Fab
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In response to the review from 'a reader' below- have you never heard of a satire?? I read this in the first year of an english degree and have to say that I found it really thought provoking as it has a very dry witty theme throughout and it is meant to be taken lightly after all!
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a modest mistake?
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The book A Modest Proposal, written in the first instance by Swift in pamphlet form, is a wonderful piece of social commentary. The reviewer "a reader" appears to have completely missed the point, however, in not recognising the desired effect of this pamplet on the citizens of London. Plagued by crime and poverty, London of Swift's time was a place run as an autocracy, with many politicians and other people with high and influential social standing of a mentality far removed from reality. Swift's intended readership was these people, of upper middle and higher status, and in offering them a "solution" to the problems involved with mass poverty and crime, was actually illuminating their own misconceptions and haughtiness concerning the issue. His "modest proposal" was designed to shock and cause a reconsideration of opinion, rather than to amuse in the same way a horror film does today. Indeed, it is in this fashion that Swift is one of the first employers of "shock tactics" in politics.
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The book was an insight.
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This book opened my eyes to ideas that hadn't even occured to me before. Even the thought of some of the suggestions that were mentioned made me cringe with a gripping fear that someone could think of things like that. I thouroughly enjoyed the book as it takes a great deal of guts to wrote what he did and I only hope that his proposal is not prophetic! It amazes me that someone could create such ideas, but the way that he proposes them is clever and well thought out.
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