In the Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift ridicules the government of his country with exaggeration, irony, and humor in order to inspire a change in power. The Modest Proposal, is my lens text which uses different literary devices to cue the audience that it is a satire. One example that Swift uses a literary device to ridicule the government is, when he proposes the idea of eating babies. By proposing this idea, Swift also shows the benefits of eating babies to improve the issues in his country. These benefits include; slowing down the rate of population, to decreases overpopulation, providing food for the poor and hungry, and improving the health of many sick citizens, due the rich nutrients found in babies.  As morbid as Swift sounds, he made logical reasons for consuming babies. Was Swift serious about eating newborns? Absolutely not. The reasoning for Swifts proposal, was to poke fun at the government’s rule. The author was trying to say the governments decisions over the country were about as silly as eating babies. By using these devices such as exaggeration, and irony, Swift created a way to criticize his government through a humorous and less threatening manner. This piece of satire was used to appeal to the citizens under the rule of the government at the time. Whenever the citizens see the exaggerations Swift is making of the government, it reveals the flaws in their law making. To continue, in this piece the protagonist is perceived to be the poor and lower class. The lower class and poor are seemed to be attacked in this story, because the government has forgotten them. One of Swift’s reasons for writing this, was to bring attention to the conditions the government have put the poor in. Jonathan believed there was enough issues, and decided to address them by calling out the government. 

My second piece, which is the target text,  is called, “ I Am Sorry That I Didn’t Write a Comedy Piece” by Wendy Molyneux. This piece corresponds with my lens text, “A Modest Proposal’. In “I Am Sorry…” the author uses the same elements of satire, found in A Modest Proposal, in order to critique gender stereotypes presented by a critic. In this story we see many examples of humor to appeal to the audience. Wendy uses these elements, which are presented by Jonathan Swift, to break the stereotype of women not being humorous. For example, Wendy uses sarcasm, just as did Swift.  One example of this we see, is in the line, “I mean, I probably shouldn’t even try to write a comedy piece since Christopher Hitchens wrote an article in Vanity Fair saying that women just aren’t funny. He’s probably right.” This shows the same type of devices used by both authors to ridicule another element, but we also know it’s different. Although, they both use the same devices, there are major differences in the pieces too. In “I Am Sorry…”, the author is dealing with gender stereotypes opposed to a failing government. To continue, the major difference is the time. In the Modest Proposal, Swift was dealing with issues dating in the 1700’s, while in “ I Am Sorry…” Molyneux is exposing modern issues. Due to the difference in time, the pieces have a different approach of satire. In my opinion Swift’s piece contained a lot more hidden ridicule, compared to Wendy’s piece. In Wendy’s story, her insults are a lot more directed to critic. I believe that the difference of times affected this. In the 1700’s, Swift could have been punished for his remarks against the government, while in the modern day it is a lot easier to get away with freedom of speech. This freedom allowed Wendy to be more open about her satire. Overall, both authors use the same elements to create a satire piece, but time difference influences our understanding in the genre. 