Growing Up in the Times of a Civil War: The Ethnic Question in Elmo Jayawardena's Sam's Story

Sri Lanka was a land of war, bloodshed and violence until recently. Millions of innocent lives were taken away. There was no one to be called the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ here. Both the sides were bad. All they did was destroy the peace in the country and turn it into a feared place. Even till date many tourists who go to Sri Lanka face lots of problem. No one was spared. She won her independence in the year 1949. After independence, most of the economic policies were controlled by the newly formed government. Sri Lanka had a large population of Tamils, who had migrated from India long ago. These Tamils played an important role in the building of the nation and were very active in the freedom struggle. They had the sense of belonging towards Sri Lanka. It is obvious for someone to have such a feeling when they are born and brought up in that country. Things were good until the question of ethnicity sprang up. The natives of Sri Lanka, according to them, the Sinhalese were supposed to be given more priorities than the foreign Tamils. In 1956, the Government passed a law that made knowledge of Sinhala compulsory for any Government jobs. This was called the Sinhala Only Act. The very purpose of this sudden outburst was clear to everyone. It was the first ever step to exclude the Tamils from all the activities of the Government. Until then, many Tamils had influential posts in the Government. But after this, they lost their recognition. There was a massive protest against this step taken by the Government. To make the situation worse, there arose a war of religious identity. In Lanka, most of the Sinhalese followed Buddhism where as, the Tamils believed in Hinduism. The people made use of this as a weapon and continued their struggle. A war which was supposed to be Sinhalese versus Tamil turned out to be a war between the Buddhists and the Hindus. As the 1970s approached, the State economy began to crumble. It began to show its weakness and shortages. In the next election in 1977, UNP (a Sinhalese majority Party) easily managed to win. They introduced Sri Lanka to the global market. Lanka was one of the first of the third world countries to embark upon globalization. This gave space for many of the Tamils to invest in the market. The Sinhalese started having major issues with this rising of Tamils. In 1983, there was massive violence against all the Tamils. This in turn gave rise to many people who yielded arms, like Prabhakaran. Thus, a civil war was born. The war of the people against the State policies became the war between the two groups. This is a clear example of how a political war turned out to be a civil war during the times of an economic crisis.

We all know that literature is the reflection of the society and our own lives. All these happenings in the island country had a major impact on all contemporary writing. It did affect the lives of every single person in the country in some way or the other. So did it affect the writings. Elmo Jayawardena’s Sam’s Story is an amazing novel that describes the Lanka through the eyes of our protagonist and through his life and their events. Sam is portrayed as a slow-learning, poor, innocent boy. The story takes us through Sam’s life, explains minor things like why he dislikes the Tamil cook, his colleague and room-mate at the River House he worked, to major issues like as to why he hates the war. Sam is born into a large family of six members. He had two younger brothers, Jaya and Madiya, who join the army and end up dying for the war fought for no reason. His sisters Loku and Podi stay along with their destitute mother who works hard jus to cook the evening meal. They live a life of utter poverty.

            Sam was a very innocent and simple boy. He didn’t think very much about anything, thus he was not very worried about many things others usually were. He took life in a very easy manner though many things affected him. He believed that people were many a time just interested in asking questions to everyone about everything. They had nothing else to do, so they asked questions.

“I never could figure out why people asked me so many questions. Maybe they thought I knew all the answers to life. Even while standing at a bus stop, someone would ask me a stupid question.

‘What time will the next bus come?’

People always asked me things like that. How would I know when the next bus would come?

‘When did the last bus go?’

