Dickens Hard Times & Swift's Proposal

A Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift, is undoubtedly one of the finest, if not the finest, examples of satire in the English language. Swift uses irony and parody from the title to the last sentence of this essay, whose narrator honestly argues for cannibalism as a solution to the oppressed, ignorant, populous and starving Catholic population of Ireland. It was a population that was being bled dry, in Swift’s mind, by the absent English Protestant landlords with the collaboration of the Parliament, ministers and crown. Swift’s use of irony is unparalleled in this essay, from his title which suggests that cannibalism, making ladies’ gloves and boots from children’s skin, and consuming the poor Irish Catholics is a “modest” proposal, to his final line which reads, “I have no ch

. . .
or solutions to many problems facing humankind. However, Swift shows how blind faith in reason is as dangerous as blind faith in religion when those professing such reason are actually irrationally perverting logic for their own agenda. Nonetheless, the main vehicle Swift uses to expose the irrationality and greed of the wealthy English landowners is humor. Despite the horrific premise being proposed, one is unable to keep a straight face during the reading of some of the “modest” proposals offered by the narrator like the following regarding why women would be better mothers if they knew they would receive income from the sale of their children for food or manufactured goods, “It would increase the care and tenderness of mothers toward their children, when they were sure of a settlement for life to the poor babes, provided in some sort by the public, to their annual profit instead of expense. We should see an honest emulation among the married women, which of them could bring the fattest child to market” (Swift 2149). Therefore, Swift’s satire teaches while it entertains. It shows how ludicrous are the supposedly rational social theories of the greedy status-quo in English society. Likewise, Dickens’ Hard Times satirizes
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Irish Catholics, Modest Proposal, Hard Times, Enlightenment Swifts, Dickens Gradgind, Irish-Catholics Swift, Catholics Dickens, Times Satire, Jonathan Swift, Shaw Dickens, modest proposal, hard times, satire humor, blind faith, wealthy english, dickens hard, dickens hard times, charles dickens, governing classes, poor irish catholics, poor irish, fate own hands, swift attacking, wealthy english landowners, swifts modest proposal,
Approximate Word count = 2127
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)