A Modest Proposal

Dr. Jonathan Swift’s purpose while writing “A Modest Proposal,” was to shock and to inform the public about his idea to sell children of poor families to be eaten. In the book, Satire: A Critical Reintroduction, Dustin Griffin

All across America, you see the topic of “Should children be receiving participation trophies” being brought up. The idea that all kids should get some reward for being a part of the game and helping it grow. To some, it seems like an excellent idea, but to others not as much. For example, NFL linebacker James Harrison took his children 's participation trophies and gave them back to their coaches saying "EARN a real trophy." Other parents believe that their children deserve to be praised and want them to feel good for doing something they have worked hard. So which side is correct? Should we give our kids these trophies or not?

Jonathan Swift was an Irish poet and satirist of the eighteenth century. Although the son of Englishmen, Swift was born and raised in Ireland. While living in Ireland, he witnessed the death of thousands of Irish due to starvation which was caused due to crop failure. Swift, who wasn’t even personally affected by the issue, acknowledged that the death of the Irish population which he argues was caused because of the neglect of English landowners. Instead of allowing for the issue to continue to be avoided, he addressed the issue. In 1729, Swift released a very popular narrative known as A Modest Proposal. This proposal is anything but modest but the title goes with the essay. This essay uses satire to get the message of HELP OUT THE IRISH

Desperate times often call for desperate measures, and proposals of desperate measures are often met with swift criticism if they are found to be without rational thought and merit. It is unlikely that anyone in their right mind would consider, for any amount of time, the proposal of rearing children, or properly raising them, as food to help alleviate poverty-stricken Ireland in 1729. Yet, Jonathan Swift’s suggestion was satirical brilliance, and it was a modest proposal for illuminating the cause of Ireland’s woes. The proposal was not actually eating children but placing a mirror for the reader to reflect upon. The target audience of landlords, gentlemen, and other people of stature were more than accustomed to stepping on the poor on

The satirical essay “A Modest Proposal” written and published in in 1729 by an Anglo- Irish man named Jonathan Swift, in response to the worsening conditions of Ireland, was one of his most controversial and severe writings of his time. The narrator in Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal” argues for a drastic and radical end to poverty in Ireland. Swift’s proposal suggests that the needy, poor people of Ireland can ease their troubles simply by selling their children as food to the rich and make them useful, benefitting the public. With the use of irony, exaggeration and ridicule Swift mocks feelings and attitudes towards the poor people of Ireland and the politicians. However, with the use of satire Swift creates a

In Jonathan Swift’s satire, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift writes about the starving people of Ireland in the early 1700’s. He makes a wild and absurd proposal to help remedy the problems of overpopulation and poverty. Swift wants to make a political statement by using the “children” as satire to grasp the attention of the audience - the English people, the Irish politicians and the rich – and make them aware of the political, moral, and social problems. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s arguments are presented effectively by using pathos (emotional appeal), ethos (ethics and values), and logos (logic reasoning and facts).

Beneath Swift’s irony, his argument is that the rich consume everything, even the children. “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children.” (par 12.)He argues this to shock his audience and to call attention to the problems that were being experienced by the people in Ireland.

Satire produces a distortion of reality that enlightens its readers about the unadmirable traits of society by using irony and humour (Snodgrass 406). A Modest Proposal, written by Jonathan Swift in 1729, presents a satirical proposal through an anonymous proposer. The proposal argues that in order to deal with the poverty and overpopulation in Ireland, the children of the poor should be sold as food to the wealthy. It advocates that the benefits include an increase in the income of the poor and in Ireland’s economy. Swift’s A Modest Proposal has been analyzed by various scholars many of which have analyzed Swift’s persona and his critique of Ireland’s economic conditions. However, there has been little scholarly discussion on Swift’s satirical method in the text, which uses cannibalism and dehumanization. Many scholars such as Oliver W. Ferguson’s “Swift’s Saeva Indignatio and A Modest Proposal” focus on Swift’s anger towards the social classes in Ireland; and other scholars such as Thomas Lockwood’s “Swift’s Modest Proposal: An Interpretation” focus on the role of the anonymous proposer. Rather than focusing on the effect of the proposal on the contemporary audience, these scholars choose to look at the text from Swift’s view and do not consider the audience’s reaction. An investigation into the satirical form that Swift uses will be useful to discern the impact of the proposal on the public and the message it presented. This essay will attempt to address this gap by using close reading and historical evidence to explore the text’s satire through the use of cannibalism and dehumanization. By using the satirical device of dehumanization to commodify the poor people of Ireland, Swift challenges the prevailing mercantilist theory of the population being the “nation’s riches”. The problem will be investigated with a study of the contemporary mercantilist thought, a close reading of the use of dehumanization in the text and the proposer’s tone.