Now that is a really stupid question. I wouldn’t be here if I was at the bus stop when the last bus went would I?...”[1]

                Sam was always irritated with such questions. He never understood for what reason people asked so many questions. He also had a simple way of thinking. That is very clear from the answers he gives to the people who ask him questions. He was very innocent and never understood the fuss people created over many small things; small things according to him. For instance, once he forgets to switch off the lights at the River House[2]. And his Master gets very angry about this incident and calls him a fool. Sam hates it when someone calls him a fool, and he was even angrier because his Master called him that though he knows Sam was not one. He also mentioned that it was he who paid the electricity bill and was not to be wasted like this. At that instance, Sam thought to himself,

“…In any case he never the bills; it was Harrison[3] who paid all the bills in the River House.” [4]

                It is through this simple thinking of his that we get to know what the war has done to the nation and how much the people are affected, both physically and mentally. Towards the end of the story, there is a deep change in the thoughts of everyone, and that concludes what the war had done to anyone with a beating heart.

Sam hated the war right from the beginning. He had his reasons for it. This question of, ‘whose war is this?’ kept revolving in his mind. He totally disapproved of the fighting and never even understood for what reason the people were killing each other. But he was aware that it was the Tamils against whom the war was being fought. He knew that the Tamils were his enemies too, as they killed his people in the North. That was one major reason for him to hate Leandro, the cook. He had many other reasons like Leandro drying his ‘multi-coloured’ lankets[5], his closeness to Janet, the voting system to watch television and so on. But the very fact that he was a Tamil stood above everything else. He simply disliked the Tamils, whether good or bad. They were their enemies and that’s all he knew. He even hates his Master’s son’s friend who had come home from abroad. Even though she is nice to him and likes him, he dislikes and hates her just for the fact that she was a Tamil. Sam’s brothers, Jaya and Madiya had both joined the army to fight against the separatists in the North. For them, it was like a dream come true but only for a few days. Back at home, they had to struggle hard to even fill their stomachs. They didn’t even have proper place to sleep at home. They lived a life of utter poverty. But in the army, they were given clothes to wear, a place to stay and food to eat. Moreover, they also got some money which they could send home to their mother. For them, this was a comfortable life when they heard of it and joined. So was it for all the poor. Hence, it was only the poor who joined the war and ended up dying, for no war of theirs. It was a poor man’s war. The poor were being used as the pawns on both the sides by political leaders. It was a war for an unknown reason, at least for the soldiers who fought. The rich always sent their children away from all these by putting them abroad. The Master’s son and daughter were examples for this.

“…We are fighting and dying and the people in power who want us to fight are sending their children to other countries to keep them away from the war.” [6]

                Sam had lost both his younger brother in the war. He also got the chance to witness how cruel and false the army men were. He was working at Madam Martell’s[7] place when Jaya’s death had happened. When he got back home, he noticed that there were many people and a lot of arrangements done. There were drinks and biscuits for everyone; some men had given some money to his mother, the army had arranged everything for his brother’s funeral. They seemed very nice and the army seemed a great place to be in, with lots of care, affection and respect. Even Kada Mudalali[8] had spoken great of Jaya and mother when he had to speak.

                But it was only when Madiya came back that he realized the reality. Madiya had run away from the army understanding that the war was not fought for them but for the rich and the political leaders for their own gain. He was also afraid that he will be killed soon by his own men as they never left anyone who had run away from the war front. Madiya at that point of time was regretting his decision of joining the army. Madiya was so fed up that he says,

“’The war is over for me,’ he said. ‘I will never go back. They will have to kill me before they can take me back to fight for them’”[9]

                Madiya seemed to be very frustrated with the war and the people who were behind it. When Sam mentions about how nice they were when they came to cremate Jaya, Madiya jumped at him with anger. He spoke to them a lot about the war. Sam understood much, though not everything. But it was clear from Madiya’s words that this war was not a good thing. All it did was take the lives of many poor. Madiya gave a first hand experience of the war. He explained to them how the newspapers had been covering up many facts just to put up a good image for the ruling party. Since he had run away, he was sure that the army would soon hunt him down. He was very frustrated and fed up of all these. He spoke about many others who were in the same situation as him and had run away during the ten days off that they got after four months of hell. They were all hunted down by the army. They fought for nothing and finally went they got fed up and ran away, they were hunted down.

