I thought that Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal was an interesting read. Although I knew he was a satirist by skimming the blurb about him before actually reading the article, it took me a bit before realizing it was an entirely satirical article. So initially I was completely disturbed when Swift was conveying his plan to help the economy by turning to cannibalism but towards the end I found parts of it funny. In the article itself, he did a great job of evoking different emotions from the audience so they could connect with the article whether it was a positive or negative connection. He started off painting an unfortunate picture of the prevalence of beggars then transitions to the value of children depending on the gender, the size, the age, etc., and discussing the opportunity for a child to provide a nutritious meal. This part actually made me think of a scene from Sweeny Todd when they would murder people and use the body parts in the meals they served to customers, which they responded very well too, (of course not realizing that they were being fed human parts). This also made me wonder, if people were fed human body parts without being told they were, whether or not they would enjoy it. Personally, I would never turn to cannibalism, even if I was starving and at the point of death. No one knows for certain how they would act in a situation unless they have been through it, but I fully believe that I would rather die than eat another human. Do you think you would be okay with eating a human if it meant it would save you from death?
Corbin, Alain. The village of cannibals: rage and murder in France, 1870
1 comment:
Likewise I was aware that the article was satirical, had I not known that I would have been way more offended than I actually was. Even though it was a satirical article I still found the prospect of eating children offensive to my moral judgment. I can't imagine any point in my life, even on the brink of death, that I would indulge in such a sinister thing as baby eating. I like how you brought Sweeny Todd into the picture. I am a fan of the musical myself even though human meat pies are for me a big turn off.
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