- three themes:
- satirical view of the state of European government
- inquiry into whether man is inherently corrupt or whether men are corrupted
- restatement of "ancients v.s. moderns" controversy
- names to remember:
- Lilliputians: the very samll
- Brobdignags: the very large
- Houyhnhnms: very smart horses who rule over the human Yahoos and who have cancelled all feeling in favor of reason
- Yahoos: brutish subhumans
- Laputa: a flying island
- Struldburgs: unhappy immortals who would like to die
- Blefuscu: rival country of Lilliput
A Modest Proposal
- author argues for a way to solve the squalor of the Irish Catholics by fattening up undernourished children and feed them to Ireland's rich land-owners, thus combating overpopulation and unemployment, sparing families the expense of child-rearing while providing them with a little extra income, improving the culinary experience of the wealthy, and contributing to the overall economic well-being of the nation
- author offers statistical suport for his assertions and gives specific data about the number of children to be sold, their weight and price, and the projected consumption patterns, as well as recipes for preparing babies
A Tale of a Tub
- the "tale" is an allegory that concerns the adventures of Peter, Martin and Jack as they make their way in the world
- each brother represents one of the primary branches of Christianity
- Peter - Roman Catholic Church
- Jack - Protestant churches
- Martin - Church of England
- the brothers have inherited three coats (representing religious practice) by their father (i.e. God) and they have his will (i.e. Bible) to guide them
- although the will says that the brothers are forbidden to make any changes to their coats, they do nearly nothing but alter their coats from the start
- the allegory of the narrative is supposed to be an apology for the British church's refusal to alter its practice in accordance with Puritan demands and its continued resistance to alliance with the Roman Church
"A Description of a City Shower"
"Careful observers may foretell the hour
(By sure prognostics) when to dread a shower:
While rain depends, the pensive cat gives o'er
Her frolics, and pursues her tail no more...."
No comments:
Post a Comment