Jonathan Harker

Back in 1729, things sucked for the Irish. The crops were dying. The English were bleeding them dry with outrageous rent. Most of them were without homes. All was terrible in the land of the leprechauns. Along came Jonathan Swift. Mr. Swift was born in Ireland, but was technically an English citizen, so he felt a specific kinship with the Irish. He tried to provide solutions, but they were by and large ignored. Therefore, Mr. Swift was forced to get ridiculous. He had to get attention, because…

In the early 1700s, poverty struck Ireland physically and spiritually. High taxes, overpopulation, drought, and the famous potato famine drove the Irish out of their normal life. An Anglo-Irish, Johnathan Swift, journeyed through Ireland and witnessed the poverty-stricken conditions the Irish were living in. However, no soul was brave enough to advocate for change. This ultimately angered Swift and incited him to craft “A Modest Proposal.””. Taking on a persona of an impersonal and statistical…

“A Modest Proposal,” a treatise written by Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, is a social commentary that criticizes the apathetic attitude of England towards the Irish poverty crisis under the guise of a logistically sound yet ethically decrepit solution. Drawing attention to the issue through the proposal’s sheer absurdity, Swift constructs a targeted criticism of England’s apathetic attitude towards the state of Ireland under the guise of presenting cannibalism as a cure for poverty and…

Jonathan Swift’s article “A Modest Proposal” (1729) discusses Ireland’s ailments and how the English are oppressing the Irish. Swift discusses a possible solution to Ireland’s poverty, proposing a plan to sell off Irish babies to the English. Swift’s purpose by making this satirical proposal is to shock the English into seeing how oppressive they are, in order to bring about change in Ireland. The critical tone of Swift’s writing leads me to believe that this article is intended namely for the…

Swift had the ultimate solution to dissolve poverty, hardship, and financial burdens for the people of Ireland. His plan was quite simple. Fatten, sell, and devour the young. Although Jonathan Swift’s writings were misinterpreted and found controversial “I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration…that the remaining hundred thousand may at a year old be offered in sale… (233), it was this type of irony or indirect contradiction that he obviously felt was needed to capture his reader’s…

In Jonathan Swift`s A Modest Proposal, Swift expresses his soaring agitation with Ireland`s political leaders, the hypocrisy of the affluent, the despotism of the English, and the squalor in which he catches so many of his people living. Swift uses logos, visual imagery, and a desperate, satirical and serious tone to convey his thoughts. He demonstrates that a nation`s most significant problem can come from oppression in hopes that not only outsiders but that other Irish people will stand up and…

“On Laziness” is an essay that was written by Christopher Morley in 1920. Christopher Morley was known for being satire writer as he expressed humor and irony in many of his writings. In his essay “On Laziness” he uses his humor to make fun of people in today's world for being lazy. The purpose of this essay was to try to encourage people to quit being lazy and do something with their life. With his essay, “On Laziness”, Christopher Morley is able to pick fun at people of the world in a…

Journal Example on “A Modest Proposal”, by Jonathan Swift Style: Swift’s use of Satire to Drive his Point Swift’s use of satire is what truly makes his message so powerful. I can imagine that there were many do-gooders at the time breathlessly trying to convince the greedy British government that they need to act at solving the humanitarian crisis in Ireland, but that none likely got quite as much airtime as Swift’s outlandish essay. Through satire he must have shocked the upper class into…

A Modest Proposal was written by Jonathan Swift and published as a pamphlet in 1729. The proposal was submitted anonymously by Jonathan in an attempt to find a quick and simple solution to the poverty in Ireland. The author uses a number of rhetorical devise to appeal a rational and or emotional response of the audience. Right from the start of the proposal looking at the title, the author is using irony to introduce his proposal being hardly a “Modest Proposal”. The intended audiences were…

It was a chilly February day and a bunch of boys and I were discussing playing a game of road hockey after school. We were all sitting around in our 6th-grade science class talking about who should we invite to this big extravagant hockey game. We talked about all the details; such as when the game is, who’s invited and where would we be playing. We all decided on a 3:30 at Davids house and that we would have 9 of us play. By now we were all excited about playing the game and we all just had to…