Jonathan Swift, the writer of the satirical essay A Modest Proposal, grew up and lived in Ireland during times of famine and economic struggles (Conditions). Growing up with a single mother and no father, Swift knew what hard times and struggles were like (Jonathan Swift: Biography). His essay proposes an easy solution to the economic problems going on in Ireland for both the wealthy ruling classes and the poorer classes, although his intentions and the meaning behind his words are not what would be originally thought when initially reading the essay. Through his word choices and the description of specific events of his time, Swift uses satire to grab his audience’s attention and get his own personal ideas and opinions out about all the

Swift was said to “declare at one stage in his life: ‘I am not of this vile country (Ireland), I am an Englishman’” (Hertford website). In his satire “A Modest Proposal,” he illustrates his dislike not only for the Irish, but for the English, organized religions, rich, greedy landlords, and people of power. It is obvious that Swift dislikes these people, but the reader must explore from where his loathing for the groups of people stems. I believe Swift not only wanted to attack these various types of people to defend the defenseless poor beggars, but he also had personal motives for his writings that stemmed from unconscious feelings, located in what Sigmund Freud would call the id, that Swift

Irony is a beautiful technique exercised to convey a message or call a certain group of people to action. This rhetorical skill is artfully used by Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet “A Modest Proposal.” The main argument for this bitingly ironic essay is to capture the attention of a disconnected and indifferent audience. Swift makes his point by stringing together a dreadfully twisted set of morally untenable positions in order to cast blame and aspersions on his intended audience. Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” employs despicably vivid satire to call for change in a world of abuse and misfortune.

In his biting political satire called ?A Modest Proposal,? Jonathan Swift seeks to create empathy for the poor through his ironic portrayal of the children of Irish beggars as commodities that can be regulated and even eaten. He is able to poke fun at the dehumanization of the multitudes of poor people in Ireland by ironically commenting on what he sees as an extension of the current situation. Swift?s essay seeks to comment on the terrible condition of starvation that a huge portion of Ireland has been forced into, and the inane rationalizations that the rich are quick to submit in order to justify the economic inequality. He is able to highlight the absurdity of these attempted

Jonathan Swift, in his essay “A Modest Proposal”, effectively utilizes an extended metaphor in order to convey his message that we must take action against widespread poverty. The satirical point employed suggests that poor children be eaten in order to decrease the surplus population, and is efficacious due to the fact that in such a terrible state of affairs, cannibalism can be logically defended as a viable solution. Swift’s essay, written in 1729, clearly precedes the existing social programs in effect throughout much of the first world. However, the ominous reality is that Swift’s essay can just as effectively be used as a comparison, albeit a figurative one, to modern day society, if our current welfare spending continues.

Poverty has been a problem not only in Texas or the United States, but all over the world. Many types of individuals have addressed this topic for years, raised money, volunteered, but still, as much as there’s said and done, the issue hasn’t been fazed a bit. From Jonathan Swift’s Modest Proposal, he clarifies the poverty issued throughout Ireland in the early 1700’s and how one suggestion could change it all. Elaborated from the Literary Reference Center, “A Modest Proposal, like Gulliver’s Travels, transcends the political, social, and economic crisis that gave birth to it, woeful as they were. Packed with irony and satirical revelations of the human condition…” Swift wasn’t just writing a masterpiece, but an intended, informational

In his argument, he presents a great appeal to pathos when he shocks his entire audience, and proposes such an outrageous proposal appalling everyone who reads his pamphlet. However, he takes his satire too far and ends up showing his lack of ethos and appeal to moralistic logic creating gaps in his argument that keep his argument from reaching its purpose and influencing the majority of his audience. Swift’s over use of sarcasm shows his lack of credibility to those parties he insults. Even though his argument is satirical, he only shows one side of logic disregarding moral logic that society enforces leading his audience to focus more on how he could even propose such an idea than how they are to help the poor. Moreover, Swift never directs his audience on what to do next about the situation of the poor and instead uses his satire to show what should not be done leaving his audience with no clue what to do next. However, Swift’s article presented a solid claim in pathos centered on his shocking satire and how to deal with the poor and used the appeal of satire to influence his readers to look into the situation and how to help the