                He was also frustrated about the fact that it was only the poor who was fighting the war and for no issues of theirs. They were the ones who always spoke about the war and cherished upon it, but they never fought. They were never worried about the war and its consequences. He comments on the rich in frustration,

“’Where are they? They are not in the camps or on the lonely roads where the killing is going on. They are playing cricket or watching cricket or going to big hotels to eat their meals. They never go to fight. So they don’t have to die, or run like I did. They don’t have to be called cowards. That is the war for you.’”[10]

                He also talks about the worst living conditions they face while in the war zone. He spoke about how they had to work all time and had no sleep. Along with all the work, they were fighting too. He speaks about the other side too. This gives us some knowledge about the fighting Tamils also. He also feels bad for them as most of the warriors on the other side are children, even younger than him. To make it even worse, there were girls too. And the most affecting part of the war was that none of them knew what they were fighting for. They killed the other jus to save themselves, with nothing against them in mind. Madiya gives a very interesting and realistic statement about the war here,

“…I don’t think they know anything more about this war than we do. We kill them because they come to kill us, neither of us knowing why we are doing this to each other.”[11]

                This reminds me of one of Thomas Hardy’s poems, ‘The Man He Killed’, in which the narrator describes the scene of a war and a man whom he killed. He killed a man whom he never knew. He says that he would have shared a drink with that man in the bar where he was sitting if only he was not his foe. He killed the unknown man for the only reason he wore a different uniform than his. He never knew who that person was even. If he had not pulled the trigger then, the man would have. That’s all about a war.

“Had he and I but met

By some old ancient inn,

We should have set us down to wet

Right many a nipper kin! ...

…I shot him dead because-

Because he was my foe,

Just so: my foe of course he was;

That’s clear enough; although.”[12]

                                Sam had therefore lost both his brothers. This was one major reason he hated the war. It was also because of this that he hated all the Tamils. They were the ones who had killed his brothers. It was because of them that his small family had lots of sorrows and tears. Whoever the person was, be it Leandro, Janet, Velu[13] or the boy’s special friend who had come from abroad for her vacations. They were all the same. They were all bad and he could never accept them as his friend or even get close to them to that fact.

                The author also gives us an opportunity to understand the views of the rich and the upper-middle class. Sam works in an upper-middle class household. Whenever his Master has guests, he is the one who serves them with drinks. When he did so, he was required to be present there all the time. So, he happens to hear the conversations of these people. They often discussed about the war. But the fact was that none of them were directly involved in the war. All they did was discussed and complain about everything. Sam never understood why people complained so much. He assumed that if people do not have a solution to any problem, they prefer to complain about it. And all these, if there was no cricket matches in play. If cricket was on, that would be the only major thing to discuss on.

                In the beginning of the year 2000, it was only war everywhere. Everyone seemed to have there own contributions to the words about the war. From Lucky’s barbershop to Menda’s bakery, war was the only burning issue. They spoke about bombs going off at some place, some unheard road being captured by either the army or the liberals. It was the same at the river house also. Whenever visitors came, all they spoke was about the war.

“None of them had been in the war. Or, for that matter, none of them had anyone from their families who were involved in the fighting. The real conflict was far from them. But they talked; they always spoke as if they had all the answers.” [14]

                All the guests at home had their own solution to the crises. Some said that the Government must draw a border and give some land to the Tamils as they too have been living here for many years. Some said that all these must be settled by the political organizations by forgetting all their personal differences. Some preferred to sit and complain about the increase in taxes. They found some kind of relief in complaining about the leaders. Many were already thinking of leaving the country. They were also fed up of this war, but for many other reasons. Raji sir, Master’s friend and neighbour gave a very sensible statement,

“…’Only then will you see the real fun. When the deaths reach the rich and the powerful.’ He laughed strangely and went on. ‘Only then will there be serious considerations about how to end the war. Till that happens, this sick business will go on. For us, there is no battle. We all wash our hands off it. It is the poor who are affected…’” [15]

