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| Paper details: | Choose one (1) of the three (3) reading selections from the list of topic choices below. The focus is on brief but important primary source material written by major authors. Read the selections as identified with each topic below. Write a three to four (3-4) paragraph essay (250 words minimum) which analyzes the “surprise ending” of the reading selection. Topic Choices ***Reading selection of Swift’s A Modest Proposal. It is essential to recognize the genre of this work, as discussed in our class text, which you should consult and cite. Swift promotes a radical solution, but subtle options are mentioned. You are looking for surprise and a point of realization. Read and focus on A Modest Proposal located at http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/swift/modest.html. For the reading selection you choose: 1. Clearly state in your own words the “surprise ending” in the reading you selected. Clearly identify the point in the reading when you realized that there were elements in the reading that surprised you. Not all of the surprises come at the end. 2. Evaluate how successful the author was in convincing you to accept the validity of the “surprise ending” that was different from what you expected. NOTE: You need to create a thesis statement based on the 2 instructions above, and then build your essay around it. Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA Style format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions. (Note: Students can find APA style materials located in the Additional Resources section of their Student Center within their course shell for reference) Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length. Use the source(s) identified above for the topic you choose, focusing on the main primary source of that author. You may use additional sources also if they are of good academic quality for college papers (Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify). Use proper APA style in-text citing and also a matching APA style References list at the end. |
Answer
Surprise Ending in Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”
Poverty and suffering constitute a hard-hitting reality in almost all countries of the world. Millions of people go without food, shelter, and clothing and have to seek aid in order to alleviate their conditions of poverty. This situation is most certainly not as a result of one’s choice; rather, it occurs due to uncontrollable social, economic, and political conditions. In particular, children tend to bear the brunt of poverty and harsh economic conditions more than any other demographic group in the population. Lack of adequate food, shelter, clothing, and education during one’s early life may destabilize them entirely and cause these children to turn to criminal activities or other evils to fend for themselves (Kelly, 2003). Society’s response to poverty should not be that of condemnation, disdain or exclusion, but rather, of understanding, kindness, and consideration. The conventional approach to poverty in any rational society is to provide the poor with alms and put in place measures to offer them employment or reprieve from their suffering. Contrary to these norms, Jonathan Swift, in his work “A Modest Proposal”, proposes an unconventional solution to this problem by suggesting that children are fattened and at the age of one, sold off as food to willing buyers. In fact, this constitutes the most profound surprise ending in Swift’s story.
Jonathan Swift defines the poverty problem in the society in detailed terms. He notes that one hundred and twenty thousand children who are born of poor parents annually lack a means accessing their basic needs. The context of this problem is the hard economic times of the 1700s (Swift, 1995). It is utterly surprising that Swift’s satirical work proposes that since the children born of poor parents cannot be sold (and even if they did, they would only attract a paltry three pounds), they should alternatively be eaten as food. He satirically proposes that these children should be fed on breast milk and other soft foods during the first year, during which they should receive the best and quality care to ensure that they gain weight and become healthy, after which they should be delivered alive to butcheries for execution, packaging and sale as meat. The author even goes ahead to suggest recipes for cooking these children such as stewing, baking, roasting and boiling. He even adds that ingenious chefs can devise new methods of cooking this new delicacy (Swift, 1995). This ending was surprising because it is a far cry from the conventional approach of handling the problems confronting children born to poor people. The reader expects the author to propose plausible measures for solving this problem, but instead Swift proposes a distasteful and almost disgusting response to the problem.
Several aspects in this story present an element of surprise to the reader. In the opening statement of the paper, Swift implies that mothers opt to beg for their sustenance as opposed to working for an honest livelihood (Swift, 1995). This is surprising as the author seems to view poverty as a matter of choice rather than as something that is often beyond one’s control. He also regards poverty, the poor and their children as a grievance to the state as opposed to an issue of national responsibility as well an opportunity to extend kindness to the less fortunate in society.
