“WHO DIED AND NAMED YOU SUPERIOR”
What are some of the characteristics that makes humans a distinct species? According to National Geographic’s article, “Minds of Their Own”, higher capability human-like characteristics include, “good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others ' motives, imitating others, and being creative” (Morell). Because humans possess all these skills we automatically assume we are the dominant race. What if we knew animals possessed these skills as well? Would we still think we are superior? The fact is that, animals share and express human-like capabilities.
Authors like Jonathan Swift have used their works to shine a light on the similarities between humans and animals. In Part
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Well surprise, animals have dialects too. According to the Huffington Post Science article, “Human Intelligence”, “killer whales share a complex language of their own and dolphins have individual names-- just like [humans]-- based on whistle signals” (Mosbergen). Similarly, “Professor Con Slobodchikoff, from Northern Arizona University, has been studying and recording the calls of the Gunnison’s prairie dog for three decades” (Edwards). Based off of these recordings many other scientists have discovered that “the evolved complex language” of the prairie dogs “contain varying numbers of frequency modulations, barks, squeals and squeaks, and each animal has unique tonal qualities”(Edwards). Not only have animals established different dialects, like humans, animals speak and understand extremely complicated speaking patterns that humans have failed to notice on a daily basis.
“Scientists recognize specific skills as key signs of high cognitive abilities: they include…self awareness” amongst many other variables (Gaertner). “Self-awareness is the pivot point upon which all development depends” (Craig). And “ without self-awareness there is no way to anchor your journey, no way to orient yourself, no way of knowing if you are losing or finding your way” (Craig). Clearly being self aware is extremely important to the development and livelihood of the human race. It 's such an important trait that all humans are taught to inherit it
Perhaps, Jonathan Swift is a more successful and entertaining writer to read than George Orwell. For example, novels like “Gulliver’s Travel” demonstrate the talent Swift has in literature over Orwell’s. They both wrote various well-known novels but also, made social critical essays. On this occasion, essays like “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell and “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift. In these essays may be found big similarities and small differences; being as they are both criticizing different things.There are more differences than similarities as expected. Also, both of the essays are of different topics in all manners. Both try to solve the social critic in similar ways, and that is affecting the community in a negative way even
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is a story about a man named Gulliver who travels to many different islands in his quest to get home. His first encounter is with the Lilliputians on their island of Lilliput. The Lilliputians seemed rational and reasonable at first, but in reality they are not rational at all. They are revealed to be irrational because they have a corrupt court, wierd laws, and blatant discrimination.
Jonathan Swift used rhetorical strategies to create a satire that achieves his purpose. Jonathan Swift wrote this essay to address the issue of poverty in Ireland at that time. Swift demonstrates that he has put in research time, creates hyperbole, and sarcasm to create a satire that achieves his purpose.
During the Penal Laws era, the Irish government tried to solve the controversial issue of poverty. In a satirical essay written in 1729, Jonathan Swift, an Irish minister, wrote about a solution for Ireland’s extreme poverty issue to mock and bring attention to how the current government was handling the issue. Swift highlights the severe poverty problem of Ireland through strong factual evidence, creates an emotional and then satirical tone through his diction, and causation to convince his audience, the Irish government and aristocracy, that their country’s impoverished must be helped in a different way.
Worldwide hunger and poverty has been a problem since the beginning of time. One place that has experienced such a tragedy was Ireland in the 1700’s. Most people were impoverished and poor and no one could find a way to fix the problem. One man, Jonathan Swift, believed that he had found the solution to the problem. His plan was to take children of these impoverished families and use them as a new food source. One would simply kill the child and then prepare it in whatever they choose. Although his method was satirical, he provided enough logic and reasoning to make this idea a possibility. Thus, Jonathan Swift’s plan of eating children to save money and fix the economy is a potential plan.
In 1729 in Dublin Ireland, preposterous yet devoted Jonathan Swift presents to the people of Ireland and England an absurd plan that will achieve the ending of the Irish man's poverty, in doing so the people of Ireland will have to make the ultimate sacrifice by choosing to feast upon “a young healthy child well nursed” because they will certainly make a “nourishing meal”; Jonathan’s satire proposes the idea of cannibalism to decrease the starvation, Swift hopes to bring awareness to the the inequality the Irish are facing by using appeals to logic, credibility, and emotion.