                They went on and on. There was also an economic crisis during the war. The people also complained about that and poverty. Sam at such times thought these people here don’t even know what poverty is and they are all commenting on them becoming poor. Sam had experienced poverty. This reality of war and poverty had made the people think the worse. Once Velu had taken off and gone to his village for some ceremony. He never returned after that. That incident gave a discussion point at Master’s place. Some even said he would have been a spy planted there to follow some motions. That was absolutely crazy! If only the war was not there people would have only thought he got some other better job or he would have had some emergency. But the war had totally made the people go mad. On the other side, poverty even made people lose their belief in their Gods. Once there was a discussion between Leandro and Sam about their Gods.  Leandro’s God’s picture was very ferocious. They had many arms and had weapons too.[16]Whereas, Sam’s God was very peaceful with his eyes closed and meditating.[17]He thought this night by the reason they always lost and he was afraid of the Tamils for this reason too. He considered their God more powerful and ferocious than his.

                Similarly, during Christmas, the River House was in full flow. There were lights, colours, sweets, guests and it was always cheerful. While setting up the Christmas tree, Sam had many questions. It was the first time ever he was celebrating some day called Christmas. He gradually came to know from the Master’s daughter that this was the most important festival for them. He also learnt about Santa Claus, who would be giving them gifts soon. On the day of Christmas, he received his gifts. He was very excited. He was very grateful to this Santa Claus for leaving few gifts for him too. After a while he asked the master’s daughter if he could change Gods. The girl was pretty shocked by this question. Sam then spoke out,

“…I said I was sure Loku and Podi wouldn’t mind changing Gods and making a tree for the Santa Claus man. Especially if they also got belts, dresses and bags like Janet did.”[18]

                He also thought that the Gods were always against the poor. He never understood the reason behind this. He had already created them poor; moreover he gave them problems after problems. Like the death of two sons, the flood which took away the leftovers of their lives, etc. the flood had not only taken away the leftovers, but also Sam’s one and only best friend, Piya.

                Coming back to the war, the war had created a very big impact in the minds of the people. In the story, towards the end, Sam’s Master dies in a bomb blast in a bank on his visit to the capital. After this incident, there is a drastic transformation in the River House changes. The old life and joy dies off. Madam leaves the place and goes to her children. Bhurus and Lena are given off to Mrs. Raji. The biggest transformation was in the attitudes of Leandro and Sam. They didn’t hate each other any more. They were really upset about what had happened. They never understood why their master had to die. He had never done any harm to anyone. At this situation, Sam tells to himself,

“There was no reason for him to die, but now he was dead.”[19]

                Even Leandro breaks down on this news. All this days he was proud about what his people were doing. He often threatened Sam that he would join the army some day and kill him. He hated Sam very much and Sam hated him back too. But at this moment, Leandro just had one thing to say,

“They should not have killed him, Sam…”[20]

                After this everyone returned to their own homes. The house was empty. Once back home, Sam started thinking about many things. His days of happiness at the River House, his small fights with Leandro, etc. they were all over. He was even ready to go back and adjust with Leandro. He hated him no more.

“It is strange how I don’t hate him anymore. I wish we could both go back in time and be at the River House again, sharing our small room. Leandro could do his cooking and fart as much as he liked and he could hang his lankets wherever he wanted. We could live there, not hating each other; I mean, we could just get on with our stupid lives without having to worry about things that were beyond us. No more talk about who is dividing the country and who is winning and who is losing…I guess there is lot more to people than how they fart and where they hang their multicoloured wet lankets. Or, for that matter, to which side they belong.”[21]

                This novel is just one more mouth to talk about what war does to us. All what war does is destroy mankind. Take examples of any such wars, it is only the innocent who end up dying; people who wouldn’t have even known the reason for the fighting, people who wouldn’t even know that there is a war happening. Such wars and crises only destroy human civilizations. It has been like this since the times mankind has seen fighting and wars. In Louis MacNiece’s Prayer Before Birth, the child fears about the present world even before its born. It asks God to kill it in its mother’s womb than being born into such a world full of desolation and darkness. I would like to end my presentation with a few lines from a song which I think pertains to this context.

