A Modest Proposal

Belliveau Patrick A00156136 ANGL 1042 November 7, 2011 As much the same as different â€Å"A Modest Proposal† is an unrealistically conceived attempt to find an easy, cheap and fair way to convert the starving children of Ireland into â€Å"Sound and useful members of the common wealth. † Swift explains how children across the country are impoverished because their families are too poor to keep them clothed and fed. A modest proposal pre-sents arguments for the many advantages on raising the children to be sold for a great deal of money as food.He expresses himself with such confidence when telling his fel-low compatriots an easy way to reduce poverty and overpopulation. The most ironic thing about â€Å"A modest proposal† is that it is not modest at all. It is a scary and insane thought to raise children to be eaten. â€Å"A Mild Suggestion† sarcastically proposes that Caucasians choose a night to lure in a few black people into their homes and poison or kill them by any means necessary. DuBois chose to ironically write about the problems that black people were having that was too often ignored, such as racism.One of the most satirist parts of the essay is when the speaker says: â€Å"The next morning there would be ten million funerals, and therefore no Negro problem. Think how quietly the thing would be settled! † It is an ironic notion be-cause it should be the other way around, the white people should be the ones coming up with ways to rid the world of black people and not the black people themselves. It is un-conceivable that this black man is suggesting these ideas and making them sound so sim-ple, when all of their lives, black people have been fighting to be respected.The essay ends with everybody shocked and disgusted at what the colored man said they should do with all black people, which is also an ironic idea, considering most of these people had racist attitudes to begin with. The one similarity between â€Å"A Modest Proposal† and â€Å"A Mild Suggestion† that sticks out most is the fact that both propositions are savage and frightening, but at the same time, obviously not serious. They both sound insane, which has the reader in shock throughout each essay. While reading both papers, people found themselves saying: â€Å"this man cannot be serious. The writers are trying to make the people from that time realize that some of their problems might not be so terrible. For example, the little old lady in â€Å"A mild suggestion† who at the start of the essay was being racist, went back to her room horrified and not saying a word after hearing what the colored man thought we should do with black people. As for â€Å"A modest proposal† people back in that time might have wor-ried about the poor and the problem with overpopulation. Once hearing about cannibal-ism and selling children as food for a profit, they may have started thinking twice about how serious this pro blem really was at the time.Another common thread in both these essays is the fact that they talk about human beings as numbers, no matter what their color. Swift writes about how to cut down poverty and overpopulation by raising children as food, and DuBois writes about how to get rid of the numbered black people around the world. Both writers show their disgust; DuBois at racism and Swift to the Irish peoples not being able to mobilize on their own behalf. One of the differences between these two essays are the people in which their mes-sages are aimed for. A mild suggestion† for example was aimed to help white readers take the issue of race more seriously, and for black people to have a greater sense of ra-cial pride. As for â€Å"A modest proposal,† this essay was mostly aimed at the compatriots of the time. These essays warn the population that instead of allowing what is most humane, natural and common, people who conceive theoretically and speculatively to solve a problem may end up thinking of the unthinkable. Also in Swift’s essay it is mostly a speech through first person, while DuBois makes use of the characters. A modest proposal A modest proposal BY green0784 A Modest Proposal In his satirical essay â€Å"A Modest Proposal,† Johnathan Swift examines treatment of the poor in Ireland during the eighteenth century: â€Å"l 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 fricassee, or ragout. (Swift 763) In his essay, Swift describes a repulsive suggestion or dealing with the children of the poor in Ireland. Swift describes in detail how poor children should be raised and sold to the wealthy at age one. He details how the children should be and how they should be prepared for the wealthy to consume. Swift's abhorrent proposal for the poor children not only points out the awful treatment of the poor in Ireland during the eighteenth century, but also Ireland's inability to devis e a more desirable plan for the poor.His use of statistics and graphical depiction of the poor children's lives adds to the credibility of his essay. In the beginning of the essay, Swift describes the streets of Ireland as â€Å"crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms. † (Swift 762) Approximately 120,000 children are born annually to parents in poverty and the mothers of these children are forced into begging for money Just to care for their children.He backs up these facts with detailed approximations of the number of children born into poverty; â€Å"l again subtract fifty thousand for those women who miscarry, or whose children die by ccident or disease within the year. There only remain a hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born. † (Swift 763) Swift's main goal of his essay was to convince the the people of Ireland that the treatment of their poor was unacceptable.By his graphical depiction of the arrangement for the poor