The Revolutionary War is one, if not the most memorable time of American history. It is what started the beginning of the land of the free. The colonization and tyranny of England was not just felt in the thirteen colonies that became America but also in places such as Ireland. Authors such as Jonathan Swift not only acted as literary geniuses but as a way for modern day historians to see the effects of colonization and the hardships of a country where the wealthy and politicians live almost in another world than most of the country that lives in poverty. The works of Jonathan Swift express his political views and social observations during the sixteen and seventeen hundreds at the height of conflict between England and Ireland.
In his biting political satire called ?A Modest Proposal,? Jonathan Swift seeks to create empathy for the poor through his ironic portrayal of the children of Irish beggars as commodities that can be regulated and even eaten. He is able to poke fun at the dehumanization of the multitudes of poor people in Ireland by ironically commenting on what he sees as an extension of the current situation. Swift?s essay seeks to comment on the terrible condition of starvation that a huge portion of Ireland has been forced into, and the inane rationalizations that the rich are quick to submit in order to justify the economic inequality. He is able to highlight the absurdity of these attempted
It exhibits slight variations due to climate, environment, and so forth; but it is a species by itself, and cannot be confounded with any other,” (Lowest Animal, Twain). What can attract the attention of any reader is when Twain states, “ it is a species by itself .”(Twain) meaning that the human race can in most instances provide and survive for themselves and not only can we walk on two feet but we can talk. It relates to the topic because we are very unique compared to the average animal, we may not have more than two legs,fins, or can fly, but we have an intelligence unlike any
Poverty has been a problem not only in Texas or the United States, but all over the world. Many types of individuals have addressed this topic for years, raised money, volunteered, but still, as much as there’s said and done, the issue hasn’t been fazed a bit. From Jonathan Swift’s Modest Proposal, he clarifies the poverty issued throughout Ireland in the early 1700’s and how one suggestion could change it all. Elaborated from the Literary Reference Center, “A Modest Proposal, like Gulliver’s Travels, transcends the political, social, and economic crisis that gave birth to it, woeful as they were. Packed with irony and satirical revelations of the human condition…” Swift wasn’t just writing a masterpiece, but an intended, informational
Alternatively, some may argue other intelligent species, such as dolphins or chimpanzees also possess the ability to express views and opinions, having language very similar to ours; however, what makes human language so unique is its variety and complexity. As cleverly described by Jason Goldman (2012): “Whales sing, monkeys howl, birds chirp. Lizards bob their heads up and down to communicate, and some squid do it by regulating the coloration of their skin cells. But none of these processes can be explained by language.” The distinctiveness of human language is not defined by how it allows individuals to communicate with each other, but instead, the infinite variety that follows. While other species communicate to
In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver is washed up onto a foreign land where he encounters two species: Houyhnhnms, ruling intellectual horse-like species, and the Yahoos, brutish human-like animals. As a foreigner, Gulliver tries to integrate himself with Houyhnhnms community and through his attempts of communicating Gulliver ultimately fails due to his striking similarity to the brute Yahoos. Swifts juxtaposition of two different worlds, made extremely clear by both physical, physiological, linguistic aspects, reveals the futility of any successful integration.
Jonathan Swift's story, Gulliver's Travels, is a very clever story. It recounts the fictitious journey of a fictitious man named Lemuel Gulliver, and his travels to the fantasy lands of Lilliput, Brobdinag, Laputa, and Houyhnhmn land. When one first reads his accounts in each of these lands, one may believe that they are reading humorous accounts of fairy-tale-like lands that are intended to amuse children. When one reads this story in the light of it being a satire, the stories are still humorous, but one realizes that Swift was making a public statement about the affairs of England and of the human race as a whole.
In the last voyage in Jonathan Swift's book Gulliver's Travels, "A voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms," Swift describes his idea of an ideal society. There are many examples provided in this part of the book to convince the reader that Swift is indeed illustrating his idea of a utopia. By using horses as the most reasonable creature, Swift not only defaces human society by making a beast a more powerful creature, but also shows that humans are unable to attain this perfectly reasonable society.