Question

Read the following passage from Jonathan Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal":

Answer 1

Swift is concerned with the problem of poverty in Ireland. In this passage specifically, he is concerned with those people who are "aged, diseased or maimed." He knows that this is of great importance to both the people themselves and to the well-being of the country.

However, Swift also believes that many others are not concerned about them in the least. He mocks these people in the passage by using satire. He calls the sick and old people an "incumbrance," implying that this is the way they are seen by some. He also tells us to not worry about the situation too much because these people are constantly dying. He says this in a positive way, even though it is a horrible reality. In this way, he continues to display a satirical intent.

Answer 2

Jonathan Swift wrote “A Modest Proposal" to call attention to abuses inflicted on Irish Catholics by well-to-do English Protestants. Swift himself was a Protestant, but he was also a native of Ireland, having been born in Dublin of English parents. He believed that England was exploiting and oppressing Ireland. Many Irishmen worked farms owned by Englishmen who charged high rents—so high that the Irish were frequently unable to pay them. Consequently, many Irish farming families continually lived on the edge of starvation.

In this passage Swift points out the fact that it was common knowledge ehat was happening in Ireland. "But I am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is very well known, that they are every day dying, and rotting, by cold and famine, and filth, and vermin..." The obvious lack of concern of the people of England for the plight of these men, women, and children is perplexing to Swift. This is brought out by his sarcasm when he stated that "I am not in the least pain". It is his pain that causes him to write and place the impetus on the nation to act.

I do see a correlation with this prose and today's society. It is seen in the homeless on our streets, in the alcoholic, and the drug abuser. Many believe themselves to be better than these because they chose not to do drugs, because they have a job, or because wouldnever sttop that low. All too, often these men and women are cast off by our society. Phil Collins in his song, "Another Day in Paradise", tells of a homless woman who asks a man if he knew where she might sleep on such a cold night. To this he walks on and pretends he can't hear her. Sadly, this has become America's forgotten ones.