“And how many times must a canon ball fly,

Before they are forever banned?...

…And how many deaths will it take till we know,

That too many people have died?

The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind.”[22]

---

[1] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.1

[2] The River House is where Sam goes to work after he stopped going work at the White Lady’s place.

[3] Harrison is the driver at the River House.

[4] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.60

[5] Inner-garment worn by men

[6] Said by Madiya after he runs away from the army, fed up of everything; Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.118

[7] Sam’s first employee, a White lady

[8] Kada Mudalali is the local shop owner who later wins the election and becomes their leader

[9] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.115

[10] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.117

[11] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.118

[12] Thomas Hardy; The Man He Killed

[13] Velu is the servant who works at Sam’s Master’s friend’s place. He often discusses about the war with Leandro and talk about the death toll of the Lankans.

[14] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.135; Sam’s comment on the rich who sit and talk about the war

[15] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.138

[16]The Hindu Gods usually have images like that. Eg. Narasimha, Kali, etc

[17] Gautama Buddha

[18] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.89

[19] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.168

[20] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.169

[21] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.170

[22] Bob Dylan; Blowing In the Wind; 1963

A Defence of Poetry- P.B.Shelley

An introduction to the author:

·         Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).

·         Belonged to the Romantic age of English poetry.

·         He was a lyric poet and is also considered as a dramatist, essayist and novelist.

·         His contemporaries and friends include Lord Byron and John Keats.

·         Mary Shelley, who is known for her Frankenstein, is his second wife.

·         He led an unconventional life and had uncompromising idealisms.

·         His famous works include Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, Ozymandius, The Masque of Anarchy, The Cenci, Prometheus Unbound and much more.

Introduction to the work:

·         A Defence of Poetry is a response to Thomas Love Peacock’s article The Four Ages of Poetry which was published in the year 1820.

·         It was written in the year 1821 and was published posthumously by his wife, Mary Shelley in the year 1840 in Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments.

Context:

            Thomas Love Peacock had written an essay titled “The Four Ages of Poetry” in the year 1820. Shelley was highly provoked by reading this essay. He was not very happy with the views and arguments Peacock had made in his essay. Shelley believed that poets were above everyone and needed better recognition and treatment than what was done in the essay. So, he wrote this essay in response to enunciate his arguments. It was in this essay that he wrote, “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world”. He had written a small note to his publishers and to the producer of the catalyst, Thomas Peacock. The note to the publishers reads as follows,

“I am enchanted with your Literary Miscellany, although the last article has excited my polemical faculties so violently that the moment I get rid of my ophthalmia, I mean to set about an answer to it. . . . It is very clever, but I think, very false.”

The note to Thomas Peacock reads as follows,

“Your anathemas against poetry itself excited me to a sacred rage. . . . I had the greatest possible desire to break a lance with you . . . in honour of my mistress Urania.”

How does Shelley go about with his argument?

               

                The younger Romantics gave a lot of importance to poetry and considered poets above everyone. Shelley being a contemporary of this age had similar ideologies. In this essay, he talks about the importance of poets and poetry in the society.

“In A Defence of Poetry, [Shelley] attempts to prove that poets are philosophers; that they are the creators and protectors of moral and civil laws; and that if it were not for poets, scientists could not have developed either their theories or their inventions."[1]

“...Shelley was mainly concerned to explain the moral (and thus the social) function of poetry. In doing so, he produced one of the most penetrating general discussions on poetry that we have.”[2]

·         The ultimate goal of this essay is to stress on the beneficial impact of poetry. The author tries to explain how important a role the poet plays in the society and on why he is considered and is to be respected more than anyone else. For this he has to define the nature of poetry first. And to understand poetry, one has to talk about the nature of poets and before that, most important, the nature of man.

