Connecting The Tempest, Of Cannibals, Eating Gifted Children, and Modest Proposal

Connection Between The Tempest, Of Cannibals, Eating Gifted Children, and Modest Proposal

There are several, in-depth connections presented in The Tempest by William Shakespeare, "Of Cannibals" by Michel de Montaigne, "How to Raise Your I.Q. by Eating Gifted Children" by Lewis Frumkes, and "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift. While all these stories feature civilization and the uncivilized coming into contact with one another, perhaps for the first time, they also feature a deeper connection. They feature a connection to each other that strikes to the very heart and structure of our civilizations today-just as it did when these works were written. That connection is the idea that the "noble savage" (if there is such a thing) is appalled at what we call civilization because of how unjust, uncaring, and unkind we are to one another. The works point out how the savage perhaps is just the innocent and we are the ones who ought to be called savages-not because of what our culture does, but what it does not do.

We do not care for one another in today's society. The culture we've built ourselves is one where each man strives for his own good. Each person cares and looks out for Number One. In the end, as stated by the "savages" in Montaigne's essay, rich people can live in luxury on the same street where poverty takes lives. In today's society of computerized and/or instant everything, we look about at the social troubles that plague us and seek solutions similar to those we implement for mechanical problems. People who write laws do not care for the people they govern from the heart, but rather from the wallet. We implement measures that are "quick fixes". They fix the immediate problem at hand or in the public's eye because that's what will get the politician re-elected. The very structure of our social care system is a laughable joke.

As Lewis Frumkes and Jonathan Swift point out in their respective satires, "How to Raise Your I.Q. by Eating Gifted Children" and "A Modest Proposal", this society is one which looks for "quickie" solutions to every surface problem without actually looking into the causes. What Frumkes and Swift propose are not so far off from the grossness which we ourselves would propose to deal with our social-economic problems. Do we not practice the eating of children for our individual gain in all but the literal sense?