Alejandra Peyrot 3rd Grade- English

Explore Jonathan Swifts A modest proposal showing what picture of the Irish he presents in his essay.
In his essay A modest proposal, Jonathan Swift makes use of irony and sarcasm so as to illustrate backward and bad the state of Ireland is and how the different social classes are affected. He then depicts features of the povertystricken conditions that the Irish tenants were going through in 1729 as a result of Englands exploitation and mistreat. In this satirical essay, the author firstly portrays the squalor and degrading scenario in which the Irish lower classes were living. Secondly, the situation in Ireland is described by stating the ineptitude of Irelands politicians, particularly the parliament, to deal with the tyranny of the English. Finally, as a third point, the author conveys, between the lines, the idea of hypocrisy from the British landlords, who took advantage of the poors harsh living conditions. From the very beginning, Swift begins his essay with an account of the impoverished state of the population in Ireland. He introduces the problem Irish people were witnessing through explanations and judgments about it: those who walk through this great town or travel in the country could see the

streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars.These quotes
clearly present the unfavorable social and economic situation in that moment. But this state was not voluntarily acquired, instead of being able to

workthese mothersare forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants Through these quotes, it could be
inferred that their current poverty and disgrace were the product of a forced situation, imposed by the British landlords. In order to try to revert these circumstances, the children of poor people in Ireland leave their dear native
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Alejandra Peyrot 3rd Grade- English

country to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes or otherwise they grow up beingthieves for want of work. By stating these quotes it could be said that, considering the
shortcomings of the society, children had to go to other countries to fight, in this case Spain, in exchange for money so as to overcome poverty. If not, poor infants would become thieves unwittingly. Taking the aforementioned quotes into account to, it is important to highlight that Swift, when asserting that poor children leave their dear native country to fight for the pretender in Spain, or

sell themselves to the Barbadoes is suggesting that the ones that did leave
their country, had neither a sense of nationalism nor any pride in their country. This is what eventually led to Irelands demise. Furthermore, the social scenario described by Swift was really critical, and

this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs {} is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance.Therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these children {} useful members of the commonwealth, would deserve so well of the public as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation. These quotes highly contribute to portray the fact that the
impoverished conditions reflected in the society affected, not only the image of the richest people, but also the economy of the whole British kingdom. And the one being able to change this deplorable image would be well-regarded by the public opinion. Moreover, when describing the Irish newborns, Swift uses a depersonalizing vocabulary to refer to them. He pictures a newborn child as just dropped

from its dam, where the word dam is used to identify women as breeders.
By the way, the word dam refers to the mother of a horse. It is evident that the authors proposal gives a reduced picture of human beings by treating them as statistical entities and to animals. What is more, words like "stock," "pigs,"

Alejandra Peyrot 3rd Grade- English

"cattle," "flesh," "carcass," "fatten them up," and "tough and lean flesh allude to Swift's analogy between people and livestock as well. To make matters worse, Swift does not only compare and treat human beings as animals, but also he claims that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is

no salable commodity, which means that Irish children are an economic

commodity, only valuable for their function in making the English earn money; similar to livestock whose only purpose is to guarantee the financial well-being of their owners. A yet remarkable point to bear in mind is the ineptitude that the Irish politicians show when dealing with the English tyranny. To understand this, it is necessary to know that, during the late seventeenth century, Ireland was controlled by her neighboring nation, England, and the latter imposed many heavy taxes upon the Irish as well as commandeered their resources for their own benefit. In other words, it could be said that Ireland was a dependent state from England. This relationship of dependency was marked by a lot of suffering on the Irish side. For example, the fact that the Irish were in a state of extreme poverty seems to be a direct consequence of the massive economical oppression from England to Ireland.

"Perhaps I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation...".This passage is reflecting the extent to which the English controlled
the Irish. The fact that the English devoured Irish children clearly connotes the downfall of Ireland through the 'consuming' authority of the English over the Irish. For instance, the massive economic oppression imposed on the Irish by the English via agricultural protectionism. Besides, along with the economic issues, the ineptitude also lied in the Irish Catholics. This is because the reader might imagine that the Irish Catholics, who covered a significant majority of the population, should have stood up for against the English. Instead, Ireland set itself up in a subordinated position.

Alejandra Peyrot 3rd Grade- English

"Greatly lessen the number of papists, with whom we are yearly overrun, being the principle breeders of the nation as well as our most dangerous enemies; and who stay at home on purpose with a design to deliver the kingdom to the Pretender". It is crystal clear that this passage reveals an
attack towards the Irish Catholics for their lack of effort to take back their country from them. Instead of fighting against the English in order to be economically and politically independent, they stay at home and did nothing. By the way, the idea of overpopulation comes from the stereotype set around the Catholics who tended to have a lot of children. As a result, in order to cope with all that squalor produced by the relationship of dependency, Swift, in his work A modest proposal, offers the Irish a solution to stop their suffering. The author proposes cannibalism as a way to relieve deep poverty. Therefore, the sale of infant flesh will lessen the number of papists. This quote depicts the idea of popish overpopulation; this is because Catholics used to have a lot of children. Consequently they were blamed for overcrowding. As it was denoted in the aforementioned point, the Irish parliament was so incompetent to contend with the political and economic drawbacks Ireland was undergoing that England took advantage of it. The hypocrisy of English people, mostly landlords, led Ireland to be exploited and mistreated by them. Indirectly, in his essay, Swift puts the blame on England as the main causative factor of Irelands decadency. Land confiscations, absentee and uncaring landlords, economic limitations placed on Irish exports, and a religious conflict between the English Protestants and the Irish Catholic population were the key factors that caused the impoverishment of Ireland. With reference to land confiscations, many Irishmen worked in farms owned by absentee Englishmen who charged so high rents that the Irish were frequently unable to pay them, but they will have something valuable of their own,

which by law may be made liable to distress and help to pay their landlords

Alejandra Peyrot 3rd Grade- English

rent. This excerpt pictures the fact that Irish people would make use of the
money resulting from the sale of their children in order to solve their rents debts. Additionally, the religious issues played an important role within England and Ireland. In an attempt to dominate Ireland, English Protestants tried to oppress the Catholics so as to impose their religion as a way to colonize. As a result, in his pamphlet, Swift ironically refers to them as beinggood

Protestants because they have chosen rather to leave their country than stay at home and pay tithes against their conscience to an episcopal curate .
Swift then suggests that wealthy Protestants might not care about the poor Catholic population because of their religion. It is worthwhile to highlight that Catholicism was stigmatized as being the religion of the poor and, on the contrary, Protestantism was particularly characteristic of the rich people. All things considered, it cant be helped to say that conclusively, Swift indirectly points a finger on England as being the main blameworthy for the squalor and degrading scenario in which the Irish lower classes were living, as well as the hypocrisy of the British landlords. Not only were the English culprits of the harsh conditions of the society but also the incompetence of the Irish parliament, which was unable to protect Ireland from English exploitation and mistreat.

Qu lindo essay! Lo que te puse en verde es porque tiene alguna modificacin. Adems tens algunas sugerencias al margen. Record que son slo sugerenciassi usas alguna para reescribir un enunciado por favor fjate si queda bien en el todo. Espero haber sido de ayuda. Suerte, Marce