6. Jonathan Swift

English government
2012-11-3084. A Modest Proposal:
Full title: A Modest Proposal for
Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public
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I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least
personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing.
It is an attack on pedantry in the literary world.
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3. Pamphlets on Ireland
(1). The
Drapier’s Letters
A patent to supplying copper coins
William Wood Wood
我恳切声明：本人提议此事，确因必要，绝无半点私图，动机 只是为了国家公益，为了增加贸易，安置儿童，救济贫民，同 时也给有钱人一点乐趣。本人并无子女能从中取得分文，盖最 幼之儿已经九岁，老妻也早过生育之年了。
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A. The features of Swift’s satire
His satire is masked by an outward gravity,
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Page 97
在此请允许我冒昧的提出我的拙见，希望不会遭到异议。 在伦敦结识的一个博学的美国朋友曾经向我保证，一个被细心
的看护至一岁大的年幼的健康的小孩是最美味、滋补和健康的 食品，无论是用炖、烘烤或是煮的；而且我毫不怀疑，将这样 的小孩做成炖肉丁或菜炖肉都会一样美味。 因此，请允许我冒昧的向公众提出我的拙见，将记录在册的120， 000孩童中留下20，000个用来繁殖后代，其中1/4须是男孩。这 个数目比我们养的羊、黑牛和猪多多了。我的理由是，这些孩 子大部分都不是婚姻的结晶，而既然我们这些野蛮人并不注重 婚姻这种形式，那么一个男人足以应付4个女人。对于剩下的 100，000个孩子，可以在他们一岁时卖给上流社会人士（食 用）；叫他们的妈妈在出售前一个月喂足奶，让他们又肥又胖 可以卖个好价钱。（一般而言）一个孩子可以做成两个菜招待 朋友，而当家庭自己聚餐时，身体的前后1/4段就足够提供一盘 好菜色，如果加少许胡椒粉和盐，在第四天下锅就能煮出美食， 特别是在冬天。
诚然，此类食品不免价昂，但也因此更合地主们享用。他们既已吞食了 儿童的父母，当然也最有资格饱餐这些儿童。

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Page100-101
It would bring about much revenue. It would help the people to pay the rent. It would save the cost of maintaining many
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2. He held the opinion that human
nature was seriously and permanently flawed, thus human nature and human institutions both need constant reform and improvement.
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1. Story Plot
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A. Island of Lilliput
Gulliver and
Lilliputians Gulliver— “the great man mountain”
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III. Major Works
1. A Tale of a Tub: a religious satire A father (Christ)
Coats (Christian doctrines) Peter: Roman Catholics Martin: Anglicans Jack: Puritans
and an apparent calmness conceals his bitter irony. A naive narrator—The character does not comprehend the implications of what he or she is telling.
Jonathan Swift
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I. Life (1667-1745)
Be born in Dublin, Ireland A posthumous son Trinity College in Dublin Sir William Temple To work in a little church Whigs & Tories A dictator of political opinions To join in the struggles of Irish people He died in asylum.
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I have reckoned upon a medium that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, increaseth to 28 pounds.
children. It would lessen the number of the Catholics. It would be a great inducement to marriage.
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But as to my self, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length despairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this proposal, which as it is wholly new, so it hath something solid and real, of no expense and little trouble, full in our own power, and whereby we can incur no danger in disobliging England. For this kind of commodity will
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II. Points of View
1. He was a fighter for truth, justice,
equality, and freedom. He attacked all forms of hypocrisy, vice, war, corruption and exploitation. He sympathized with the poor and the oppressed.
至于我本人，在提了多年空洞、不切实际的意见，劳而无功之后，以为 再无良策了，幸而想到这个建议，不但完全是新的，而且内容切实，化 钱不多，费事不大，靠我们自力就可实行，因而不会冒得罪英格兰的风 险。这类商品不宜出口，因肉质太嫩，不宜长期盐腌——不过我也可以 说出一个国家的名字，它是可以不加盐就把我们整个民族吃掉的。
我曾计算，初生儿每个平均重12磅，养育得当，一年后可重28磅。
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.
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2. The Battle of the Books
The Bee & the Spider To collect honey & to spin web
The ancient writers & the modern writers
Homer,Aristotle, Plato; Milton, Bacon…
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B. Theme
Swift exposed the miseries of the poor
Irish people and attacked the inhuman cruelties of landlords
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IV. Masterpiece:
Gulliver’s Travels
not bear exportation, the flesh being of too tender a consistence, to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it.
It is a satire upon all religious sects.
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allegory fable parable
这组字都是指用虚构的人物和事件编成的故事，以教导或说明

一项道德原则。 Allegory和parable均不直接道出寓意，却把它留待听的人去体会。 Allegory通常长篇而复杂，包含很多人物角色，情节丰富； parable则简短，而且总是将道德教训加入人人都熟悉的事务中。 Fable是寓言，通常在最后道出给人的教训，并且藉着能说话的 动物，反映人性的体裁把故事叙述出来。例如：[Dante's Divine Comedy is an allegory based on the struggle between the city-states of what is now Italy ;The fable of the tortoise and the hare drives home the moral that steady, persistent application is more rewarding in the end than arrogant, unstable brilliance The parable of the New Testament make abstract moral principles concrete and vivid