Abnormalities of Human Behavior

Paper Summary:

This paper compares the way in which these poets and writers examine the dysfunctional behavior of society. Swift attacks abortions and death of young babies to unwed Irish mothers, Chekhov is embittered about his childhood, Kafka presents a bleak picture of human nature and Wordsworth thinks that the problems of the world are too much to bare. It concludes that normality and abnormality is defined by the needs of the humans within a society and thus dependent more on the perspective than the actual morality and sociology of the act.

From the Paper:

"In 1729, Jonathan Swift, wrote the Modest Proposal, the greatest short satirical piece in the English language. Completely appalled at the abortions and murders of the Catholic Irish children born of unwed peasant mothers he writes this proposal that attacks the English politicians. In trying to make known such inhumane acts from desperate mothers he makes his protagonist an American, who the British consider, 'uncivilized." Through his protagonist he pens the words that shatter the emotional balance of the people who like living in conditional ignorance. He writes, "I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London," he writes in a satire that became a classic of English literature, "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 fricassee or a ragout." "

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