Discuss the ways in which Jonathon Swift and George Orwell create a sense of disgust in the reader in 'Gulliver's Travels', 'A Modest Proposal' and 'How The Poor Die'. Whose approach do you find more effective and why.
Discuss the ways in which Jonathon Swift and George Orwell create a sense of disgust in the reader in 'Gulliver's Travels', 'A Modest Proposal' and 'How The Poor Die'. Whose approach do you find more effective and why. Firstly, when looking at these three pieces, the authors' reasons and objectives for disgusting the reader should be explored. Both Orwell and Swift were seeking social reform, but Swift chose a more extreme method of persuasion. In 'Gulliver's Travels' Swift uses the disgusting to make the reader look at how the supposedly civilised Gulliver is behaving, and question their own actions and society. In 'A Modest Proposal', Swift is writing in order to persuade the reader to consider a proper answer to the Irish question, disgusting the reader so they realise just how dire the situation actually is. However, in 'How The Poor Die', Orwell is writing initially to inform the reader of the situation in the Paris hospital, though indirectly influencing their thoughts. Orwell and Swift disgust the reader in different ways: Swift uses the scatological to repulse the reader whereas, Orwell uses less physical, more emotional ways to disgust his audience. Orwell tugs at the emotions of his readers by discussing how people were 'dying among strangers'. Statements like that horrify the reader, but in a different manner to Swift's more basic descriptions of bodily functions,
Comparing Animal Farm and Gulliver's Travels
Wide Reading Assignment In both Animal Farm and Gulliver's Travels, there are many parts which comment on human behaviour. However, neither book approaches this subject directly. Both stories are allegories - stories that have two meanings. The surface meaning is simple and is usually portrayed in the form of a simple story. This makes it easy for the reader to understand what is going on. Underneath the surface is a deeper meaning that is harder to understand. Animal Farm Animal farm is a story about a good idea going terribly wrong because of greed, jealousy and power. An idea is put forward for a world where animals rule themselves. At first this is a good idea. The farmer, Mr Jones, is thrown off the farm and Animalism comes into practice. Later on, however, certain animals become more and more like leaders, and after a while the farm is being ruled by a dictator. George Orwell decided to write Animal Farm because he was concerned about things that were going on in the world, mainly the Russian Revolution. In Russia, an idea was being spread around about communism, where all people are equal and there are no leaders. Orwell could see problems with this idea of communism. He wrote Animal Farm so that other people could also see these problems. In the book, communism is known as Animalism. Orwell knew that if he sat down and wrote a book about the Russian Revolution,
Swift's Satire Rewrite
Brandon E Bailey Honors British Literature December 3, 2005 Swift's Satire Rewrite The main purpose of satire is to attack and intensely criticize the target subject (individuals, organizations, states, etc.) through irony, sarcasm, and innuendo often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. This is superbly carried out in the classic piece of satire Gulliver's Travels, Swift uses satire to criticize the haphazard decision making strategy of high ranking government officials. This very concept is still prevalent in today's society. A prime example of this exists with the Iraqi war. Swift allows his feelings about the situations of his people and people of other places under British rule to show through. In Gulliver's Travels, Swift also expresses his contempt for the English and the way they treated, rather, mistreated, the people of their country. In the Voyage to Lilliput, the Emperor fought a war over the "correct" way to break an egg. The people of Lilliput choose to break their eggs over the small end, while their Belfuscan counterparts cracked their eggs on the big end. "It is allowed on all hands, that the primitive way of breaking eggs before we eat them, was upon the larger end: but his present Majesty's grandfather, while he was a boy, going to eat an egg... happened to cut one of his fingers."(598) Swift portrayed his contempt for the way
Discuss the ways in which Swift criticises his society in 'A Modest Proposal'.