·         The author says that the mind and thoughts of the human keeps changing with time. It is never static.

…man is an “instrument over which a series of external and internal impressions are driven, like the alternation of an ever-changing wind over an Aeolian lyre, which move it by their motion to ever changing melody.”

 And according to the author, there are two types of faculties or as he terms “classes of mental action”. They are as follows:

i)        Conscious thoughts which are produced by reasons. They are like scientific treaties and are explained with reasons. These thoughts have no scope for thinking and further pondering.

ii)       The second category is Imagination. The poet considers this type of faculty more superior to the other. He considers this because it gives a scope for thinking, which is believed to be enlightenment of the minds. When mind begins to imagine things, then one expresses the thoughts in poetic form (i.e.,) figurative language.

“…mind acting upon those thoughts [produced by the reason] so as to colour them with its own light, and composing from them, as from elements, other thoughts.”

iii)     The author also says that imagination has the power to similitude things. When one imagines, thoughts combine and then sparks innovativeness and creativity.

“…exultation and horror, grief and pleasure; eternity and change; it subdues to union under its light yoke all irreconcilable things.”

iv)     In the course of the essay Shelley tries to place imagination over conscious thoughts. He argues that imagination is superior to the other faculty.

“Reason is to the imagination, as the instrument to the agent, as the body to the spirit, as the shadow to the substance.”

·         The author argues that knowledge is subjective and hence it keeps transforming. The mind has the power to do anything. We call a tree green only because we imagine it green. We call the sea blue only because we imagine it like that. Similarly, we say hell is bad and heaven is nice only because we imagine it like that.

…all things “exist as they are perceived; at least in relation to the percipient”, the mind being able to “make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven”.

This capability to imagine is creativeness or poetic faculty. It is actually a “system of thoughts.” Shelley believes that imagination is the basis of all knowledge and studies. And poetry has the power to make a man think and imagine. That is why it is considered above all other field of studies.

·         Poetry is the expression of the imagination of the poet. As Wordsworth defined poetry, “the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected in tranquility.”Poetry has the power to keep anyone and anything alive through word forever. It creates eternity. The author comments on poetry as follows:

“…very image of life expressed in its eternal truth.”

·         The author places poetry above all other forms of art or even sciences. Poetry expressed in the form of words, which the author believes is the most direct form of expression. It is also superior because it makes a man to think. It brings out the imagination in man.

“…expresses those arrangements of language, and especially metrical language, which are created by that imperial faculty, whose throne is curtained within the invisible nature of man.”

·         A poem lives forever. It never dies. It lives in different forms in different minds. It has that strength to live on and on. The poetry is infinite. A poem is interpreted and criticized again and again as time flows. But no one can ever reach to the conclusion that this is it, like that in the case of other forms of art.

“…all high poetry is infinite; it is as the first acorn, which contained all oaks potentially.  Veil after veil may be undrawn, and the inmost naked beauty of the meaning never exposed.  A great poem is a fountain for ever overflowing with the waters of wisdom and delight”

In this essay, Shelley also responds to Plato’s invitation to defend poetry and save it from exile.

·         The author here argues that poetry gives pleasure. The biggest mistake critics and others make is placing reason above imagination. If one thinks like that, poetry will seem useless to them. It is true that reason gives “durable, universal and permanent” pleasure. The pleasure obtained from imagination might be “transitory and particular”, but it is any day better when one thinks deeper. According to Shelley, poetry caters to the former. He believes poetry is as follows:

“…all spirits upon which it falls open themselves to receive the wisdom which is mingled with its delight.”

“…acts in a divine and un apprehended manner, beyond and above consciousness.”

