So in the two texts the problem of unemployment in the end the result seemed to be begging on the streets to survive.
So putting that together I can see that in 250 years when the problem was first outlined by Swift, it is still a major problem today, and there are still uncaring people towards them.
In the next section of my assignment I am going to write about the language of the two texts.
If you compare the two texts, you can notice the way in which the two writers spell words and also the punctuation is very different.
If you look at the text for ‘A Modest Proposal’ words are spelt very differently from today, as they did not have a dictionary the writer spelt words, as he wanted to. For example the way Jonathan Swift spelt publick is not the way we would write today. We would spell it public.
The spelling in ‘Stone Cold’ is, however, standardized as we now get our words from a dictionary, so to us it makes perfect sense. Also in ‘Stone Cold’ there is great use of 20th century slang words like, Doggie bag, which is slang for someone’s name I would think.
The way the two writers use punctuation is very different.
In ‘A Modest Proposal’ the punctuation is very different to how we use punctuation now. The writer seems to put commas wherever he feels like and also puts capital letters in the middle of a sentence. For example, when they see the Streets, the Roads, and Cabbin-Doors, crowded with beggars of the female Sex. You can see that there is a lot of use of commas where some of them should be full stops. Also if you look towards the end of the sentence you can see that Sex is spelt with a capital at the end of a sentence.
In contrast if you look at the text for ‘Stone Cold’ the writers use of punctuation is very different to that of Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’, as in ‘Stone Cold’ the writer’s punctuation is standardized into 20th century language.
I am now going to compare the structure of the two texts and the ways in which they are different.
Although both writers are concerned about the problem of homelessness, they write in very different ways to express their feelings. Jonathan Swift presents them as a political pamphlet in numbered paragraphs. Jonathan Swift wrote his political pamphlet for the richer and more educated people of Ireland. Swift writes about the problem of homelessness and then puts forwards his solutions to how he thinks he can solve the problem.
One of the problems that Swift outlines in his short paragraphs was that ‘Streets, the Roads, and Cabbin-Doors, are crowded with Beggars of the female Sex, followed by three, four or six children.’ His solution to the problem is also put forward in a short paragraph and that is for the women to sell a young baby for the richer people to eat. I think this is a revolting idea I couldn’t see a women selling her baby for little money and I also couldn’t imagine a person eating anther person, but Swift thought this was the way to solve the problem of homelessness and also for the poor to get some money for selling their babies and also for the rich people to eat. When Swift wrote the text, he wrote it to put the message across about homelessness and to make people laugh about what he wrote but also to make the rich more aware of how bad the problem of homelessness is in Ireland.
These short paragraphs that Swift wrote are brief but the get right to the point and get the point across.
On the other hand, Robert Swindells story is written in chapters. Each chapter contains an interesting story and lets the reader know what the cold winter is like for the homeless. ‘Stone Cold’ was written for the young people who are interested in the matter. Robert Swindells story is expressed through events, characters and description, and his anger at the way young homeless people are treated. For example when Link went to the DSS he was not able to sign up for the dole, again because of the problem of not having a fixed address. Swindells expresses his anger towards how he was treated when he said I might as well be speaking to a stone lion in Trafalgar Square. Swindells wrote about this particular event through the main character Link, where he expressed his own feelings with that comment. He also mentions how unfair the public treat them when he says that they are called druggy dossers, which I think is totally unfair as the public do not know what the homeless are like they just think there scruffy people because they live on the streets.
Voices in the two texts for comparison
Both texts contain various voices, which play their part in getting the authors point of view across.
However, although both Swift and Swindells have similar points to make about the vulnerability of the poor and the greed of the uncaring rich, they make them in very different ways by using different types of voices in their texts.
For example in Swift’s political pamphlet, Swift adopts the voice of one of the uncaring rich who thinks he has solved the problem of the poor so money can be made out of it.
His solution to the problem was to sell the young babies of the poor to the rich so they could eat them. He says that an American friend told him at the age of 1 a child is a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food.
I think this is a very different solution to the problem, as we would try and solve it today, but 250 years ago people needed money and Swift thought of this as away to help the poor and also to feed the rich.
In other words, he plays devils advocate. Looking more closely, however there is another voice, which appears in the text from time to time, and the voice is Swift’s own. This voice reveals his real anger about the unjust treatment of the poor.
Example, 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.
So Swift expresses his own feelings hear as in the last sentence he says the parents have already been eaten by the landlords so why not eat the children as well. The way in which he has written it is done by satire and irony. Humour and ridicule also grab the attention of the reader, and make you stop and realise what the problem is and what needs to be done about it.
Example, he says the skin of the babies can be used to make gloves for ladies and summer boots for fine gentlemen. If you look at that statement it makes you laugh at the idea of making ladies gloves and summer boots for fine gentlemen but at the same time make you think that there really are to many homeless people and something needs to be done about without the parents selling there children to be eaten.
Where as in ‘Stone Cold’ there are three voices, Link, the psychopath and the author.
The voice of the psychopath is the symbolic voice of the author’s anger at what society is doing to the homeless. His voice is like a diary or daily routine as he plans to kill the homeless to solve the problem. The author’s voice comes through strong in this character because it makes you think what the thoughts of the public are towards the homeless and how the public feel the problem of homelessness can be solved. The other character in ‘Stone Cold’ is Link who tells his part of the story by expressing his feelings to what it is like to live on the streets in the cold hard winter. The author also appears in this character now and again. For example the authors anger is expressed when Link went to the DSS and he was not able to sign up for the dole, again because of the problem of not having a fixed address. Swindells expresses his anger towards how he was treated when he said I might as well be speaking to a stone lion in Trafalgar Square. So as you can see from that example the voice of the author does come through from time to time particularly at this time because of how unfair he was treated by the DSS.
I am now going to compare the solutions of the two texts and the ways in which they are similar.
The solutions to the two texts are similar because both writers solutions appear to be to kill the homeless, to get them of the streets and make the place look tidier, but the way in which they kill the homeless are very different.
In ‘A Modest Proposal’ the solution to the problem is to getting rid of the homeless is,
A man shall serve four women owned by a landlord, the women shall then have a baby and at a year old shall sell the babies to the landlords for them to either eat or sell and the women shall receive little money in the process, barely enough to survive.
Where as in ‘Stone Cold’ the way in which the author gets rid of the homeless is through the psychopath. The psychopath kills off the homeless by planning whom he is going to kill and then leads them back to his house where he kills them. So as you can see the author’s solutions to the problems are similar in a way as they both seem to kill the homeless to get rid of them, but the way they go about doing it is very different.
Conclusion
I preferred the ‘Stone Cold’ text because I like the action and the excitement it brings, as we don’t know who will strike next.
I think ‘Stone Cold’ gets the message across better because it is easier to understand.