children, Swift is able to add to the credibility of his essay. Swift first describes the use the children will have for society under his plan: â€Å"Those who are more thrifty will flay the carcass; the skin of which artificially dressed will ake admirable gloves for the ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen. † (Swift 764) He then explains how the children will be raised and sold once they reach the proper age and weight. l have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar's child to be about two shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, as I have said, will make four dishes of nutritive meat. † (Swift 764) Swift then describes how the way in children will be prepared: â€Å"This food would likewise bring great customs to averns, where the vintners will certainly be so prudent as to procure the best recipe for dressing it to perfection, and consequently house frequented by all the fine gentlemen, who Justly value themselves upon their knowledge in good eating. (Swift 766) Swift writes his essay in a way that will attract readers to his essay and give more credibility to his essay. He does this by the use of a vulgar depiction of his plan for the poor and his use of statistics to back up his facts. Swifts tone throughout the its country and come up with a solution to the problem. A Modest Proposal Many mistake t for only being used as a mean to make mockery and turn a serious situation into a humorous one. It is actually applied to get us thinking and to help us understand the point from which the satirist is coming from. One satirist who, gruesomely but effectively, managed to push his point across to us by his shrewd application of satire in his work, is Jonathan Swift. In his widely studied â€Å"A Modest Proposal† he used many satirical devices such as irony, juxtaposition and understatement to help his essays purpose and theme sound deeper and better thought-out.This technique helps him achieving his goal of swaying us to his side and accepting his opinion. His use of irony is splattered all over the essay and many examples can be found. This helps us have a better understanding of the situation because his irony highlights the underlying events he wants us to take note of. â€Å"There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those vo luntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, alas! Too frequent among us! Sacrificing the poor innocent babes This is very ironic because how is killing them to eat at the age of one not â€Å"sacrificing the poor innocent babes†? This makes the readers start questioning Swift and his theory but also makes us think that if this is the hypothetical â€Å"perfect† solution, then how bad are the actual possible ones that are out there? Then there's the overall irony of the whole piece: Swift actually says what he means, but says it as if he's matter-of-faculty defending an unthinkable idea.He points out that the country has no agriculture or industry, that children as nouns as six are taught to steal, that a member of the ruling class spends more on one meal than it costs to feed and clothe an Irish child for a year or even years, that Irish women are driven to abortion or infanticide because they cannot afford to support their ch ildren. The reader needs to look beyond the â€Å"proposal† Swift appears to be making to the hard facts he presents. Jonathan Swift could never be accused of writing too simply. A Modest Proposal† brims over with complex sentences and subordinated clauses, combining and juxtaposing Swifts stated opinions with those of his acquaintances. Swift begins his treatise (essay) by describing, in general terms, the overpopulation and resultant poverty Of Ireland and his plan for a solution: â€Å"As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years, upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of our projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in their computation.It is true, a child just drop from its dam, may be supported by her milk, for a solar year, with little other nourishment: at most not above the value of two shillings, which the mother may certainly get, or the value in craps, by her lawful occupation of begging; and it is e xactly at one year old that propose to provide for them in such a manner, as, instead of being a charge upon their parents, or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall, on the contrary, contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing of many thousands. . ] do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration, that of the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black Attlee, or swine, and my reason is, that 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 in sale to the persons of quality and fortune, through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump, and f at for a good table. 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, ND seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter. Swift then juxtaposes his own proposal with his acquaintance's idea of replacing teenagers' flesh in place of venison within the national diet, admitting that he finds this idea cruel: â€Å"A very worthy person, a true lover of his country, and whose virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased, in discoursing on this matter, to offer a refinement upon my scheme.He said, that many gentlemen of this kingdom, having of late destroyed their deer, he conceived that the want of venison might be well played by the bodies of young lads and maidens, not exceeding fourteen years of age, nor under ;level; so great a number of both sexes in every country being now ready to starve for want of work and service: And these to be disposed of by their parents if alive, or otherwise by their nearest