Response to Swift

I feel that from this passage, Swift is trying to distill some integrity into the Irish society.  Mainly, the upper and middle class society that “ controls” the economy.  He feels that they are falling weak, and should take a stand and fight for their nation.  Not just a stand for themselves, the so-called rich,  which would be a contradiction to his speech, but for the whole nation.  His suggestions about feeding on young humans is not a realistic idea.  Instead, it is a comparison to what the he feels his society is doing to itself.  Letting someone, or something, take over is an abomination, just as eating an infant, is an abomination.  

The purpose for this suggestion, was to give an example that would provoke emotions from his audience.  The emotion he expects from the same audience had he been talking about his actual concerns.  Basically, he is making fun of his audience, thinking that they have no drive or emotion to care about the problems right in front of their face, he has to make some abhorring comparison to cannibalism in order to make his point and receive a response.

His solution to the problem starts with the poor and the poor reproducing.  His point is that either there should be some kind of population control, or governmental interference when the poor population starts to boom.  He reasoning is that they have less opportunity that the rest of the society and the middle class landlords and upper-class have no care to control what they let happen, nor take action to prevent it.  Both of these careless acts causing the destruction of the nation internally.  To breed, is simply pointless, the offspring have no future the further down the family chain they are, creating a strain on the economy.

He gives verbatim evidence to his proposition.  This is his stance, hence his Swiftian irony, is a balanced view, he is using the babies as a form of bait and weapon against the people, or audience he is intending to reach.  He wants to say the grotesque things he is saying, but in a way that in the end will trigger a response to the higher and middle class audience he is trying to reach. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

To serve man? Or to "serve" man? That is the question

http://www.hellblazer.com/media/to_serve_man_apron-p154819963460785658q6wc_400.jpg

"The Bark Side"

I feel this this advertisement is very effective in its appeal to Pathos.  The commercial has the Star Wars theme being "performed" by dogs of all different breeds.  Firstly, the use of the Star Wars theme is very nostalgic to many people, and is a great key element to catch the viewers attention.  Many people have grown up with and are still loyal fans of the trilogy today.  The fact that the commercial also uses canines, "Man's Best Friend", as the main solicitors appeals to an even broader audience, including the main audience of football fans.  The only stipulation I have with this commercial, and maybe it could simply be me missing the point, is it is not very cohesive.  It is an advertisement selling a Volkswagen vehicle by way of dogs barking to the Star Wars theme song.  What?? Regardless, I believe the advertisement successfully accomplishes catching the attention of the viewer and soliciting the merchandise effectively.  Who doesn't love adorable dogs barking a familiar tune dressed up as Star Wars characters?

Thesis Statement

"Bartleby’s ghostly presence in the story is the result of a breakdown of the narrator’s mind. In fact, Bartleby does not exist at all as an actual scrivener, but instead represents a part of the narrator that he wishes to repress in order to become a more effective and industrious worker. "

I chose to work on the above thesis statement for my analysis essay of Bartleby the Scrivener .  I feel this statement is most consistent with the story and what the actual meaning could be.  However, I do not agree with the last part of the statement, " In order to become a more effective and industrious worker".  I feel the first part of the statement is accurate, but the second part is what I will focus on disproving by an alternate theory in my analysis.

Bartleby the Scrivener

“ So true, it is, and so terrible too, that up to a certain point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections; but, in certain special cases, beyond that point it does not.  They err who would assert that invariably this is owing to the inherent selfishness of the human heart.  It rather proceeds from a certain hopelessness of remedying excessive and organic ill.” (page 35)

The above passage taken from “Bartleby the Scrivener” I believe does a great job summing up the overall story.  This specific passage focuses on human emotion and why we feel we owe others sympathy.  To feel pity for someone, as the narrator did for Bartleby, is a normal human emotion.  When we feel our luck is better than others’, such as a house to live in, a car to drive, a loving family, etc., we feel we owe them something.  This something is the energy and effort it takes one to feel and emotion for said other person.  Evaluating in our mind the blessings that we have, and this other did not, takes time and effort, even it only last a couple seconds in a thought.

The passage speaks of going beyond these simple thoughts also.  Does the average person think it a crime to feel pity for another?  No, unless that thought goes too far.  Going too far would be for one to pride themselves in lending emotion to another.  This would be an example of defacing the good samaritan law.  We should never feel satisfaction, as humans, in another’s suffering or misfortunes.  In the story of Bartleby the Scrivener, the narrator is battling his emotions surrounding the writer.  On the one hand, his soul pities the introverted copyist, on the other, he feels so much resistance from the man, it is almost overwhelming.  He wants Bartleby gone from his office and his life, once he has that satisfaction, Bartleby dies.  

This is where the organic ill comes into play.  The narrator’s emotions of pity for Bartleby were magnified by the fact that, he once despised the man and wished him gone.  This has given him a complex that he addressed when Bartleby died, his human emotion was rendered in excess from his previous emotions of ill will towards the pitied Bartleby.

                                                                                          Wall Street 1929