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A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift Satirical Devices

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In the story “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the people in poverty are being treated as if they were animals. Swift uses satirical devices to compare the lower class to objects in everyday life such as food and clothing. Swift says, “I have reckoned upon a medium, that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, encreaseth to 28 pounds. I grant this food will be somewhat dear…” (Swift 2) Swifts comparison to the poor class as animals being fattened to be served as a meal shows how he looks down on people who do not have as much money as him. Swift is mocking how people in poverty are taking up valuable resources; he believes that eradicating the lower class will fix the problem. This is ironic since

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