During the early 1700s, Ireland experienced economic and social turmoil— unemployment was high, Ireland was experiencing a social class war, and lower class families struggled to obtain food. Renowned author, Jonathan Swift, sarcastically proposes that the country set a quota of 100,000 children to be set aside as a food supply. Swift’s over exaggerated proposal is a subliminal message to the Irish Government that has done nothing to mend the factious and fractured social classes and economy of their country. Throughout “A Modest Proposal,” Swift theorizes a process analysis of the system and social conventions that would be established if Ireland were actually to resort to cannibalism. In his sarcasm, Swift uses many instances of over exaggeration, similes, and parables to convey his obscured message about government reformation.
A Not so Modest Proposal Well known, political analyst, Jonathan Swift, in his persuasive writing, “ a Modest Proposal”, coaxed for the proposition of making children of poor families be deemed beneficial by selling them as food to rich families during the Irish famine. Swift’s purpose is to enlighten the Irish and their government about the substantial poverty level through sardonic satire. He adopts a facetious tone in order to shock the readers with disturbing and morally untenable positions to reach the attention to the Irish government about the living conditions in Dublin. Swift begins his persuasive proposal by analyzing that the environment in Dublin is permeated with those living in a deplorable state.
This demonstrates that Swift does not have any sympathy towards others and believes that his proposal is the way to a prosperous future where children are currency in common trade. These two points correlate with the remainder of the text; ‘A Modest Proposal’ as these themes
Rhetorical Analysis Essay: A Modest Proposal Dr. Jonathan Swift places himself as a villain who is willing to do evil deeds to answer hard questions. What pushes Swift to write the essay “A Modest Proposal” is Ireland's economic and social problems. In this satirical essay Swift highlights the problems in Ireland and gives a sarcastic solution to make people feel guilt. Swift’s use of dehumanizing language is used to make the reader oppose Swift’s modest proposal.
The dire poverty in Ireland in 1729 brought about worriment for adults, adolescences, young children, and even unborn offspring. In “A Modest Proposal” written by Dr. Jonathan Swift, a proposal is made to deal with the problems that devastated thousands of Irish lives. In order to convey the difference between the narrator’s proposal and attitude and Dr. Jonathan Swift’s actual proposal of how to deal with the poverty issues in Ireland, Swift uses rhetorical devices such as logical reasoning, sarcasm, and emotional appeal throughout the essay. The narrator expresses that the mothers are unable to work for their livelihood because of the one or many children they have to tend to.
Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a very interesting take on how the Irish government should cure the famine that the country was then facing. However, the entire proposal was completely bizarre, and the whole point of the essay was to bring attention to the idea that they needed a solution to the all the problems they were experiencing but the proposal was definitely not it. He even had a strongly developed plan as to how his proposal would work which makes the reader feel as if he is serious about selling children, eating them, and using their skins as a fashion accessory; however, ultimately this proposal was not his true goal. Jonathan Swift skillfully used different styles of writing, such as imagery and irony, to show why the
“A Modest Proposal “ is an example of Juvenalian satire. Jonathan swift uses irony and satirical techinques to denounce how Ireland was run during his time by making a mokery on politics. Using a serious tone and scientific data swift elaborates his proposal which is ironic from the tittle itself as it includes de word “modest”. His explicit, exaggerated and repulsive proposal arguing that by selling newborns Irish as food would reduce the number of catholics in Ireland, provide farmers a way to pay their landlords, increase domestic revenue, ease the financial burdens on lower class families and provide a delighful cuisine for the wealthy, metaphorycally represent how the government preys on its less fortunate population. Therefore, Swift's
In times of desperation, people may seek unthinkable options to find a solution, and in this case, Swift was one of those people. Satire is used as a main technique throughout this whole piece. Swift is a personable character and proposes what he believes is an intelligent solution, and keenly announces he has found “a fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth” (1). His proposal is very satirical, and he specifically uses the young Irish children as the main advantage in his satire. His use of this technique makes his argument sound extremely effective.
1729, a Papist infected Ireland was being devoured by the taxes that the British placed on them. The taxes were turning into what once was a glorious place into ruins. Jonathan Swift, an Englishman and Irish sympathizer, realized that someone had to do something to wake up the British. This lead to the creation of A Modest Proposal, a pamphlet heavy with irony and juvenalian satire, which was how Jonathan Swift planned on compelling the British to do something about the poor situation in Ireland. His use of rhetorical devices gets his point across in an effective and powerful way.
Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a very interesting take on how the Irish government should cure the famine that the country was then facing. However, the entire proposal was completely bizarre, and the whole point of the essay was to bring attention to the idea that they needed a solution to the all the problems they were experiencing but the proposal was definitely not it. He even had a strongly developed plan as to how his proposal would work which makes the reader feel as if he is serious about selling children, eating them, and/or using their skins as a fashion accessory; however, ultimately this proposal is not his true goal. Jonathon Swift skillfully used different styles of writing, such as imagery and irony, to show why the Irish should sell their children to the rich to eat.
The problem is that there are many children who came from the families of beggars and the economic problems they face. The author shows the condition of these beggars and their children. The solution that he proposes is to fatten up the children and sell them to Ireland’s rich people which is very strange. He thinks that by doing this the children won’t be a burden on their parents or country. As audience I think it was confusing to read but the tone of the essay is bitter and mocking of the poor.
Cat Stevens says, “A person who steals bread during a famine is not treated as a thief.” This situation appears in A Modest Proposal, a satirical essay, written by Dr. Jonathan Swift during the Irish famine in 1729. In this paper, Dr. Swift proposed to eat children as a way to solve the famine and overpopulation. However, Dr. Swift wrote the paper as a way to motivate the lazy Irish to fix their problems. In this essay, Dr. Swift ridicules the Irish with the use of Irony and Sarcasm, in hopes that they will help the poor, suffering souls.
A Modest Proposal is a satirical work by Jonathan Swift aimed at skewering English reactions to the then-contemporary issues of poverty and famine in Ireland. It revolves around a detailed argument that the problems of poverty, famine, overpopulation and many other social issues could be solved by selling one year old Irish children to be cooked and eaten dressed “hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs” at English dinner tables (Swift, p.386). It was written in the early 18th century when Ireland was effectively an English colony and had been ruled as such for centuries. Colonialism is never benevolent, and under the English yoke poverty and its attendant social evils ran rampant among the Irish, especially Irish Catholics. Jonathan Swift
Talking about controversial topics in humorous ways could help these topics be discussed easily. Swift uses Satire to get his point across about how ridiculous people were being with their theories of overpopulation. One of his most famous uses of satire is in his pamphlet “A Modest Proposal”. “A Modest Proposal” is a pamphlet highlighting an overpopulation and poverty problem in Ireland. Swift’s “modest” proposal began by lamenting the sad fate of the poverty stricken Irish who have to spend all their time looking for food to give to their starving children.
Swift uses his satire as a way to draw attention to daily conditions that many families in Ireland are suffering from. His extreme plan of eating children is used as a way to draw the attention of the government towards helping improve the economy. By using irony Swift is able to help make his plan a more believable solution to invoke change. Even today Swift 's plan can be seen as a persuasive technique, using logic and statistics to convince the
