Swindells wrote the book partly to influence the politicians because he wanted to do something about the crisis of homelessness. It was also to give other readers such as teenagers an insight into the horrors of homelessness.
Swift also wrote the book for the government using a spoof economic argument. He also had social concerns about the poverty of the Catholics. When he wrote A Modest Proposal he made fun of the economics of that time showing how ridiculous their arguments were.
Swindells wrote a thriller which uses a psychopathic character Shelter who stalks Link. Shelter builds up suspense because the reader doesn’t know if Link will be murdered or not.
“It’s what they’re seeking, the street people. What they crave. If they can only find Shelter everything will be fine. Well get fell in my lucky lads. I’m ready for you.”
Daily Routine Orders 1
This suspense is intensified every time Shelter kills someone. Link is suspicious of all the people going missing around him. The suspense is built upon until right at the end where Shelter and Link clash where Link is under the grasp of Shelter but the police come to Links aid. The story is concentrated on homelessness but Swindells constructs Shelter to create a thrilling story full of suspense and tragedy.
Swift writes his proposal in the voice of an upper class protestant who suggests outrageous ways in which to get rid of homelessness in form of satire. He uses ridiculous ideas which are argued logically as though the points made are sensible and must be taken under consideration. He wanted to make the Protestants realise how the Catholics are suffering, that the demands they make upon the Catholics are outrageous just as his proposal is. He wanted to cause outrage and offence to make people aware of issues, to show how logic and reasoning can be dangerous.
Swindells shocks his readers by producing a character that is breaking the law by committing first degree murder.
“I strode out and he trotted at my heels like a ruddy poodle.”
“Cruel, I don’t think so. He’s neither cold nor hungry. Nobody wanted him so nobody will miss him, and there; one less dosser to clutter up the place. Who loses?”
Daily Routine Orders 5
He sends out a mad man with a master plan of getting rid of all the homeless, just choosing his victims as he goes along. This is created to show the instability and dangers of the homeless. The character Shelter is presented as a psychologically unbalanced person who will kill whosoever gets in his way. The tone of Shelter when reviewing his killings is wicked, he speaks sardonically.
Link portrays the dangers furthermore when he goes looking for his missing friend on the street. The way Link is lowered into Shelters flat makes the reader; the government realise how brutally dangerous it is for the homeless. They may be wooed into an unknown’s home at any time without the knowledge of anyone in the outside world.
Another danger is portrayed in the character of Shelter, he looks like a normal person who is an ex army guy discharged on medical grounds. In reality he is insane though no one has any knowledge of this.
“Time for a brief discourse on the subject of killing. Killing humans. Murder, not to put too fine a point on it. As a soldier, it was my chief function to kill, waste, do in-whatever you want to call it.”
Daily Routine Orders 2
He explains how he kills and disposes of the bodies in an immoral way. The message is that it can trick any homeless child. This is how Swindells influences the reader into realising how dangerous homelessness can be. Shelter folks on about how easy it is to get a homeless child into his home; offer a warm place to stay and food to eat and they’ll come running.
Swindells also reveals the conditions throughout the novel with the character of Link. Link explains that sometimes you have to do something illegal just to find a place to sleep. He also explains how thieves are desperate, they may even kill.
“You might be spotted by a gang of larger louts on the lookout for someone to maim. If they get carried away you may end up dead.”
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Through the character of Link Swindells describes how whatever position you sleep in you will always end up with bruises on your head, arms, legs e.t.c. sleeping on cement is just the same. He shows that the government do not care.
Swift uses a persona which represents an upper class protestant. He writes of the futility of life as he saw it. In the first paragraph he shocks his readers by saying how good a child will be for killing and making food to then sell.
“ I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed at a year old is a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome food whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled.”
Page 2
He uses sarcasm and irony. He goes into great depth of the advantages of his proposal. He says it will lessen the number of poor Catholic people which shows the narrations prejudices. For example he writes
“There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, alas, too frequent among us!”
Page 2
Through this irony Swift was trying to say how horrific and evil the Protestants were towards the Catholics. Swift was trying to say the Protestants were better off doing this than treating them the way in which they did. Swift shows how little the Protestants care. He says the Protestants think the Catholics are full of diseases and are not worth working. They cause famine, cold and filth. This is what the persona does. It talks about the thought the Protestants have. This was a social concern that Swift had about the Catholics.
The styles used in both novels are different; Swindells story is narrated from the first person. He is talking through his own experiences, he wanted to change peoples views as to what they thought of the homeless; disgusted self inflicted dossers who don’t want to work, addicts who don’t have anyone to blame but their selves.
Although in A Modest Proposal the ‘I’ is not Swift. Swift is talking as an upper class protestant. Swift has effectively written a satire about the state of Britain at that time.
I think that both pieces of text are very effective in what they are set out to do. They are effectual and powerful to a given extent and analyse their tasks thoroughly. Stone Cold describes the dangers of homelessness in detail while A Modest Proposal causes outrage amongst people to make them aware of issues. I conclude that both pieces are aimed at the government and would make a great effect in the laws for homelessness and Catholics.
