A Modest Proposal Summary – Flashcards
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Who is the Pretender in Spain?
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The son of James II, who lost the throne of England in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. (Schlangen said the Pretender was the pope, but the pope is most certainly not in Spain so IDK.)
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What is the author's intention?
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To provide not only for the children of professed beggars but also for the children of a certain age whose parents though they have not yet resorted to begging, are too poor to support them.
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A newborn infant can be supported for its first year on ____ and ____, a sum that can easily be obtained by begging.
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breast milk and two shillings
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According to Swift, why do women have abortions?
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Because of the cost of raising a child (rather than the shame).
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Out of the _____ people in Ireland, ____ are of childbearing age. Out of these, ____ are financially able to care for their children. This leaves ____ breeders. Of these, ____ will miscarry or lose their children within the first year. This leaves ____ children born to poor parents annually.
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Out of the *1.5 million* people in Ireland, *200,000* are of childbearing age. Out of these, *30,000* are financially able to care for their children. This leaves *170,000* breeders. Of these, *50,000* will miscarry or lose their children within the first year. This leaves *120,000* children born to poor parents annually.
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What methods for rearing and providing for the 120,000 children born to poor parents have been proposed already?
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1. Employing them in handicraft or agriculture. (the government won't provide employment) 2. They usually can't become thieves until they are 6. 3. Selling them as slaves. (the amount any of this would bring in doesn't offset the cost of raising them)
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"I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least ____."
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objection
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"I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether ____, ____, ____, or ____; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a ____ or a ____."
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stewed, roasted, baked, boiled; fricassee, ragout
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Out of the 120,000 poor children per year, ____ shall be kept for breeding (____ being males, as is the common practice with the breeding of livestock), and the rest (____) are to be fattened and sold as a culinary delicacy.
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Breeding: 20,000 (1/4 males) Eating: 100,000
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"A child will make ____ dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the ____ or ____ will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the ____ day, especially in winter."
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"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."
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The average child weighs ____ pounds at birth and ____ pounds at one year old.
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12 at birth 28 at one year
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Because the meat will be rather expensive, the target market are the ____.
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rich landlords
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When will infant flesh be in season?
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Year round, but with an increase in spring (March).
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The cost of nursing a "Beggar's Child" to marketable age is ____ a year. The cost of the meat will be ____, and the profits of the sale will be mutual: the mother will make ____, and the landlord who buys the child will not only have "____ Dishes of excellent nutritive Meat," but will also enjoy an increase in his own popularity among his tenants.
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The cost of nursing a "Beggar's Child" to marketable age is *two shillings* a year. The cost of the meat will be *ten shillings*, and the profits of the sale will be mutual: the mother will make *eight shillings*, and the landlord who buys the child will not only have "*four* Dishes of excellent nutritive Meat," but will also enjoy an increase in his own popularity among his tenants.
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Infant skin can be used as ____.
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leather
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What was his friends "Refinement on my Scheme?"
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Because the hunters are running out of deer, they should kill teenagers instead.
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How does Swift propose we care for the elderly, sick, and handicapped (maimed)?
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Do nothing - they are dying off fast enough anyway.
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What are the advantages of Swift's proposal?
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1. It would lessen the number of papists (Catholics). 2. The poorer tenants would be able to pay their debts. 3. The arrangement will be good for the national economy (increasing the nation's stock *50,000 pounds per year*, turning what had been a liability into part of the national product--not to mention the added national benefit of a new dish. 4. The constant breeders would get eight shillings per year and would not have to maintain their children after the first year. 5. The new food will improve business in taverns. 6. It would encourage marriage, increase care mothers have towards their children, spur a healthy competition over who could produce the fattest child, and reduce domestic violence for fear of a miscarriage.
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An indirect consequence of eating children's flesh will be an increase in ____, and well as a rising standard for other meats, which "are in no way comparable in Taste, or Magnificence, to a well-grown fat yearling Child."
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exportation of beef
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What one objection can be made to Swift's proposal, according to the author?
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That it will too greatly reduce the national population.
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What methods have already been proposed to fix the Ireland problem that are rejected by Swift?
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(paragraph 29) 1. Taxing absentee landlords. 2. Buying only domestically-made goods. 3. Rejecting foreign luxury. 4. Reforming the morality of Irish women. 5. Instill "Parsimony, Prudence, and Temperance" in the people. 6. Patriotism 7. Abandoning factions and internal strife. 8. Refusing "to sell our country and consciences for nothing" 9. To encourage landlords to treat tenants justly. 10. Enforcing honest practices among merchants.
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Referring to paragraph 29, why does Swift reject all of these methods for change?
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He views them as naive and unrealistic.
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Referring to the methods for change in paragraph 29, what is different about Swift's proposal?
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It is "solid and real" and does not cost any money or trouble. It also will not anger England, or have anything to do with England, as infant flesh is too delicate to be exported.
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What was the purpose of paragraph 29?
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To show those who read the pamphlet (probably English people) that there is something that they themselves could do to help Ireland.
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Swift insists that he is not unwilling to hear alternative proposals, if they are "equally innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual." They should also be sure to consider the two urgent issues that his own proposal addresses so thoroughly. First, it must indicate how 100,000 "useless Mouths and Backs" are to be ____ and ____. And second, it must address the ____ of the vast majority of the Irish population, whose misery is so great that they would "think it a great Happiness to have been sold for Food at a Year old."
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Swift insists that he is not unwilling to hear alternative proposals, if they are "equally innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual." They should also be sure to consider the two urgent issues that his own proposal addresses so thoroughly. First, it must indicate how 100,000 "useless Mouths and Backs" are to be *fed* and *clothed*. And second, it must address the *extreme poverty* of the vast majority of the Irish population, whose misery is so great that they would "think it a great Happiness to have been sold for Food at a Year old."
