a modest proposal背景知识.doc

Introduction . .Jonathan Swift wrote “A Modest Proposal” in 1720 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 England was exploiting Ireland. .Many Irishmen worked farms owned by Englishmen who charged high rentsso high that the Irish were frequently unable to pay them. Consequently, many Irish farming families lived on the edge of starvation. .In “A Modest Proposal,” Swift satirizes the English landlords with outrageous humor, proposing that Irish infants be sold as food at age one, when they are plump and healthy, to give the Irish a new source of income and the English a new food product to bolster their economy and eliminate a social problem. He says his proposal, if adopted, would also result in a reduction in the number of Catholics in Ireland, since most Irish infantsalmost all of whom were baptized Catholicwould end up in stews and other dishes instead of growing up to go to Catholic churches. Here, he is satirizing the rivalry and prejudice characterizing Catholic-Protestant relations in Britain. .Swift also satirizes the Irish themselves in his essay, for too many of them had accepted abuse stoically rather than taking action on their own behalf. .The main literary device Swift uses in “A Modest Proposal is verbal ironythat is, he proposes the opposite of what he really believes. Historical Background .Over the centuries, England gradually gained a foothold in Ireland. In 1541, the parliament in Dublin recognized Englands Henry VIII, a Protestant, as King of Ireland. In spite of repeated uprisings by Irish Catholics, English Protestants acquired more and more estates in Ireland. By 1703, they owned all but 10 percent of the land. Meanwhile, legislation was enacted that severely limited the rights of the Irish to hold government office, purchase real estate, get an education, and advance themselves in other ways. As a result, many Irish fled to foreign lands, including America. Most of those who remained in Ireland lived in poverty, facing disease, starvation, and prejudice. It was this Irelandan Ireland of the tyrannized and the downtroddenthat Jonathan Swift attempted to focus attention on in “A Modest Proposal” in 1720. Summary .Editors Note: In A Modest Proposal, Swift assumes the persona of a daft statistician. The following summary of the essay greatly condenses the original wording. However, the words in blue type are direct quotations from the essay. .Because so many Irish parents cannot find decent jobs to support their children, they spend all their time walking the streets to beg alms of passersby. Meanwhile, the children grow up to become thieves or emigrants. .This situation presents a serious problem for Britain, especially since there are so many Irish children. Each year, several hundred thousand babies are born to Irish parents. If you subtract those who are born to well-to-do parents, those who are stillborn, and those who die after birth as a result of disease or accident, you are still left with about 120,000 babies who have to be supported by poor parents. .Of course, a mother can feed her child for one year with breast milk. But after that, she must beg food for the child. However, I the writer of the essay have a modest proposal to solve this problem. Here it is: .I have been told by a knowledgeable American that a year-old-infant is a “most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled. . . .” Therefore, I suggest that of the 120,000 new infants of poor parents, 20,000 be reserved for breeding and the rest be sold to people of quality. .“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, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter . . . .” .Not only will my plan provide excellent food and relieve the burden on Irish parents and Great Britain as a whole, it will also reduce the number of Roman Catholics, since it is the Roman Catholics who have the most children. In addition, my plan will have the following advantages: .Inkeepers who serve fat children at their tables will be popular with their customers. .A mother of a sold child will pocket a handsome profit and be free to work until she has another baby. .The skin from babies can be used to make gloves for women and boots for men. .Women will take excellent care of their newly born infants, for they will want their babies to be plump and healthy when it comes time to sell them. .“Men would become as fond of their wives, during the time of their pregnancy, as they are now of their mares in foal, their cows in calf, or sow when they are ready to farrow; nor offer to beat or kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of a miscarriage.” .Only young, tender children would be sold. Older boys, with years of exercise that develops their muscles, would be too tough to eat. Older girls would be so close to childbearing age that it would be best to let them breed. .An extremely important part of my proposal is that it would eliminate the need to raise taxes to support the poor, thereby enabling the rich to continue to enjoy all of their luxuries. In addition, English landlords would not have to show mercy to their Irish tenants. In turn, the Irish tenants would have enough money to pay their high rents, thanks to the sale of their children. .I must point out that I am not proposing this plan for personal benefit, inasmuch as I have only one childage 9 and thus too old to selland my wife is too old to have another baby. . . . Complete Title and Year of Publication . The complete title of A Modest Proposal, published in 1720, is A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick. Writing and Publishing Formats A Modest Proposal is an essay originally printed in the form of a pamphlet. At the time of the publication of A Modest Proposal, a pamphlet was a short work that took a stand on a political, religious, or social issueor any other issue of public interest. A typical pamphlet had no binding, although it sometimes had a paper cover. Writers of pamphlets, called pamphleteers, played a significant role in inflaming or resolving many of the great controversies in Europe in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, as well as in the political debate leading up to the American Revolution. In addition to “A Modest Proposal,” Swift wrote many political pamphlets supporting the causes of the Tory political party after he renounced his allegiance to the Whig party. Type of Work: Satire A Modest Proposal is a satire, a literary work that attacks or pokes fun at vices, abuses, stupidity, and/or any other fault or imperfection. Satire may make the reader laugh at, or feel disgust for, the person or thing satirized. Impishly or sardonically, it criticizes someone or something, using wit and clever wordingand sometimes makes outrageous assertions or claims. The main purpose of a satire is to spur readers to remedy the problem under discussion. The main weapon of the satirist is verbal irony, a figure of speech in which words are used to ridicule a person or thing by conveying a meaning that is the opposite of what the words say. . Style The lanugage of A Modest Proposal is specific and succinct, and it is loaded with irony and wit. Swift, one of the greatest satirists in the English language, carefully selects words with connotations that shock and amuse the reader while also promoting euphony. For example, in the following paragraph from the essay, the word carcassesmeaning remains of a dead animal dressed by a butcherconveys shock value and humor while also alliterating with previous words (constant customers, christenings, and compute, as well as with a following word, Kingdom: Supposing that one thousand families in this city, would be constant customers for Infants Flesh, besides others who might have it at merry meetings, particularly at weddings and christenings, I compute that Dublin would take off annually about twenty thousand carcasses, and the rest of the Kingdom (where probably they will be sold somewhat cheaper) the remaining eighty thousand