relations.But with due deference to so excellent a friend, and so deserving a patriot, I cannot be altogether in his sentiments; for as to the males, my American acquaintance assured me from frequent experience, that their flesh was generally tough and lean, like that of our school-boys, by continual exercise, and their taste disagreeable, and to fatten them would not answer the charge.Then as to the females, it would, I think, with humble submission, be a loss to the public, because they soon would become breeders themselves: And besides, it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice, (although indeed very unjustly) as a little bordering upon cruelty, which, I confess, hath always been with me the strongest objection against any project, how well so ever intended. This juxtaposition has the potential of either confusing the reader as to what Swift s attempting to sa y or helping the reader see that Swift does not actually mean this but is merely trying to state a fact in an indirect and slightly confusing manner. Swift also makes use of bland understatement to advance his â€Å"proposal†: the organized cannibalism of poor children.The opening sentence to his introduction, â€Å"It is a melancholy object an Rigors understatement because the scene he proceeds to describe is more tragic than merely â€Å"melancholy. † Whether this is sarcasm or not is up to us as readers to decide but it is definitely an understatement. This device could have been used by him to either express how this serious topic is taken lightly or to emphasize on how bad the situation actually is. A modest proposal These terrorists not only threaten the people they hostage, but also the citizens of the place where they held the crime, because this means that anyone could be a victim. An example to this is the bombing of the â€Å"Twin Towers† of the World Trade Center that happened last September 1 1, 2001. Four passenger airplanes were by al-Qaeda terrorists In order to perform a suicide bombing. Two of the planes landed on the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center and within a couple of hours, both towers collapsed.The fires ND the falling debris caused a domino effect on the WTG complex and resulted in more damage and injuries. The other plane landed on the west side of the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense), that lead to a significant damage which was repaired within a year. The last plane was targeted to Washington, D. C. , but the passengers were able to take over the hi-Carjackers. The plane crashed Into a field in Pennsylvania. Anoth er problem Is that people smuggle Illegal Items or products overseas. One method Includes holding drugs Inside their clothing.They hide It underneath the cloth so that x-ray from the scanning machines would not pass through and not detect the drugs. When the person carrying drugs enters another country, it means that he could sell or take in the drugs in that country. If he gets caught and is proven guilty, he is deported, because drug-trafficking violates the International Law, which recognizes and stops international crime. These problems can be avoided with a solution. First, the terrorist attack can be avoided if the hi-Carjackers were not permitted to enter the united States in the first place.Before entering the plane, they must have carried weapons which they used to hi-Jack the plane. The terrorists have managed to sneak the weapons In their luggage or clothing and pass through the security screenings. By the same logic, the drugs were not confiscated because they were not d etected. I propose that a new law be passed, which requires everyone to not wear anything if they desire to travel by air. These papers are to be put in a transparent envelope which will be provided by the immigration.They are not allowed to bring their cell phones because they can use Hess phones as a trigger for a bomb. The passengers are not allowed to bring any bags with them in the airplane. A different section of the airport will be assigned to screening the bags only and these bags will be put in a separate plane and the passenger plane and the cargo plane will leave at the same time. To ensure the identity of the bags and of the person, both will have their pictures taken upon arrival. Each picture will be attached to a wristband which contains a barded specific to the person and the bag only.There are a lot of advantages in this new regulation. First of all, air-conditioning is not needed anymore, either in the plane of in the airport, because people will be butt- naked any way, so they don't need cold air. Less air-conditioning is also conserves energy and reduces the effects of global warming. A lot of government funds will be saved because metal detectors and x-ray scanners are not necessary. The money saved can be used in other sectors which need more resources, such as education, insurance, and national security.Not wearing anything would also spare the security f arresting people who do pranks in airports and bring illegal items which violate the rules of the airport. This will save energy and time which could be spent in doing other productive activities. The people won't have to wait in lines which cause delay, which makes the system more efficient. The passengers will also save money on clothes since they don't need them that much. Tourism will also increase because of this phenomenon, and as a result of increase in tourism, more Jobs will be created, which decreases the unemployment rate.Without any terrorism threat, there would e happier cit izens living in peace. However, some disadvantages arise despite these benefits. Nudity makes other people uncomfortable and it encourages immorality. But a rebuttal to this argument is that animals do not wear clothes