Swift

Essay by MdotRdot November 2014

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Robertson, Melanie

ENG 232

September 18, 2014

A Swift Approach

Jonathan Swift has been a well-known writer since his day and age. He was one of few who wasn't afraid to publish his views and opinions. It was through his satirical works that he commented on human society and civilization. His most popular works include Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal. He used these two as an outlet to communicate to his readers the reality of our world without actually using reality. Through his use of tone and satire, Swift successfully opens the readers' eyes to the truths behind politics and social behavior. Gulliver's Travels is a narrative of Lemuel Gulliver, a man who travels the world when his career flops. It's through Gulliver's explorations and observations of the many lands he visits that Swift is able to comment on political, moral, and social views. In this parody, Swift uses characters to represent the different social aspects that to him are immoral and irrational.

The satire lays from an outside prospective. As Gulliver travels to different parts of the land, each new character he meets represents a different part of society. For example, during his voyage to Lilliput, a war occurred with Blefuscu over the way to properly break eggs. The little of importance this dispute is resembles closely to the English society. At the time, there were many uprisings due to small problems.

A Modest Proposal is an essay in first person with the purpose of proposing a solution to an ongoing problem in Ireland. Here, Swift is more direct in sharing his thoughts. There was overpopulation and poverty occurring on top of Protestant English attempting to overrule the Irish Catholic. His solution was to use to use babies for trade for meals where mothers would plump them...