Jonathan Sims (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
intheeyeofthebeholding) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2021-10-26 08:24 am
intheeyeofthebeholding) wrote in fandomhigh2021-10-26 08:24 am
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Fear in Literature, Tuesday 4th period
Jon still looked a bit rough today, but he had a class to teach, and he was going to put on his most professional appearance, damn it. So he had combed back his overlong hair (uselessly, as he'd kept running his fingers through it on the way over), pressed his shirt and slacks, and was doing his best to not look like he hadn't slept more than an hour or so on the couch in his office.
The board at the front read: The Flesh: the fear of being meat.
"Even satire can show the existence of fear," Jon noted. "So, in this essay, Swift starts with the apparent assumption that this particular fear is right and correct - that humans, particularly the poor and/or the Irish - are no more than animals in the eyes of his audience, and he uses that assumption to hopefully teach them it isn't the case. That it is something wrong, something to be feared. And he gets plenty of digs in at landlords and the capitalist system as he goes.
"So, do you think his actual arguments are more poignant for using this fear as a tool, or were there better ways to go about it? Do you think he employs it effectively?"
When they were done, he wrote on the board again. "For next week, please read 'The Most Dangerous Game'."
The board at the front read: The Flesh: the fear of being meat.
"Even satire can show the existence of fear," Jon noted. "So, in this essay, Swift starts with the apparent assumption that this particular fear is right and correct - that humans, particularly the poor and/or the Irish - are no more than animals in the eyes of his audience, and he uses that assumption to hopefully teach them it isn't the case. That it is something wrong, something to be feared. And he gets plenty of digs in at landlords and the capitalist system as he goes.
"So, do you think his actual arguments are more poignant for using this fear as a tool, or were there better ways to go about it? Do you think he employs it effectively?"
When they were done, he wrote on the board again. "For next week, please read 'The Most Dangerous Game'."