·         Shelley also argues that poetry spreads the message of love. It creates love and harmony in the minds of the people. A man “to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in the place of another and of many others; the pains and pleasures of his species must become his own”. Poetry plays an important role in doing this. It creates the feeling of love in the minds of the readers. According to Shelley,

“The state of mind produced (by poetry) at war with every base desire.  The enthusiasm of virtue, love, patriotism, and friendship is essentially linked with such emotions.”

·         Poetry also plays an important role in the molding of the society. It helps to bring about social changes. That was one of the major aims of the younger romantics which included Shelley too. Shelley says that poetry is,

“…unfailing herald, companion, and follower of the awakening of a great people to work a beneficial change in opinion, or institution.”

                Throughout the essay Shelley tries to argue against this notion that poets are not very significant. He is not only successful in arguing his views but has also made everyone understand how important a role the pot plays for mankind, and poetry for the society.

“Poets…are not only the authors of language and of music, of the dance, and architecture, and statuary, and painting; they are the institutors of laws, and the founders of civil society…”

---

[1] Robert M. Hutchins and Mortimer J. Adler, eds. Gateway to the Great Books Volume 5, Critical Essays. Toronto: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1963, p.214. (No ISBN.)

[2]Perkins, David, ed. English Romantic Writers, 2nd Edition. Toronto: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1995, p.1131. ISBN 0-15-501688-1.

A Modest Proposal-A Reading

Enunciations made by Jonathan Swift in his essay:

1.       Swift talks about the women begging on the streets along with children and strikes a sad tone in our heart. He creates a melancholic image.

2.       He talks about this sad state of the women and the children in the country.

“…forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for the Pretender* in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.”

*Here the Pretender refers to the son of James II, who lost his throne in the revolution of 1688 (becoming disloyal to the country).

3.       He suggests that the parents are having a very difficult time begging just to support their children. If a solution is found for this, then the burden on the parents will be reduced.

4.       Swift here has a solution to this problem and declares that anyone could give suggestions as far as it is fair, easy and cheap and useful to the commonwealth. And anyone who does so will be doing great service to the nation.

“…whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the common-wealth, would deserve so well of the publick, as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.”

5.       The author has come to this conclusion of his after his thoughts over many years. Once a child is born, it can be brought up for a year with just an expense of two shillings, which the author says is affordable even for a begging family. The problem only arises after this. To bring up the child further, the parent has to suffer a lot. Swift’s solution comes to play only after this one year.

6.       Another advantage in his solution is that this idea will prevent the evils like abortion and infanticide. This will happen because the author believes that these evils happen more because of the worries about the expenses than the shame.

7.       The author has provided some statistics before giving his solution for better understanding:

i)        The total population of the country is 1.5 million.

ii)       Of these, 200,000 couple whose wives are breeders.

iii)     In these 30,000 are able to maintain their children (the aristocrats).

iv)     Out of the remaining 170,000 breeders, the author deducts 50,000 for those women who miscarry or the children die in accidents or diseases within one year.

v)      Now 120,000 breeders are left and hence this many children are born to poor parents annually.

8.       Swift is sure that a country with no agriculture or houses to build will not be able to provide a livelihood for so many children. They will all end up in the wrong path as mentioned above.

9.       And even if there is an argument that these children can be traded off for money, Swift provides evidence that a boy or girl before twelve years old is no saleable commodity. So, that means that the parents will have to bring them up at least until the age of 12. And even if they reach this age, they will not yield above three pounds, or three pounds and half crown at most. This will never compensate the expenses accounted by their parents to bring them up. Hence, Swift proposes a solution for all these issues.

10.   He suggests that these children must be sold off as meat at the age of one itself.

“I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.”

11.   How are these infants to be disposed?

i)        There are a total of 120,000 children who are born to the poor.

ii)       Out of this 20,000 must be reserved for further breeding.

iii)     This should be in the ratio of 1:4 (1 male: 4 female). He compares the human beings to animals here. In the case of sheep and cattle, one male will serve four females during breeding. He suggests that the same is required here.

iv)     The remaining 100,000 must be offered for sale to the rich people. The mothers must take the responsibility of fattening them and making them fit for sale.

