Johnathan Swift said, “Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” Swift and Henry David Thoreau took these words to heart as they lived having a different vision of the world than the ordinary citizen. Swift’s ideas about the privileged upper-class were so controversial that he had conflicts with Parliament, and Thoreau’s take on the world was that citizens should live with a sense of purpose without fear of a controlling government. The author used their different perspectives as a means of social commentary. In The Modest Proposal and Civil Disobedience, Johnathan Swift and Henry David Thoreau are able to effectively write about social commentary because of their personal experiences, historical time period, and literary techniques implemented in their writing.
Johnathan …show more content…
After the death of his father at a young age, Swift went to live with his uncle who provided him with the best education available. Being young, Swift was not aware of the religious and political chaos he was born into. In 1688, the Glorious Revolution overthrew the king of England, Ireland, and Scotland. The political turmoil caused Swift to move to England where he would serve as a secretary for a prominent political figure, and he continued to further his education. Also during his time period, religion strained the relationship between the Roman Catholic Irish and the Protestant British. Bruce Arnold writes, “In England there was a great fear of Roman Catholic influence in high places….(21)” The fear in the English government made the English aristocrats despise the Irish who were in the midst of the Great Potato Famine. Over 100 years later, Henry David Thoreau was born into a different world in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817. Thoreau grew up as a bright student; he attended Harvard College and majored in Greek, Latin, and
Johnathan …show more content…
After the death of his father at a young age, Swift went to live with his uncle who provided him with the best education available. Being young, Swift was not aware of the religious and political chaos he was born into. In 1688, the Glorious Revolution overthrew the king of England, Ireland, and Scotland. The political turmoil caused Swift to move to England where he would serve as a secretary for a prominent political figure, and he continued to further his education. Also during his time period, religion strained the relationship between the Roman Catholic Irish and the Protestant British. Bruce Arnold writes, “In England there was a great fear of Roman Catholic influence in high places….(21)” The fear in the English government made the English aristocrats despise the Irish who were in the midst of the Great Potato Famine. Over 100 years later, Henry David Thoreau was born into a different world in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817. Thoreau grew up as a bright student; he attended Harvard College and majored in Greek, Latin, and