 1555. 1554 Papal Bull.

• Edmund Spenser’s A View of the Present State of Ireland (1596) dialogue between characters Eudoxus and Irenius. Most influential.

• Earl of Essex, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Earl of Leicester and Sir Peter Carew all gave accounts of having slaughtered the Irish through extralegal methods. Gilbert gains first patent from QE to claim land in her name in new world.

• By the end of the 16th century, all official discussion of assimilation halts.

• Comparisons between the Irish and First Nations in the new world begin in 1560s.

Steady Progression in English Policy

• Kilkenny Statutes 1366 made assimilation unlawful.

• Flight of the Earls 1607.• Plantation era.• Oliver Cromwell’s Campaign 1649-53 sought to

end military, remove priests and landowners, institute conversion.

• William Petty’s survey 1687 and Political Arithmetic 1691.

• Penal Laws begin in 1690s. Right to vote removed 1729.

• By the early 18th century Catholics were 75% of the population and owned only 14% of land in Ireland.

• Unproven tales of cannibalism become a common convention of colonialism. “Pornography of violence.”

• Fynes Moryson rebellion in Tyrone 1602.

• Swift subverts the master narrative concerning membership in the categories “savage” and “civilized.”

• Formosans and Londoners would gladly dine on the flesh of children.

• A luxury consumer culture and its apologists (Bernard Mandeville) degrade humanity by forcing them to commit awful deeds.

Satire

• Uses humour in an argument to reveal and illustrate social ills.

• Rhetorical art of ridiculing a subject as a corrective to human vice and folly. Satire uses language as a weapon.

• Sarcasm and irony are often present.• Often employs an absurd logic in order to

establish a new perspective or point of view.

Maxims Controlled in Ireland• It is another undisputed maxim in government, 'That people

are the riches of a nation'; which is so universally granted, that it will be hardly pardonable to bring it in doubt. And I will grant it to be so far true, even in this island, that if we had the African custom, or privilege, of selling our useless bodies for slaves to foreigners, it would be the most useful branch of our trade, by ridding us of a most unsupportable burthen, and bringing us money in the stead. But, in our present situation, at least five children in six who are born, lie a dead weight upon us, for want of employment. And a very skilful computer assured me, that above one half of the souls in this kingdom supported themselves by begging and thievery; whereof two thirds would be able to get their bread in any other country upon earth.

James T. Boulton

• “To write ironically with success a writer needs to be alert to two audiences: those who will recognize the ironic intention and enjoy the joke, and those who are the object of the satire and are deceived by it. This implies that the ironist has ranged himself with those of his readers who share his superior values, intelligence and literary sensibility; together they look down on the benighted mob.”

• “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 the cabbin-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. These mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants.”

• “fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the common-wealth”

• Adopts generous tone in the scope of a plan which will “provide” for all the poor children.

• Embellishes the status of begging to “lawful occupation.”

• Even a “savage and inhuman breast” moved by abortion and infanticide.

• 8 paragraphs precede the proposal in order to build suspense. He uses the perpetual slight alteration of language by pairing words in shifting combinations and contexts. Swift begins with “helpless infants,” “children in the arms,” “poor innocent babes,” and then moves into using the terminology of animal husbandry.

• With “wives are breeders” he begins to calculate human beings as cattle for the market of 120,000.

• Cites Cavan man’s experience with children’s thievery under the age of six.

• Estimating what human life is worth brings the slave trade to mind.

• “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 fricasie, or a ragout.”

• “These children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore, one male will be sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered to sale to the persons of quality and fortune”

• “A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.”

• Children converted into food through alteration in language: “this food,” “infant’s flesh,” “the Carcass of a good fat Child,” “a new Dish,” “the goods,” “a well-grown fat Yearling Child,” “a prime dainty,” and “this kind of commodity.”

• Shifts focus to landlords:“I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and

therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children.”

“Thus the squire will learn to be a good landlord.”“gloves for ladies and summer boots for fine

gentlemen.”

• “I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.”

• “A very worthy person, a true lover of his country, and whose virtues I highly esteem” suggests that the proposal be revised to include hunting boys and girls between 12 and 14 years old to replace deer for sport.

• “Men would become as fond of their wives, during the time of pregnancy, as they are now of their mares in foal, their cows in calf, or sow when they are ready to farrow; nor offer to beat and kick them (as is too frequently a practice) for fear of a miscarriage.”

• Cosmopolitan Londoners have much in common with so-called savages eating human sacrifices in Formosa.

• Swift couples the fear/aversion to Papists with the revelation that Protestants leave the country to avoid paying taxes.

• Tavern owners inflate costs to reflect the exclusive tastes of patrons.

• 20,000 for Dublin but 80,000 for Empire.

• “ they are every day dying, and rotting, by cold and famine, and filth, and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected. And as to the young labourers, they are now in almost as hopeful a condition. They cannot get work, and consequently pine away from want of nourishment, to a degree, that if at any time they are accidentally hired to common labour, they have not the strength to perform it, and thus the country and themselves and happily delivered from the evils to come.”

• 19 paragraphs meditate on the merits of the plan.

• Then the real solutions are introduced with a transitional sentence. “Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients:”

Ten items shaped with anaphora

• “Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither cloaths, 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. . .”

• Wayne C. Booth identifies 3 voices: a calm but indignant man trying to deal rationally with the problem, the second voice proposes the ghoulish cannibalism as solution and the third representing Swift’s views on Ireland.

• Our inferential involvement is bound with our emotional concern.

Audience

• Written for an Irish readership about national problems.

• “I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation.”

• “After all, I am not so violently bent upon my own opinion, as to reject any offer, proposed by wise men, which shall be found equally innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual.”

• Reverses the historical accounts of cannibalism.

• Lockwood argues that the appeal of Swift’s Proposal over time resides in his ability to make “us believe so implicitly in the moral deadness in terms of which it becomes an apt, reasonable, not to say attractive idea.”

• Reveal your purpose by the second paragraph. State your thesis clearly in the beginning and use the body of the essay to develop your argument. You will fail to engage your readers with a “aha” surprise moment at the end.

For example: “The two ads will be examined to see if they are successful.”

Tell us right away what you discovered through your analysis.

• All punctuation should be placed inside quotation marks

“like this,” rather than “like that”,“like this.” rather than “like that”.Use attributive tags to blend citations into your

writingSkyy vodka’s nostalgic series suggests that life was

much less complicated before the second wave of feminism. Avoid (Skyy 266).

• Before you print your paper, read the first word of every sentence and see how often you begin with “The,” “This,” “It” or any other repetitive pattern.

• Avoid referring to an example as something so obvious that clearly anyone would automatically interpret its meaning. It sets an unreasonable tone while also appearing as an attempt to get out of the effort of stating it yourself.

• An argument implies some degree of controversy or at least two different points of view or positions on a topic. An ad’s message is not necessarily an argument.

• Cite a source before you refer to it in an essay.“The first ad depicts a woman crying.”• Every essay should have three parts (remember

the Rule of 3) in a beginning, middle and end.

• Avoid the first person.I think that the ads show how little women are

valued in society.Each ad reflects how little women are valued in

society.Using the first person can make your argument

overly subjective and also creates a repetitive pattern and rhythm for your sentence structure.

• Every essay should have a thesis in the introduction which directly informs the reader of your position and purpose. You should not ask your reader to search for your argument. Think in terms of Toulmin’s model of claim+because+reasons.

• State your argument and then proceed to provide evidence/examples, followed by a conclusion.