Tentative Thesis Paragraph

PDI provided by "Getty" - also oddly spooky.

    For my analysis of Swift I don't want to spend much time covering the condition of Ireland. Instead I chose to dig for his personal motivations in writing this essay. Rather than looking at it from the angle of a man defending the poor, I read this essay as the thoughts of a man that thinks very poorly of his intended audience. I think the following summarizes my impressions as best I can state them:

    In Swift’s writing “A Modest Proposal” he was not speaking to his countrymen. Instead Swift spoke to an oppressive force in Ireland that was strangling the life from the nation’s economy and people. Swift was not embarking on a crusade to implore the mercy of those responsible; this essay was not a mission of peace. Swift used his text to assault the very thought processes of those he saw responsible for the state of his home nation. In a single elegantly crafted essay Swift speaks to the state of his impoverished nation; using the careful wording of his respectable and proper opponents to make a travesty of their very rationale. Swift did not seek the enlightenment of these individuals to stir change. Swift sought to humiliate his targeted audience and to thoroughly illuminate their shameful actions and disregard for the people of Ireland.


 When looking for support for my argument I came across a very well written summary and analysis of Swift's essay by Howard Bromberg. I would suggest giving it a read if only for his wording. While it's not necessarily support for my views, I found it interesting.