英国文学 读书笔记

《英国文学》课程作业

2

学号：

2

姓名：杨婧

班级：

原英三

系

10

班

A Modest Proposal

This article is a bitter satire on the policy of English government towards the Irish

people. Swift in this essay suggested to the Irish people that the best way to end their

misery was to produce children and sell them at market as delicious dish for the rich.

However, for most Chinese people,

fresh to us,

especially in Lu Xun renowned novel

A Madman's Diary.

I

have

seen

a

commentary

which

compared

the

cannibalisms

between

A

Modest

Proposal

and

A

Madman's

Diary.

According

to

writer

of

this

commentary,

cannibalism, as a prototype, existed in our collective subconscious. He explained that

the

prototype

is

a

kind

of

memory

of

our

human

beings,

coming

from

the

ancient

times'

images.

And

these

images

would

reappear

in

different

ways.

We

could

find

some in our literary works, such as in England heroic poetry

Beowolf,

the monster ate

the warriors.

Besides,

in

this

commentary,

the

author

mentioned

that

in

A

Madman's

Diary,

and

people's

view

were

talked

many

times,

and

these

organs

consisted

of

the

major

details

of

cannibalism.

On

the

other

hand,

Swift

focused

on

describing how to cook babies.

most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or

boiled, and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a

fricassee, or ragout.

when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and

seasoned

with

a

little

pepper

or

salt

will

be

very

good

boiled

on

the

fourth

day,

especially

in

winter.

In

Swift's

description,

the

way

of

eating

people

seems

comparatively

civilized

and

quite

gentle.

However,

in

Lu

Xun's

story

would

more

directly.

for fear of the stead they have banded together and set traps

everywhere, to force me to kill myself.

why there are so many descriptions about the ways of cooking in Swift's essay and the