all the time, and they do not get disturbed by the image they see. We should be more like them and appreciate what is given to us. This solution might not be acceptable to other people, whom I understand, and there are real solutions which are acceptable to all. Tighter airport security should be the main objective.The government must invest on up-to-date equipment for canning. They should invest on efficient people, and efficient and high-quality machines. The government should also consider redesigning or renovating other airports that need repair. Benefits of the renovation of some airports may provide more Jobs, thus, lessening the unemployment rate. An increase in the production of materials for the repair will result in increase in national output. This increase s the GAP, or the Gross Domestic Product of that country, and also other countries which provide other raw materials, equipment, and labor. WORD COUNT: 967 WORDS A Modest Proposal Assignment #1: Surprise Ending in The Modest Proposal Syreeta Bruster Professor Lynn Wilson World Cultures II – HUM 112 November 12, 2012 A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift is a satirical story with lots of sarcasm. This proposal was written to shock or force the government into a reaction. As the government read his proposal it should bring about a response. This proposal suggests a â€Å"barbaric solution† that amounts purely to cannibalism. Mr. Swift’s idea is to help end poverty and decrease the amount of women beggars by eating babies of the poor.He devised a plan where he would take 20,000 babies and decide how many would be sold, how many would be breeders thus creating a balance between rich and poor. Mr. Swift’s plan would give the poor a means of income and the wealthy would get a fine and delicate meal. He stated that feeding on Irish babies was a treat and the English should be honored to feast on the babies. Swift based his proposal on facts and figures of many years of analyzing the situation. He does seem well educated and well versed on his proposal. He noted several benefits and advantages to his proposal.Some of those benefits included women being more loving towards their children. Another benefit would be more marriages happening with men catering to their wives while they were pregnant. Swift also quoted a friend that was a modern day swindler. The friend was supposedly from Formosa and told a story where 18,000 young boys were sacrificed to the Gods’ and Priests’. The Gods’ dined on the hearts and the Priests’ dine on their bodies. Swift suggested his proposal was a good solution because the landowners had already â€Å"eaten† the poor people alive, so to speak.The unfair and unjust treatment of the poor people suggested this proposal could be a way out for them. Swift had calculated the cost to feed these babies and with the proposal these surplus of children would not be a b urden or anyone, not their parents or the landowners or the government. As a matter of face the landowners could take the babies as payment if the rent was not paid. Swift wanted to evoke such a response that the government would see just how awful they have treated the Irish in this country.They should respond by coming up with a more logical and reasonable plan to care for the beggars and poor people of the land. Although his â€Å"barbaric† proposal was written while he suffered a disease that made his mind alter from stable to unstable; it was concluded by most that he was not crazy when this proposal was written. It is not certain whether he accomplished what he intended to with his proposal; however with the intensity and factual way he presented his proposal I can understand why people would want to follow his train of thought.It was quite easy for Swift to manipulate the facts to fit such a â€Å"Modest Proposal†. Before people really realized what he was actua lly meaning to do with these babies it could have sounded like a solid plan. In my opinion we need more persuasive people, like Swift, with such passion to give a sort of wake up call to humanity without actually â€Å"eating† our babies. We need to construct a more compassionate and solid plan with regards to how we treat people whether poor or rich that is far from Swift’s proposal.Being eaten alive is not necessarily an actual act but more of a sarcastic statement of how one can be treated. I don’t believe anyone ever really took into account the proposal in actual â€Å"humane† terms. I do feel that it made not only the government react but also his peers and other constituents. References Johnson, James William (1958), â€Å"Tertullian and A Modest Proposal†, Modern Language and Notes (The Johns Hopkins University Press) 73 (8): 561–563 Swift, Jonathan. â€Å"A Modest Proposal. † Victorian Web. < http://www. victorianweb. org/ >. Web. Viewed November 3, 2012. A Modest Proposal Belliveau Patrick A00156136 ANGL 1042 November 7, 2011 As much the same as different â€Å"A Modest Proposal† is an unrealistically conceived attempt to find an easy, cheap and fair way to convert the starving children of Ireland into â€Å"Sound and useful members of the common wealth. † Swift explains how children across the country are impoverished because their families are too poor to keep them clothed and fed. A modest proposal pre-sents arguments for the many advantages on raising the children to be sold for a great deal of money as food.He expresses himself with such confidence when telling his fel-low compatriots an easy way to reduce poverty and overpopulation. The most ironic thing about â€Å"A modest proposal† is that it is not modest at all. It is a scary and insane thought to raise children to be eaten. â€Å"A Mild Suggestion† sarcastically proposes that Caucasians choose a night to lure in a few black people into their