Jonathan Swift Rhetorical Analysis

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).

In “A Modest Proposal” Jonathan swift’s choice of ridicule is the ignorance of the wealthy and of the politicians. The satirical technique used to establish this is socratic irony. This is presented when Swift proposes that children of poor Irish families should “contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing of thousands” to revamp Ireland (Swift, paragraph 4) . In all Swift forces the people of ireland to take a good look at the reality of what their society's economic conditions. The idea stated that for the socially rich part of ireland to thrive they have to feed on the starving population in order for their own survival is absurd. Plus the fact that they only eat the children of the poor goes with the social standard of the lower class doing all the work while the upper class abuses their money and power.

When one thinks of the phrase “A Modest Proposal,” does one come to think of fattening babies so they can sell as meat. In Jonathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal,” Swift uses satirical writing to communicate with the reader to expose the critical situation of the poor people of Ireland. Whom besides going through a tough period of famine have to endure the overwhelming taxation rates of the English empire. The author’s proposal intends to convince the public of the incompetence of Ireland’s politicians, the lack empathy of the wealthy, the English oppression, and the inability of the Irish to mobilize themselves against this situation. Johnathan proposed an outrageous solution that the Irish folks eat their children at the age of one or sell them in the market as meet. Finally, he manifests to be open to other suggestions to help overcome the country’s crisis. The proposal was made strategically using several different parts: the text, author, audience, purpose, and setting to persuade the tax to go lower.

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

“We can incur no damage in disobliging England.” “First as things now stand how will they be able to find food and raiment for a hundred thousand useless mouths and backs.” By telling the people that his plan can solve Ireland's problems without hurting England and also calling Irishmen useless. Swift says these things to appeal to the citizens emotions of hatred. Swift also uses Ethos in this essay. “As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years, upon this important subject.” By telling the people that he has been observing what was going on in Ireland for many years it gives him credibility that he knows what he is talking about. “As I have been informed by a principal gentleman in the county of Cavan.” “I am assured by our merchant,that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is is no saleable.” In order to give himself and what he is proposing more credibility, the speaker enlist the help of other people who have either witness or are involved with what he is proposing and all of them say that the proposal has benefits.

Swift demonstrates that he has put in research time to create a satire that achieves his purpose. Swift demonstrates this throughout the essay. In this certain example his beginning to calculate the number of poor kids. “I calculate there may be about 200,000 couple whose wives are breeders; from which number I subtract 30,000 who are able to maintain their own children…I again subtract 50,000 for those women who miscarry, or whose children

At the time Jonathan Swift wrote his essay, the social conditions in Ireland were extremely devastating. England was taking over land and making Irish people pay high rents. Unable to pay them, many of people were poverty stricken. The overpopulation, led to the debtors’ kids to be homeless. Swift indicates this when he states, “It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads and cabin doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for alms.” Along with stating the situation of the country, it is indicating who Swift blames as the cause of these conditions. He believes that the upper class is to blame for oppressing the lower class. Throughout the essay he mentions how the children of the poor could be used to feed the upper class. This is a form of satire as it mocks the riches of the upper class at the expense of the lower class. It is made obvious that he thinks the rich are to blame when he says, “i think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number of children… is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom, a

In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift challenges the Neo-classical period by creating a sense of instability in their way of thinking. He attacks the society by carelessly endorsing cannibalism in hopes to help Ireland through their economic crisis. He demonstrates this by humbly proposing and assuring "that a young healthy child, well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food."

Swift’s intentions are shown to us through some complex ways, like his writing style. Swift tries to throw the readers off track to make them pay more attention to what he is trying to say. Also in some of his comments he does mean what he writes, therefore it is up to the readers to try and figure out what he means and what he does not. Swift also shows his intentions through his choice of words. Swift talks about how a man would pay ten shillings for a human, child, carcass, to eat.

As Swift saw the melancholy everyday while walking the streets, “The amount of poverty in Ireland were at their worst. The streets, crowded with female beggars, followed by five or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms” (P1). Due to the children burdening their mothers, this restricted the parents to find an honest living, forcing them into this lifestyle. Using statistics to explain further how serious this problem was. To acquire this information, Swift did a census to calculate the population, which proceeded to research more saying there was “thirty thousand couples that can maintain their children, but only one hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born, not including the other mothers that miscarry or the

Jonathan Swift, like any human, has his views on money, which is one of the aspects that he used to connect with the audience through this passage:

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

Swift uses emotion to demonstrate his point is the point at which he is discussing how this framework will really help illuminate the issues of premature birth and marriage. He talks about how this will decrease premature birth rates since ladies will esteem their kids as a source of wage instead of a weight that will cost them more cash that they don't have. Likewise, Swift expresses that "men would progress toward becoming as affectionate as their spouses, amid the season of their pregnancy, as they are presently of their female horses in foal, their dairy animals in calf, or sows when they are prepared to farrow" (Swift 253) since their wives are currently transferring their source of wage. This is clearly sarcastic in light of the fact that he is implying to those families like they are cultivate creatures and not genuine individuals. He is