A Modest Proposal Myth

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 mordantly 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.

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

At the time A Modest Proposal was written, Ireland was in a state of extreme poverty. The country was significantly overpopulated: people were struggling to make ends meet and provide for the growing population. The author of the text, Dr. Jonathan Swift, was repulsed by the Irish government’s reluctance to institute any major changes to help resolve the levels of poverty and overpopulation present at the time. In response, he wrote this text to criticize the upper class for this level of inaction, as well as their failed attempts at resolving the issue. Through Swift’s use of satirical devices -- such as irony, hyperbole, and understatement -- he was able to convey his message to the public which was criticism about the inadequate actions being taken by the government to solve Ireland’s troubles. He believed they weren’t doing enough to help the situation at the time and wanted them to see their defeat in hopes that they would decide to finally act.

During the early 1700s in Ireland, there were countless people that lived in poverty. Families that had many children at that time were usually the families that lived in poverty. If they chose to sell those children instead of keeping them, at the end of every year they would make 8 shillings for every kid they did not keep. In time, it would have been more beneficial for the poor families to sell their children because they would be making money on them (Baker). In 1729, a man named Jonathan Swift believed that he found a way to eliminate some of that poverty and feed the rich with the same solution. To propose his theory, he wrote “A Modest Proposal.” He wanted the poor people to give up their children as necessary evil. In the essay, Jonathan Swift challenges the status quo of the time and place in which it was written by saying people should sell and eat children and believing that women should be breeders (Swift).

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).

Like the other numerous number of circulating pamphlets, Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’ begins with a sympathetic description of poor Irish people who can’t afford raising their kids to give one a sense of sympathy towards them. Unlike the other pamphlets of his contemporaries which proposed remedies or just complained about the problem like how the British government did, he emphasizes that his proposal “…is of a much greater extent, and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain age who are

Indeed the proposal to eat the poor is a shocking statement, but what adds to the shock value is the delivery. For example, take the last statement regarding a fricassee. This statement is not necessary for the point, but it certainly adds to the appalling nature of the quote. The sarcastic nature puts Swift so far above the poor subjects that it evokes an extremely humorous response. Swift digresses and uses sarcasm numerous times in the essay, to emphasize truisms in a manner that tries to be less than direct, but has the ultimate effect of clarity. For example Swift proposes that some one of the uses for the children would be to

Swift attracts attention to the cruel mistreatment of the impoverished class of Ireland through the use of his absurd proposal, his tone, and also his insincerity.

Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity and vices; particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. Jonathan Swift’s, “Modest Proposal”, is a satirical work piece that gives a sarcastic solution to the issues that Ireland was facing such as poverty and starvation in the 1700s. He gives a sequence of impractical and foolish solutions to the problems that include the severe treatment of children. The title of Swift’s work, "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a burden to Their Parents, or Country, and For Making Them Beneficial to The Public”, gives the readers an idea on the strange bits of insights that the author

In ‘A Modest Proposal’ the author, Jonathan Swift utilizes techniques such as satire, sarcasm, and irony to create a bigger picture to the reader. Within the poem, Swift not only presents a humorous approach to social and economic issues but does so in a well-constructed and carefully composed manner. A closer reading of the text reveals a deeper critical analysis of the social perceptions of the poor at the time. Through Swifts’ use of irony, he creates a proposal that is so extremely absurd that some may believe the piece to be genuine. By taking an issue and providing a corrupt and merciless solution, the writer uses a unique approach to catch the attention of the people of Ireland and presents them a proposal they cannot ignore. Through the use of irony, Swift creates a poem that not only criticizes social perceptions of the poor but also remarks upon the issue without directly addressing the reader.

While the rich were very wealthy, the poor were severely poverty-stricken. Swift’s A Modest Proposal offers a solution to the problem. Ironically, his preposition is anything but modest. He starts off by saying “Surely someone can find a fair, cheap, and easy method of making sound and useful members of society of these children” (p.567). His proposal suggests that the poor sell their children for the rich to eat.

In Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” written in 1729, he writes of the hardships faced by the lower class and proposes a solution to help it out. Living in Ireland, Swift witnessed many hardships suffered among the poor, such as stealing and begging. However, not too far away, the British royalty was living a lavish lifestyle, and by doing so, it was sucking the life out of the poor. Jonathan Swift saw this enormous unbalance of wealth and wanted to do something about it. Therefore, in his article, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s aims to publicly humiliate the rich by demonstrating how they always take from the poor. Meanwhile, the author is also trying to anger the lower class in order to get those living in it to stand up to the wealthy

Implicit within Swift’s essay is a call for radical change to the inaction towards the poor that existed in his 18th century society. Though his call was thoroughly addressed by nearly every global government, the poor class has not shrunk in any way due to this, and in fact, government assistance has only worsened the problem. One must only examine the nature of the welfare state to see the oppression inherent within it.

Jonathan Swift's 1729 essay "A Modest Proposal" deals with societal issues contemporary to him and is meant to provide harsh criticism in regard to values promoted by society at the time. The author uses this essay with the purpose of suggesting that he found the solution to financial problems experienced by the Irish during the era. By advising these people to sell their people to wealthy individuals in England, he intends to satirize society by emphasizing the cruel attitudes generally expressed toward underprivileged individuals. Consequent to reading the essay most readers are probable to acknowledge that poor people are harshly discriminated by the social order.

In terms of pure logic, the proposition Swift creates for the poor Irish benefits the British wealth immensely, but the intensity of his satire shows that this is not the course of action to be taken. He caters to his audiences’ logos by listing the “obvious and many” advantages his proposal makes for them (8). They are Protestant landowners, “lessen[ing] the number of Paptists” would be beneficial for Protestants to be the religious majority, as “Paptist” was a religious slur for people who followed the Roman Catholic Church (8). Additionally, Swifts statement of “The poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own, which by law may be made liable to a distress, and help to pay their landlord’s rent, their corn and cattle being already seized, and money a thing unknown” to said landlords translates to the following (9). As the infant is nothing more than