Equally surprising is how “A Modest Proposal” portrays the murder of innocent children as advantageous in several ways. Eating children is assumed to lead to a reduction in the number of abortions as women will not be scared to give birth in light of the knowledge that they will not have to raise them. Using children for meat is also portrayed as a way of lessening the financial and psychological burden shouldered on the affected families as they will have less mouths to feed. Besides, the proposal, the author argues, will lead to increased food production and improved economic conditions in the country and a boost in meat exports. Additionally, the author describes children as a nourishing, wholesome meals, yet, as a parent, he is expected to regard them as a blessing and a treasure to be protected. Despite the obvious attacks on children and the apparently blatant disregard for human life, Swift goes ahead to actually justify his view by stating that he has no personal interest in the matter by indicating that his wife is already past the childbearing age and his oldest child is nine years old. Most surprisingly, Swift chooses “A Modest Proposal” as his story’s title, yet the solution he is suggesting cannot by any means be considered as modest.
My expected ending, and by extension that of any other prospective reader of the work, is that of a genuinely modest, conventional proposal with plausible and feasible solutions to the problem presented at the beginning of the story. The sarcastic suggestion he offers involving an unworkable idea of fattening and eating children is a far cry from the kind of proposal I expect. In essence, I expected Swift to recommend the introduction of government projects such as feeding programs and vocational training to alleviate the challenge or to call upon the church to take up custody of some of the suffering children and educate them. He could also have proposed that the society in general gives donations to help the poor or that financially unstable women of lower social classes take up compulsory family planning methods in order to reduce the number of children born to poor households. Before realizing that the approach adopted was sarcastic, I reasoned that instead of propagating cruelty towards children, the author ought to have proposed the adoption of children from less fortunate backgrounds or their transfer to welfare institutions where they can be given access to basic needs care and education.
Distasteful as the sarcasm may be, the author succeeds in making the reader swallow his proposal hook, line and sinker. Swift advances a good argument, carefully defining the problem, giving statistical evidence and even citing outside sources. He defines the problem as one that is manifested by the one hundred and twenty thousand children being born annually, of poor parents who lack a means of providing for their basic needs. He explains this in detail by especially explaining it relevance in light of the prevailing economic times.
At this point, it is surprising that Swift states that children aged twelve and below do not fetch much when sold off as a commodity, that a child increases his/ her weight by sixteen pounds in the first year, and that more children are conceived during lent. Such is the extent the author is willing to go to render his argument valid. For instance, he presents numerical evidence on the cost of caring and providing for a beggar’s child, especially during the first year. His claim that he has the backing of an American friend in London, an eminent French physician and Salmanaazor, a native of Formosa Island, also contributes to the intensity of the story’s sarcastic tone. While at it, the author absolves himself against any accusations of personal gain or malicious intent by stating that his aim is merely an attempt “to identify a fair and cheap method for converting Ireland’s starving children into ‘sound and useful Commonwealth members” (Swift, 1995).
In conclusion, although Swift delivers his work of literature in a straight-faced, blunt, absurd and almost distasteful manner, the story is an effective satire, and the solutions offered are obviously not intended for actual implementation. “A Modest Proposal” was written in order draw attention to the happenings in Ireland in terms of what local people were letting the government do while neglecting the citizens’ poverty status. Besides, it is an excellent illustration of the British policy towards the Irish people. The proposal calls on the reader to look beyond the surface and resist disgust in order to think critically and to form an opinion on the matter at hand. The author’s expectation is that the Irish government will create and execute fair policies for reducing poverty, as opposed to outrageous ones that go against everything the Irish people stand for and believe in. the manner in which the author introduces the element of sarcasm constitutes the most surprising ending for the story.
References
Kelly, P. (2003). Swift on money and economics. In Christopher Fox (Ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Jonathan Swift. pp. 128-145. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swift, J. (1995). A modest proposal for preventing the children of poor people from being a burthen to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public. Child and Youth Care Forum, 24(1), 5-12.
