A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

In paragraphs 29-31, Swift mentions several expedients, such as taxes, wearing homemade clothes, rejecting foreign luxury, curing vices among women, instilling the virtues of patriotism, taxing the absentees, and rejecting divisiveness while promoting honest, industry, and skill. Swift’s speaker stated at the end of all his expending, “How preceptors!” Swift’s rhetorical purpose is to make the reader realize that he is ironic as well as understand what he actually stands for. The reader learns that Swift is forced to resort to ironic tone to reveal his true intention, which would otherwise go unnoticed. Swift is ironic because there is no way his expedients could succeed in a time that Ireland was in, he was mainly trying to highly the economic problems affecting the county at the time.

The sarcastic views of Swift’s understanding of the poverty of Ireland leads him to make a proposal for a solution to poverty, where he ignores the concern of human morale by displaying the lacking efforts of England to help. Swift uses methods that work to get or help better understand a situation, for example being sarcastic in a situation where a person wants something out of the situation by satire. The undeniable effect of satire catches the attention of England to further display the poverty of Ireland which is displayed throughout Swift’s Modest Proposal with exaggeration, incongruity and reversal.

Individualism is a habit of being self- reliant. A cultural value is a persons desired and preferred way of acting. Every culture has their own cultural values and individualism but whether individualism is their cultural value is up to the person entirely. This could pose a conflict when persuading the wrong culture especially a culture as diverse as the American culture. Poranee Sponsel is a born and raised Thai who is now a professor at a university in Hawaii and gives us the outsider’s perspective of the American culture. In Sponsel’s article “The Young, the Rich, and the Famous: Individualism as an American Cultural value” Sponsel

"A Modest Proposal" is a good example of Juvenalian Satire, which is a form of satire that get its point across through scorn and contemptuous ridicule. In this work of literature, Swift attacks England, and most of the rich and noble people of Ireland for either being the cause, or standing back and twiddling with their thumbs as the poor people in Ireland continue to suffer. Swift's method of doing this is rather extreme. In A Modest Proposal, he suggests that cannibalism will solve the problems. Yes, he suggests that eating one-year-old children will take care of the economic crisis that is happening in Ireland. His way of delivering this idea is demonstrated without morality. And his criticism of the Irish people and England is very cold. For example, in the text, Swift says, "For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation, the flesh of being too tender a consistence to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it." This quote explains how England has no problem eating up the country of Ireland, just like the people who will buy and eat the children. Swift is also very critical of the wealthy landlords that charge their tenants too much money. An

In Jonathan Swift’s essay, A Modest Proposal (1729), Swift puts forth a proposal that would over “fix” Ireland’s issue of poor children and women at the time. His proposal was to start eating kids when they were born, so they would not wind up on the streets. Throughout his essay, he uses statistical data, appeal to marriage, and use of repetition to persuade his audience that his proposal will be a good idea.

Jonathan Swift wrote A Modest Proposal, and showed that Ireland had an issue with famine and overpopulation. His proposal essay was very gross and disgusting, but it solved the issue that he was conveying. Swift’s piece is effective because children are vulnerable, it creates mental pictures, and it accuses everyone in their society.

Throughout Jonathan Swifts essay, A Modest Proposal, there seems to be a tone of satirical bitterness towards the English government for colonizing Ireland and then neglecting its citizens to live in such dire conditions. This bitter tone seems to suggest that the English’s unwanted interference and neglect has not transformed the Irish people into “civil” citizens, but instead that it has evolved them into the “barbaric” and “animalistic” people they were once accused of being.

A Modest Proposal was Jonathan Swift’s response to the deplorable conditions faced in Ireland. Swift’s writing brought light to the economic and social issues facing the public in an outlandish, contemptuous, and somewhat humorous way. Cannibalism, as Swift suggests, was a practical solution to the crisis’s faced during the time of his writing. Such a morally outlandish concept uses exaggeration as a tool to relay his argument, making his satire highly effective. The use of satirical responses can elicit change and provoke thought through self-reflection, humor, and criticism.

Jonathan Swift, a writer, satirist, and clergyman during the period of Irish Catholic economic oppression in 18th century Ireland, used his platform to create the essay “A Modest Proposal”, which took advantage of manufactured ethical and strong emotional appeals, to spark political reform and rectify his broken country. After the initial shock of reading Swift’s essay, the intent behind it is clear; it is a work of satire. The most prevalent technique Swift employs in this work is his authoritative tone, brought on by his use of a dialect, known as “king’s english”, and his immense vocabulary. An example from the text shows this clearly as he states, “Whereas the Maintainance of an hundred thousand Children, from two Years old, and upwards,

Jonathan Swift (1667- 1745) is a satirist of the early seventeenth century, also known as the Age of Alignment. The Alignment is a period of knowledge and reason, as philosophy, writing, science and technology improved. During this time, Swift composed “A Modest Proposal”, a description of the conquered vast territory of the Ireland lands by the English, and how the wealthy protestant English families managed the captured land by abusing the Irish catholic. Accordingly, injustice is experienced by the Irish, as they are prevented from receiving an education and holding prominent positions. The Irish are arranged in a state of oppression by the way of the British; for instance, they are forced to remain in a starving condition. Moreover, the

The welfare of the human being as members of a community has historically been addressed in a variety of literary forms. Jonathan Swift in his essay “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country” (The Art of Writing: A Modern Rhetoric, edited by Cosmo F. Ferrara, Random House, 1981, pp. 155-170) employs savage irony to present his societal commentary. Written in 1729 to expose the tragic conditions of the lower classes, the satire attempts to manipulate readers with its sense of ridicule and scorn. A plea for human indecency, the essay he subtly suggests their responsibilities to society in a manner which remains applicable to America.

Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is an outstanding example of the “sharp wit and biting sarcasm” (Mortesten). Using sarcastic comparisons and ironic exaggerations, Swift captured reader’s attention with the first words of his essay; and led the reader through it in a playful manner, keeping the reader tense and curious – every sentence sounded even more ridiculous than the previous one. Yet besides entertaining the reader, the author was able to make the reader think about the true point of the essay - dreadful poverty and hunger that thrived in Ireland. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift begins by discussing the dreadful poverty flourishing in Ireland.

Jonathan Swift was a satiracle writer who showed his patrioism to Ireland by writing about problems such as the starvation and the devaluation of coins. In his essay, "The Modern Proposal" he describes the unfair treatment of the Irish people. He even compares them to eat saying that is how society sees them. The difference between today's issues and issues in the 1600s and 1700s is that it is not the Irish people being mistreated in England but Muslim Americans in America. In my opinio the most mistreated group or culture in todays society are Muslims. A muslim is a person who folows the teachings and philosiphies of Islam. Because people who are Muslim or come from a country with a high Islam following are usually targetted because of the

A Modest Proposal Jonathan Swift Daša Kovářová 2016/2017 ZS AjGeB Prešov I would like to introduce you to my essay about Jonathan Swift and his famous work A Modest Proposal. In this essay will be mentioned his life from private and social aspect, but I will mainly write about essay A Modest proposal, features of satire in A Modest proposal and satire as such. Jonathan Swift was born as an Irish man shortly after his father passed.

Jonathan Swift was one of the best satirists in history but his approach on some of his stories may be questionable. When you read something with a similar modern issue as the one in A Modest Proposal do you think that you would try to make a change for the better, and what would the change be. I feel like Swift made his point very clear in his story even if it was pretty harsh satire.