The Monster That Is War

“It is a very justifiable cause of war to invade a country after the people have been wasted by famine, destroyed by pestilence, or embroiled by factions amongst themselves. It is justifiable to enter a war against our nearest ally when one of his towns lies convenient for us, or a territory of land, that would render our dominions round and compact.” (Swift, 185.) I would like to perform a close reading on this very ironical and sarcastic passage from the book. When Gulliver says that it is very justifiable, what is meant is that they have a sound and logical reason to do it, that the event has been caused because it will lead to a good effect. He talks about war meaning any type of fight with another country that includes violence, or with any other group that involves deaths and strategies. He says that war is justifiable when the people are starved meaning have been through a long period of suffering and are weak. He says destroyed by pestilence meaning that they are sick and that they have already lost a lot of their loved ones and energy to disease. He talks about factions meaning that they are already in some fights and so they must attack when the unity is weak. Then it talks about invading an ally if it means a benefit for them in territorial gains. Clearly, Swift does not agree with any of the things he is saying. I would even dare to go as far as to say that he thinks that when any of the above are the case they have no justification to go to war and going makes them the evil party. Probably Swift is saying this because many of the wars of the world have taken place due to or meanwhile any of the above described. I think that the events Swift describes are the basis of humanitarianism and that the governments and monarchies that have gone to war albeit them are here being portrayed as evil monsters, the same portrait that is painted of war here.