'A Modest Proposal' --Jonathan Swift... QUICK QUESTION?!?

Question

for anyone who is familiar with this satirical piece... when Swift says (in the 9th paragraph i believe) "I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London[...]", is he talking about an American as we know it today (as in someone from the colonies, what we know as the USA)?

or, by American, is he referring to a person of another descent? maybe south american? or what? PLEASE HELP!

Answer 1

I think you are too concerned with the identity of the "American". Considering that this person was one Swift purports to have met in London, it argues more for someone from the English colonies in North America, but again I think that misses the point.

Swift is writing a sustained satire, he means not to be read seriously on a superficial level, but as an attack/commentary on British society, their attitude toward Ireland, how they conceive social problems and their solution etc. He knows the idea is barbarous in its face, so he puts it into motion through the mouth of an American--who in those days would have been considered little better than a savage, in the eyes of the ordinary Briton.

And that, I'd suggest is the point of making this likely fictional person "an American".

Answer 2

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

“The author follows this up with an anecdote about the natives of Formosa and their cannibalistic practices.”

Is this in South America? You will find the quote near the bottom of the summary for Paragraphs 8-19.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/modestproposal/section2.rhtml


Study Guides:

These links will give you a summary of the book, character analysis, plot and much more, so that you will be able to answer literary questions.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/modestproposal/

http://www.novelguide.com/amodestproposal/

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/prose/modestproposal.htm