In the beginning, Jonathan Swift said that his essay was “For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public.” Also, he described deplorable state of residents in Ireland: overpopulation and poverty. Based on these, he showed a serious attitude and a sincere heart for country and people. This kind of start gives readers a sympathy feeling for their people. A seemingly positive energy of this essay also can be shown. There’s a similar start in the story “Rescue Kids in Biqiu”. The whole empire was covered by a kind of gloomy atmosphere. Before every house of family, there was a cage carrying a baby. The cages are so many that made readers wander the reason. Then, it also made readers curious that all the people of this empire kept themselves to talking about kids. Although this start is just as uncomfortable as the Jonathan’s essay, it has much weird feeling rather than the visional impact.

After the beginning words, the two writers’ move to the body part of their articles. The main content is also shown from it. However, the content created a horrible feeling. Though kind of different, both articles are so unexpected. Jonathan suggested to Irish people that the best way to end their misery was to produce children and sell them at market as a delicious dish for the rich. This kind of suggestion has really shocked me. Furthermore, he explained the suggestion in details; the suitable age for picking as dishes, the cooking method for good taste, and the benefit and saving money for the families and country. He also said that his suggestion was “innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual” because that “As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in the computation.” The so-called serious and calm tone to describe such a disgusting thing not makes me not only feel sick, but also realize his sharp style of writing.

Just as I’ve said, the “Rescue Kids in Biqiu” is also a story about kids as “A Modest Proposal”. The babies in the cages were prepared for a kind of medicine. The emperor had a kind of incurable disease, and the father of the queen raised a secret prescription which was believed to have the immortal effect. This is the important point. The medicine needed the hearts of 1,111 kids. This suggestion has frightened me just as the Jonathan’s did. However, Wu cheng’en gave the answer in the body part of the story that this medicine thing was because of the trouble made by evil spirit. The queen and his father were both evil spirits. They wanted to control the whole empire. So, this cruel suggestion was made.

Wu’s tone is also ironic but his irony is clearly and openly, while Jonathan’s expression is kind of irony with a pretty veil which creates a strong contrast. In Wu’s story, this evil thing was made by evil spirits. In the end, they were defeated by the heroes of the story. In Jonathan’s suggestion, all the cruel things were said in a gentle way. In the end, he also found a gentle excuse to keep himself away from this so-called beneficial but actually inhuman advice. The two kinds of irony were different but they both pointed to the top rulers of their time according to their background.

Wu Cheng’en and Jonathan Swift were both in a family that was not that rich. However, in that condition they both learned a lot. In political circles, they saw and realized the darkness. Wu was frustrated in his career path. Then he wrote Journey to the West. Through the demons and ghosts in the book, he expressed his dissatisfaction to the darkness of the bureaucrats. Also, the stories in it reflected the tragic situation of the ordinary people at that time. For Swift, his direct motive to write this article was also the poor and miserable people in his country. Heavy tax, exploitation and colonization almost destroyed the Irish. The top rulers disregarded these tough situations and continued their oppression towards people. Therefore, Swift decided to do something for the poor. Then, “A Modest Proposal” published, and the strong words conveyed by it in an absurd way.

Though there are so many differences between the two articles, such as from of description and narration, they are both in an ironic tone. They tell something about kids. The cruel sense of vision not only shows horrible pictures, but also reveals the tragic condition of people at that time. The writers played a role as voice of the times. Also, for us, their ingenious use of words and expressions, English as well as Chinese, are worth learning.