Upon an initial analysis of Johnathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, I found myself wondering who he intended as his audience. Luckily, I found a scholarly source which provides that analysis for me. The essay “Have you Eaten Yet? the Reader in A Modest Proposal” by Robert Phiddian addresses the issue of the audience in Swift’s work. Phiddian examines Swifts intentions with his proposal in terms of its effectiveness. He claims that “The Modest Proposal is simply too aggressively alienating to be a successful as a hoax” and offers that we stop viewing at as such (Phiddian 605). He makes a bold claim about the nature of Swifts proposal which, when put into conversation with my other sources, will be very enlightening.
I found this source using Google Scholar. Unfortunately, I don’t remember which terms I used to find it but Google ultimately led me to this JStore article. I chose to use this source because it makes arguments about Swift’s rhetorical position which is something we have discussed at length in class.
MLA Citation:
Phiddian, Robert. “Have You Eaten Yet? the Reader in A Modest Proposal”. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 36.3 (1996): 603–621. Web.
I think this is an awesome source, Eli! It taps directly into a lot of the questions you have. Good find.
The citation is very close–punctuation for the article title will be inside the quotation marks, and the “The” needs to begin with a capital letter.