A Modest Proposal – Book Review

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

The book “A Modest Proposal” written by Jonathan Swift is a literary piece of work that sought to find the solution to the burden that poor children had from their parents in Ireland. It also sought to find out how they could be of benefit to the public. The book was inspiring to my literary piece of work in many instances. First of all the book has the ability to make the reader create an image of the city of Dublin with beggars on the streets. A woman with children trotting behind as they sought to benefit from a situation that they had created a very little input or none at all.

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The book also captured my attention by using hyperboles. It made Dublin uninhabitable at least according to the author (Swift n.d). The beggars were a nuisance to once a very beautiful and crime free city. The most capturing in this literary piece is the fact that the author painted the poor as those who seek to benefit from the society unfairly and failed to acknowledge that there is a possible chance that those who are rich could have benefitted or ripped off the poor. The author’s creativity portrays the rich as the victims in this situation. It fills me with disgust that the poor the only thing that they have has to be taken in this proposal to satisfy the rich. This literary piece of work has the necessary imagery, the hyperbole, and the irony. “I am assured by your merchants that a boy or girl before twelve wars is no saleable commodity”. That statement paints the pain of the poor, whose only crime is being poor. The sentence structure alternates words to give a poetic tendency that appears like alliteration. In studying this literary piece it brings some of the literary devices that will be part of my creation. Thus, making it both interesting and challenging at the same time.

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Story; Blackmail in A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

The gamble was over, and like a true player, I never shared my proceeds even if it took a collective effort. I could feel his eyes burning my back as I walked away. I had decided that I wasn’t going to give him a tiny whiny bit of my spoils but then out of fear, I had promised him part of the gambles. But then there was an “or else”. I had to give him part of the money or else he was going to expose my darkest secrets. I had to guard the money or the secret. I had to make a choice and had to make it quick. I didn’t need time for deliberation but the solution was here, I had to keep the money and even more keep the secret a secret.

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To keep both, then Mizanin had to go, I had to get rid of him. He was not just a threat to my peace but the whole of my existence, one way or the other, I was going lure him back to the house and then get rid of him and then act like nothing had happened, and act like I never knew him to begin with. I got in the house, switched on the light and hoped he would come. And come he did, he had to come he hoped to get the share of the money he hadn’t worked for. He opened the door and I was right in the middle of the dingy room, the door bulb had broken but the only one bulb that illuminated was sufficient to show the way.

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He looked at my hand and there he shuddered, right there in my hands was the single most thing he dreaded. He knew it was the end. He glanced at my hand and he let a whine escape, he knew what it meant, and if he was not going to behave I was going to throw him out. The suitcase in my left arm had his clothes that are when he realized I could throw him out whenever I wanted. He was at my mercy. This was my house, he was my guest and my house guests never made demands. And with that, I kept my money and my secret.

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Interpretation of A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

Looking at this short story, then one can once understand it as quick as he reads it. But then there are hidden elements in this story that to get to understand one has to think deeply one has to think of whether Mizanin was the bad guy or-or it was the author who sought to keep the money had jointly earned. The truth of the matter in this instance is that one knowing that he has some leverage over the other seeks to use that leverage against him to get everything they had both worked for. He is taking advantage of the fact that he is hosting Mizanin to bully him out of the money. Just like the society is taking the advantage of the poor, and making them the solution for serving the rich. There is someone benefitting at the expense of another. Apparently, gambling has done much to the communities, making people lose their investments and breaking up families and this instance is an example. It may appear like it was an author who was being the victim in this situation but the truth may not always be as it appears on the face of it. Stylistic devices have been used too in this context to fully capture the reader. Imagery has been deployed to help the reader create his own situation setting over the matter.

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