Week 2 Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal

After reading these selections I have a much better idea of satire. Reading the history beforehand really helped gather an idea of where Swift received ideas for his writing. I enjoyed Gulliver's Travels but at times would get lost when the other language would come into play. The story caught my attention right away and I was intrigued with this unknown land. When Gulliver spoke of his country of England I felt that everything he spoke about was negative. I know that he was caught up in this perfect place but he made it seem like he had nothing positive to say about where he was from. I also did not understand why the Huoyhnhnms still accepted him even though they thought he was a yahoo. I know that he was intelligent and the yahoo's were not, but it still surprised how accepting they were of him. 

In A Modest Proposal I was reading the text with my mouth dropping most of the time. I did read the history from before and that did help set the scene, but I was still surprised at how descriptive he was. I know that Ireland was willing to do anything to gather independence from England. I guess Swift was just trying to give an extreme example of how serious they were. After reading though I wonder how the Irish reacted to the pamphlet. Even though he was just trying to get a point across, he was very extreme with his plan at singling out the poor and their children. The Irish were going through a famine at the time but I am sure they did not like reading of how poor their country really was. I know that several citizens left to find freedom elsewhere. I am very curious to keep reading the history during that time and how if all concluded.