homes and poison or kill them by any means necessary. DuBois chose to ironically write about the problems that black people were having that was too often ignored, such as racism.One of the most satirist parts of the essay is when the speaker says: â€Å"The next morning there would be ten million funerals, and therefore no Negro problem. Think how quietly the thing would be settled! † It is an ironic notion be-cause it should be the other way around, the white people should be the ones coming up with ways to rid the world of black people and not the black people themselves. It is un-conceivable that this black man is suggesting these ideas and making them sound so sim-ple, when all of their lives, black people have been fighting to be respected.The essay ends with everybody shocked and disgusted at what the colored man said they should do with all black people, which is also an ironic idea, considering most of these people had racist attitudes to begin with. The one similarity between â€Å"A Modest Proposal† and â€Å"A Mild Suggestion† that sticks out most is the fact that both propositions are savage and frightening, but at the same time, obviously not serious. They both sound insane, which has the reader in shock throughout each essay. While reading both papers, people found themselves saying: â€Å"this man cannot be serious. The writers are trying to make the people from that time realize that some of their problems might not be so terrible. For example, the little old lady in â€Å"A mild suggestion† who at the start of the essay was being racist, went back to her room horrified and not saying a word after hearing what the colored man thought we should do with black people. As for â€Å"A modest proposal† people back in that time might have wor-ried about the poor and the problem with overpopulation. Once hearing about cannibal-ism and selling children as food for a profit, they may have started thinking twice about how serious this pro blem really was at the time.Another common thread in both these essays is the fact that they talk about human beings as numbers, no matter what their color. Swift writes about how to cut down poverty and overpopulation by raising children as food, and DuBois writes about how to get rid of the numbered black people around the world. Both writers show their disgust; DuBois at racism and Swift to the Irish peoples not being able to mobilize on their own behalf. One of the differences between these two essays are the people in which their mes-sages are aimed for. A mild suggestion† for example was aimed to help white readers take the issue of race more seriously, and for black people to have a greater sense of ra-cial pride. As for â€Å"A modest proposal,† this essay was mostly aimed at the compatriots of the time. These essays warn the population that instead of allowing what is most humane, natural and common, people who conceive theoretically and speculatively to solve a problem may end up thinking of the unthinkable. Also in Swift’s essay it is mostly a speech through first person, while DuBois makes use of the characters. A Modest Proposal If there is one event that haunts this writer to this day, it was the time when he talked with a crime victim, whose fear in the eyes was staggering.The victim shall never be named for the reason that being victimized by a crime is such an intimate matter, the secrets of which are usually well-guarded by the people who experience them.   Anything that we imagine that we know about others is best known to them.   So, crime is their personal experience, no matter what. However, that is not a reason for society to remain uninvolved.The rate of crime and violence in our society continues to escalate, and if we do not act with swift deliberation, then all of us will become part of that silent and ashamed community of helpless victims.We have every reason to interfere. Most of us go through life believing that crime and violence will never happen to us. But it does, and by the time we want to actively prevent crime, it is often too late. A friend, a loved one; we all have already been victimized.The problems of others must be guarded by us in all sincerity.   This is to ensure that the problems would not spread like plague among other members of other communities.   Therefore it is incumbent upon us to stop crime in its tracks lest it spreads like wildfire to create a conflagration too big and terrible for any one of is to try to stop.Life is too rich and joyful to be spent on crying spells and martyrdom.   Indeed the misery of crime victims and their loved ones deserves justice, each and every one of them. So let us give these crime victims and criminals alike what they deserve: justice, the swift and instant type that will sow fear in the hearts of the cold-hearted criminals and give a sense of retribution to those who have suffered in the hands of these heartless criminals.What would it take to eradicate crime and violence? Well, first of all, we would have to fight crime and violence in the frontline, and use the weapons that they have against them. Fea r has always been an effective deterrent of any action.People are paralyzed by fear, and that is true of hardened criminals as well as unsuspecting victims. Indeed we are lucky that we are in this position, to use fear to turn a dire situation around and use it to our advantage. With a thankful attitude, therefore, we should not want to fall into the trap of crime and violence by refusing to use violence ourselves.The proposal then is to kill anyone on sight anyone who has been seen committing a crime, regardless of the type of crime, no questions asked. Every type of crime must be given swift retribution, no matter how small or petty, the punishment is death on sight, no deliberations, and no hesitations.How does it work? Simple. The person witnessing the crime is sanctioned by the state to kill the criminal or suspected criminal on sight. If the victims are able to do it themselves and kill their attacker, then so much the better; however, that is not possible in most cases, so an yone can do it, before, during, and after the crime has been committed.   