Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," and Jonathan Edwards" "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," are two attacks on the general roots of societal problems. Although they share the same basic thematic idea, they go about expressing the attacks in extremely different ways. A few similarities exist in what they are attacking; there also differences in their means of expressing their opinions on what should be done to ease the evils of society.
Swift uses intense satire to express his opinions. Providing readers with practical solutions for beggars and starving children demonstrates his use of reason to prove his point. The fact that these practical suggestions involve inhumane and incomprehensible acts of cruelty such as the breeding and sale of young children for food only confirms that "A Modest Proposal" drips with sarcasm. While these plans are unconventional and barbarous ways of population control, they make sense and would work, thus appealing to the reasonable side of humans. .
In contrast, Jonathan Edwards" "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is a sermon about how there is no possible way for humans to make up for the evils of there sins. He begs the people to repent and flee from their evil pasts in attempt to evoke the mercy of God. He basically uses the fright tactic in attempt to scare the people into retribution. Another difference between these works is that Edwards" is a speech that in context along with inflection and expression that could be extremely effective in scaring the public into believing that they are horrid excuses for human beings and they need to beg for forgiveness and even that is not assured. .
In conclusion, two works "A Modest Proposal" and "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" are both criticisms of the societal evils of the early seventeen hundreds. However, they are different in the way they go about expressing their disapproval. Swift employs the use of satire while Edwards resorts to the fright tactic.