12.   How does it help the poor?

i)        A just born baby will weigh only 12 pounds, and if it is moderately nursed, it will increase to 28 pounds in a year. This will help in the parents earning a profit.

ii)       The author also says that there is a season too for this sale. He suggests that there will be more babies available during the month of March, during spring time. This is because most of the poor people are Catholics and their children are born and ready by this time.

iii)     We have already seen above that it will take about two shillings to nurse an infant for a year. But this child after a year will be worthy of ten shillings for sure.

iv)     For the purchaser, it will serve him with four meals and a status in the society.

v)      And for the mother, she earns a profit of eight shillings.

vi)     Another additional advantage is that the skin can be used to make gloves for women and summer boots for men.

vii)   He also adds that in a city like Dublin, there always is demand for these infants.

13.   His friend had proposed a refinement above his scheme. He suggested that the children of age group between 12 and 14 can be disposed of in this same manner. But Swift counters this with the argument that once the child has grown so much, the flesh will be tough and lean and not tender like the young ones. Further, females of this age cannot be disposed as they will soon be breeders.

14.   And when he was asked on how to clear of the burden of the handicapped, sick and old men among the poor, Swift answers that they are anyway dying fast and hence are of no trouble to the society.

15.   In the next few paragraphs, the author talks about the advantages of his proposal.

i)        It will greatly reduce the Catholic population. They formed most of the poor people and were considered evil to the society by the rich. They were the once who increased the population and created generations loss to the country.

ii)       If this is implemented, the tenants will have something valuable of their own. They will begin to have savings and can lead a better form of living. They will be able to pay rents, take back lost properties and lead a normal life.

iii)     The nation will develop economically. There will be a profit of a new dish too. And all the money will only go to them because the raw material for manufacture is produced by them itself.

iv)     The breeders will earn a profit of eight shillings per annum and can easily get rid of the child and get ready for the next year.

v)      When a new dish is introduced and it found tasty and different, there will be demand for that item. Hence, as demand increases, the prices can also be increased.

vi)     There will be an annual profit and there would be healthy competition among the women to produce the healthiest child.

vii)   State of child care and affection towards women during pregnancy will increase. When it is a source of income, the men will take very good care of the women, and the parents of the child. This will also mean a very healthy and clean society.

viii)  And once the need of the country in satisfied, these carcasses can also be sold to other places, which will mean the economic benefit of the country.

16.   The author now anticipates an objection that this scheme would reduce the population of the nation drastically. But for this he says that his proposal is only accounts as a solution for the issues in Ireland and not anywhere else. It should not be placed in any other society. Similarly, the solutions which are generally applicable in other places cannot be done I the case of Ireland.

17.   The author has given the readers complete freedom to criticize his proposal and suggest a new one. But he only insists it must be equally innocent, cheap, easy and effectual. One must be able to support his propositions as the author has done. He is also certain that the person has to account for two other issues:

i)        The ability to find food and raiment for a hundred thousand useless mouths and backs.

ii)       The issue of the debt of two million of pounds sterling which would have arose by then.

18.   He concludes by saying that he himself is depressed that he does not have any children who can be sold and made money of. He ends with the quote,

“I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the publick good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. I have no children, by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing.”

                The author is being satirical of the society then and the conditions of the nation. He is being severely critic of the rich aristocrats. It is they who have created this image that the poor are the burdens of the nation. Swift is also being critical of the British at many places. He feels that the British has done too much damage to his country and he mocks the political leaders. Throughout the essay he is being satirical about giving a solution to the problem of ending the rise of poverty and poor population in the nation. He tries to find a solution to feed the rising starving mouths of Ireland and make them profitable for the commonwealth. He is being ironic and satiric throughout the essay.