What would it cost us to directly kill criminals?   None at all. In fact society stands to gain so much more by doing so.The most important advantage would be the elimination of crime because criminal would be too scared to commit violence or any illegal act. The decision to commit crime and violence is generally regarded as a product of rational thinking.As such, it is with certainty that crime and violence can be best prevented through immediate, swift punitive action. These forms of punishment or retribution will discourage criminals because they fear the punishment more than they want to commit the illegal acts.The choice to become a criminal is largely dependent on the threat of punishment or being caught. If they think they will not get caught, then they will commit a crime without hesitation. But if we send the message that the price for crime is death, then that will change the scenario altogether. If criminals know what is at stake, then they will hesitate and think if the benefits of the crime outweigh the risk involved.All of us, even the most hardened of criminals value our lives. Nothing is more precious. And if we kill criminals on sight, then the fear of possible death would deter would-be criminals from ever doing anything bad. They know the consequences of doing so, and the risk is too high, even for anti-socials and repeat offenders. Hopefully, these people will regard their lives as too precious to be wasted on empty and meaningless violence and crime. As previously mentioned, use to fear to sow fear, violence to stop violence.Most criminals believe that they can get away with violence because the law takes too long to arbitrate and dispense justice. When justice is delayed, it is indeed denied for the victims, and the delay encourages criminals to keep on doing what they feel they have gotten away with. And that is the root of our endless problems with crime and v iolence; our deliberate approach to justice has been ineffective because while it means well, it inadvertently protects the criminals.Killing criminals on sight addresses the issue of dispensing justice and preventing crime and violence all at the same time.An accidental, but nevertheless important benefit of this proposal involves cost-effectiveness. When we kill criminals on sight, we would eliminate the need for a penitentiary system. The cost of building and maintaining prisons is very high and eats a lot of state resources. If all criminals are killed, then jails would no longer be needed, and the funds used for the upkeep of prisons and the care of prisoners could then be channeled for more productive ends.Moreover, because there is no penitentiary system to maintain, the citizens will no longer have to subsidize its costs and that could translate to lesser taxes. Lesser taxes would mean more disposable income for the family. When there is more money to go around, the spending power of every household is increased, which can very well improve our country’s overall economy.The existing prison facilities can then be converted to other money-making facilities such as museums, spa and wellness centers, theaters, shops, and other similar places. This one benefit alone can bring about a cascade of benefits that can have far-reaching and long-lasting effects. A Modest Proposal Assignment #1: Surprise Ending in The Modest Proposal Syreeta Bruster Professor Lynn Wilson World Cultures II – HUM 112 November 12, 2012 A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift is a satirical story with lots of sarcasm. This proposal was written to shock or force the government into a reaction. As the government read his proposal it should bring about a response. This proposal suggests a â€Å"barbaric solution† that amounts purely to cannibalism. Mr. Swift’s idea is to help end poverty and decrease the amount of women beggars by eating babies of the poor.He devised a plan where he would take 20,000 babies and decide how many would be sold, how many would be breeders thus creating a balance between rich and poor. Mr. Swift’s plan would give the poor a means of income and the wealthy would get a fine and delicate meal. He stated that feeding on Irish babies was a treat and the English should be honored to feast on the babies. Swift based his proposal on facts and figures of many years of analyzing the situation. He does seem well educated and well versed on his proposal. He noted several benefits and advantages to his proposal.Some of those benefits included women being more loving towards their children. Another benefit would be more marriages happening with men catering to their wives while they were pregnant. Swift also quoted a friend that was a modern day swindler. The friend was supposedly from Formosa and told a story where 18,000 young boys were sacrificed to the Gods’ and Priests’. The Gods’ dined on the hearts and the Priests’ dine on their bodies. Swift suggested his proposal was a good solution because the landowners had already â€Å"eaten† the poor people alive, so to speak.The unfair and unjust treatment of the poor people suggested this proposal could be a way out for them. Swift had calculated the cost to feed these babies and with the proposal these surplus of children would not be a b urden or anyone, not their parents or the landowners or the government. As a matter of face the landowners could take the babies as payment if the rent was not paid. Swift wanted to evoke such a