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What is the purpose of the last paragraph, in which Swift says that since his youngest is nine and his wife is too old to have kids, his plan doesn't apply to him?
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His motives aren't selfish; he has the public good in mind.
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What is the author's unquestioned assumption throughout the entire proposal?
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Anyone with children would in fact be perfectly willing to sell them.
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What is Swift's attitude toward the beggars he describes in the opening paragraph?
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The irony of this passage, and in Swift's treatment of the poor in general, is neither simple nor straightforward. His compassion for these people is mitigated by a strong sense that people ought to take the initiative to help themselves out of their own difficulties. Swift's language here plays on the popular judgment of beggars as lazy opportunists. While Swift does not entirely dissociate himself from this opinion, his purpose here is to show the complex web of social and economic realities that supports and perpetuates such a situation.
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Where do the speaker's allegiances lie in this essay? With what social groups does he identify himself?
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The speaker is a Protestant and a member of the Irish upper class. While he professes sympathy for the plight of the poor Catholic population, he also holds a fairly contemptuous opinion of them. He takes great pains to enumerate the advantages of his proposed project for the wealthy, who would presumably be called upon to implement it. Yet Swift's irony implicates this moneyed class for their monetary greed, their personal indulgence, their unflagging attention to their own self-interest, and their indifference to the state of the poor and the state of the nation as a whole.
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What sort of persona does Swift create for the "author" of A Modest Proposal?
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The "proposer" is notable for his vanity, his cold-heartedness, and the ruthlessness of his logic. He represents the hypocrisy and superficiality of many would-be reformers, whose seeming benevolence masks such impediments as prejudice, intolerance, sentimentalism, and hyper-abstraction. His reductive handling of suffering humans as statistical entities and economic commodities is what makes him most unappealing, in spite of the calm and reasonable tone of his argumentation.
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If Swift does not actually think the Irish people should eat their children, what does he think they should do?
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He thinks they should do the things suggested in paragraph 29, but to actually invest in them so that they work.
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Who is the audience of this work?
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The English
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Who does Swift suggest would be happy to "eat up our whole Nation," even without salt?
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England
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What are six tools of satire?
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1. Strong Irony/Reversal 2. Parody 3. Exaggeration 4. Comparison (maybe; the picture was really fuzzy) 5. Double Entendre 6. Juxtaposition
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What does Swift view as the sad condition in Ireland?
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The women are forced to beg to feed their children instead of working, only to have their children become thieves or leave the country, either to fight for the Pretender in Spain or to sell themselves as slaves in the Barbadoes.
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What is the narrator's magnanimous two-fold intention?
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Not only to provide for the children of beggars but for all children whose parents cannot care for them.
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Why does Swift's proposal seem more beneficial than other proposed plans?
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It prevents abortions.
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Why does Swift include statistics?
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To add logos to his argument. By giving the audience facts, he lends more credibility to his argument because they will understand the extent of Ireland's poverty.
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What words does Swift use to refer to mothers?
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Breeders
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What information has a "very knowing American" imparted to Swift?
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"A well nursed one year old child is a delicious, nourishing, and wholesome thing to eat."
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How does Swift use punning to chastise landlords?
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"I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children." Swift uses the word "devour" as a pun. It sounds like he is suggesting that the landlords eat the parents, but in reality the landlords taxed them so much that they were forced to leave. Also, the food is said to be "somewhat dear." Children would be considered to be dear to their parents, as well as the family's land and possessions, because it is how they make a living. Because of the high taxes, the landlords had already taken most of what they held dear, so why not take the children, too?
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How else can this "modest proposal" help those who are thrifty?
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The skin can be used to make gloves and boots.
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What is the patriot's (his American friend) refinement of Swift's scheme? Why doesn't Swift agree with this scheme?
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The patriot suggested they eat teenagers, as well. Swift doesn't agree because teenage boys wouldn't taste good and teenage girls will soon be breeders.
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Define Papist. For what does Swift criticize the Catholic Church?
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Papists are Catholics. Swift criticizes the Catholic Church for being loyal to the Pretender and conspiring to give him the Kingdom.
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How will Swift's proposal upgrade taverns?
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By giving them a new cuisine, children, that will attract all the "fine gentlemen."
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How will the proposal create better mothers?
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By giving them incentive to take better care of their children, as the fattest children will bring in the biggest profits.
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For what does Swift criticize the Irish? For what does Swift criticize the English?
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Irish: For not standing up for themselves English: For not helping the poor and for being prejudiced against Catholics
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How does the narrator of "A Modest Proposal" view himself?
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Completely altruistic - he has no children under 1 and never will again, so his plan doesn't even affect him. Therefore, his motives cannot be unselfish; they are completely for the common good.
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Substitution of an attribute for the thing meant.
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Metonymy (suit = business executive)
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Combine.
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Synthesize
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Patterns of rhyme.
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Prosody
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Arrangement of words to create well-formed sentences.
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Syntax
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Repetition of first part of sentence.
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Ananphora
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Using understatement to emphasize a point, state a negative to affirm a positive.
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Litote (not bad = good)
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What did the gentleman in the county of Cavan say?
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He didn't know above one or two children under the age of six who were thieves.
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What did the grave author, the eminent French physician, say?
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There are more children born in Roman Catholic countries about nine months after Lent than at any other season.
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What did the famous Psalmanazar, a native of Formosa, say?
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Execution victim carcasses were sold for meat.
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What three groups of people were used in paragraph 29 as groups the Irish should not be like, because they did not love their country and created factions, fighting amongst themselves?
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Laplanders Topinamboo Jews