Discuss the ways in which Swift criticises his society in 'A Modest Proposal'. The proposal that Swift wrote, was aimed at the high class Protestants in Ireland. Swift wanted to show them the injustice of his time of how the Catholics were treated. In his pamphlet, he criticises many different things, such as marriage relationships and landowner behaviour, and then links them to a main criticism, which is how badly the Protestants treat the Catholics, and how they have not realised how bad it really is. Swift used many satirical techniques to bring his point across and by doing so, he had hoped to make the Protestants realised how immoral they were being. Swift creates a narrator as so the reader, who is intended to be a Protestant of high class, can relate to. An example of this is, "It is a melancholy Object to those, who walk through this great Town, or travel in the Country, when they see the Streets, the Roads, and Cabbin-Doors, crowded with Beggars of the female sex." Here, Swift starts his pamphlet with a long articulated sentence from the narrator, as so the reader can associate with him because of the upper class phrasing and wording, and want to continue reading. The word 'melancholy' shows us the reader is high class and well spoken, and shows how he has respect for his town. We also see his disapproval towards the peasants because they are ruining everything.
Gulliver in Brobdingnag.
Ranita Ang Comparative Literature 2CW Assignment #1 October 15, 2003 Gulliver in Brobdingnag The setting of the passage to be analyzed here is that of Gulliver's voyage to a land of giants. The speaker's context here is the basic comic devices of reversal and exaggeration. When the dimensions of things are reversed there is a comic effect. When clowns at the circus ride around in a tiny car the effect is hilarious. In a famous Gary Larsen cartoon a gigantic monster is seen peering into a man's car through the wing mirror which reads: "Things reflected in this mirror may appear to be larger than they are." The comic context employed by the speaker in the following passage, then, is that of a man suddenly turned tiny by circumstances beyond his control. There are, of course, classical antecedents for this type of size reversal. Odysseus in the cave of Cyclops would provide the best example. There are, no doubt, many who would argue that this incident in the Odyssey is not meant as humor. May we not at least wonder, however, if some of Homer's audiences didn't chuckle when they heard about how the "subtle" Odysseus outwitted the giant? It will be argued in the following that Swift's intention throughout Part II as a whole is comic irony, and that the passage to be analyzed typifies the situation in which Gulliver finds himself when surrounded by giants. Starting
In a Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift, the main objective was to draw attention to the plight of the Irish people and motiva
In a Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift, the main objective was to draw attention to the downfall of the Irish people and motivate readers to find a workable solution. Unlike most essays, this is written for the reader to see through what the narrator is expressing. Swift shows the readers his proposal mainly through irony. Irony can be defined as expressing the opposite of what is meant. This is a great technique of the sense of humor and sarcasm used in the proposal and in Swift. One of the voices that are present throughout the story is that of irony. The story itself is ironic since no one can take Swift's proposal seriously. This irony is clearly demonstrated at the end of the story; Swift makes it clear that this proposal would not affect him since his children were grown and his wife unable to have any more children. It is a great contradiction and absurdity that a husband and father propose the idea of cannibalism. The narrator does not want the reader to agree that the solution to overpopulation and poverty in Ireland is to eat babies; he wants the reader to see there needs to be a practical solution. Although something seems one way to the narrator, Jonathan Swift wants the reader to see it in an opposite light. Swift's opposition is indirectly presented. The author uses satire to accomplish his objective not only because he is able to conceal his true
How Gulliver's Travels Satirises the Politics of Swift's Time.
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift Gulliver's Travels was written during an era of change known as the Restauration Period. The way this book is written suggests some of the political themes from that time period, including the well-known satire. These themes are displayed throughout Gulliver's Travels, and even sometimes reflect upon today's society. While Swift was writing “Gulliver's Travels”in the 1720s, England was undergoing a lot of political shuffling. George I, a Hanoverian prince of Germany, had ascended the British throne in 1714 after the death of Queen Anne ended the Stuart line. Although he was not a bad or repressive king, he was unpopular. King George had gained his throne with the assistance of the Whig party, and his Whig ministers subsequently used their considerable gains in power to oppress members of the opposition Tory party. Swift had been a Tory since 1710, and bitterly resented the Whig actions against his friends, who often faced exile or worse. Understanding how events in Europe and England led to this political rivalry can help the reader of Swift's novel better understand his satire. Written in four parts, it describes the travels of Lemuel Gulliver to Lilliput, a land inhabited by tiny people whose size renders all their pompous activities absurd; to Brogdinnags, a land of wandering giants who are amused when Gulliver tells