response that the government would see just how awful they have treated the Irish in this country.They should respond by coming up with a more logical and reasonable plan to care for the beggars and poor people of the land. Although his â€Å"barbaric† proposal was written while he suffered a disease that made his mind alter from stable to unstable; it was concluded by most that he was not crazy when this proposal was written. It is not certain whether he accomplished what he intended to with his proposal; however with the intensity and factual way he presented his proposal I can understand why people would want to follow his train of thought.It was quite easy for Swift to manipulate the facts to fit such a â€Å"Modest Proposal†. Before people really realized what he was actua lly meaning to do with these babies it could have sounded like a solid plan. In my opinion we need more persuasive people, like Swift, with such passion to give a sort of wake up call to humanity without actually â€Å"eating† our babies. We need to construct a more compassionate and solid plan with regards to how we treat people whether poor or rich that is far from Swift’s proposal.Being eaten alive is not necessarily an actual act but more of a sarcastic statement of how one can be treated. I don’t believe anyone ever really took into account the proposal in actual â€Å"humane† terms. I do feel that it made not only the government react but also his peers and other constituents. References Johnson, James William (1958), â€Å"Tertullian and A Modest Proposal†, Modern Language and Notes (The Johns Hopkins University Press) 73 (8): 561–563 Swift, Jonathan. â€Å"A Modest Proposal. † Victorian Web. < http://www. victorianweb. org/ >. Web. Viewed November 3, 2012. A Modest Proposal Belliveau Patrick A00156136 ANGL 1042 November 7, 2011 As much the same as different â€Å"A Modest Proposal† is an unrealistically conceived attempt to find an easy, cheap and fair way to convert the starving children of Ireland into â€Å"Sound and useful members of the common wealth. † Swift explains how children across the country are impoverished because their families are too poor to keep them clothed and fed. A modest proposal pre-sents arguments for the many advantages on raising the children to be sold for a great deal of money as food.He expresses himself with such confidence when telling his fel-low compatriots an easy way to reduce poverty and overpopulation. The most ironic thing about â€Å"A modest proposal† is that it is not modest at all. It is a scary and insane thought to raise children to be eaten. â€Å"A Mild Suggestion† sarcastically proposes that Caucasians choose a night to lure in a few black people into their homes and poison or kill them by any means necessary. DuBois chose to ironically write about the problems that black people were having that was too often ignored, such as racism.One of the most satirist parts of the essay is when the speaker says: â€Å"The next morning there would be ten million funerals, and therefore no Negro problem. Think how quietly the thing would be settled! † It is an ironic notion be-cause it should be the other way around, the white people should be the ones coming up with ways to rid the world of black people and not the black people themselves. It is un-conceivable that this black man is suggesting these ideas and making them sound so sim-ple, when all of their lives, black people have been fighting to be respected.The essay ends with everybody shocked and disgusted at what the colored man said they should do with all black people, which is also an ironic idea, considering most of these people had racist attitudes to begin with. The one similarity between â€Å"A Modest Proposal† and â€Å"A Mild Suggestion† that sticks out most is the fact that both propositions are savage and frightening, but at the same time, obviously not serious. They both sound insane, which has the reader in shock throughout each essay. While reading both papers, people found themselves saying: â€Å"this man cannot be serious. The writers are trying to make the people from that time realize that some of their problems might not be so terrible. For example, the little old lady in â€Å"A mild suggestion† who at the start of the essay was being racist, went back to her room horrified and not saying a word after hearing what the colored man thought we should do with black people. As for â€Å"A modest proposal† people back in that time might have wor-ried about the poor and the problem with overpopulation. Once hearing about cannibal-ism and selling children as food for a profit, they may have started thinking twice about how serious this pro blem really was at the time.Another common thread in both these essays is the fact that they talk about human beings as numbers, no matter what their color. Swift writes about how to cut down poverty and overpopulation by raising children as food, and DuBois writes about how to get rid of the numbered black people around the world. Both writers show their disgust; DuBois at racism and Swift to the Irish peoples not being able to mobilize on their own behalf. One of the differences between these two essays are the people in which their mes-sages are aimed for. A mild suggestion† for example was aimed to help white readers take the issue of race more seriously, and for black people to have a greater sense of ra-cial pride. As for â€Å"A modest proposal,† this essay was mostly aimed at the compatriots of the time. These essays warn the population that instead of allowing what is most humane, natural and common, people who conceive theoretically and speculatively to solve a problem may end up thinking of the unthinkable. Also in Swift’s essay it is mostly a speech through first person, while DuBois makes use of the characters.