Prompt #3

Prompt:

1985. A critic has said that one important measure of a superior work of literature is its ability to produce in the reader a healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude. Select a literary work that produces this "healthy confusion." Write an essay in which you explain the sources of the "pleasure and disquietude" experienced by the readers of the work.

Response:

In his essay, A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift draws rhetorical power from his satirical solution to a socioeconomic problem in Ireland. His distasteful idea that children of the poor should be eaten may initially cause disgust, but also, in the context of the satire, evokes an uneasy sort of humorous response. The effectiveness of the work hinges on the revulsion generated by the proposed cannibalism, tempered by the comedy arising from the ludicrous nature of the idea.

In order to mock the poor treatment of the lower classes in Ireland, Swift exaggerates the existing policies by suggesting that children of the poor should be eaten directly, as the effect is really no different. He continues this satire throughout the essay, remarking that the poor could sell children to the rich, thus providing relief from their own economic struggles and food for the upper classes. The population would also then be controlled. Though the essay is a satire, the idea of infanticide and cannibalism evokes disgust toward the author and generates sympathy for the Irish poor. Swift himself implies strongly that this effect is intended, as he was not able to stir up any actual reform in the past when he presented the problem seriously. Swift hopes that the reader will be motivated by this disgust to take action, rather than passively read and move on.

However, A Modest Proposal is a satire, and does create some sort of humorous reaction in the reader. Were Swift sincerely suggesting that children born to impoverished families be eaten, he likely would have been locked up, at the very least. Instead, he plays up the satirical nature of the essay, making over-the-top computations detailing how many children would be sold, how many they would feed, and how much money the sale would generate. At the end of the essay, Swift comments that he has no children and will not have any in the future, so the concerns of a parent do not even apply to him. He also wittily pokes fun at England and Irish landlords, which have, figuratively speaking, already been doing to the poor what Swift is suggesting. These points of satire generate humor, balancing the inhumanity of the solution Swift suggests, but they also give the essay greater impact. By so calmly laying out this plan to murder and eat children, Swift emphasizes the impersonal, cruel treatment of the poor. He himself – who already appears antagonistic – claims to be far removed from the effects of his solution, just as England and the Irish rich are.

The humor in A Modest Proposal counterbalances the disgusting nature of the policy Swift suggests, but also makes its effect on the reader more powerful. Posing his arguments as satire allows Swift to take them to extremes, truly highlighting the suffering of the Irish poor as well as the callousness of those imposing it on them. The reader may feel a humorous response to the satire, but likely in a hesitant way, fully aware of the actual problems the Irish poor are facing.