Jonathan Swift Satire

Swift wants the reader to describe the persona he adopts as one with a deep understanding of the deplorable circumstances in Ireland, so that he is deemed reasonable in his proposed solution for the state of the kingdom. He successfully achieves this by incorporating thorough descriptions of his plan, such as in the explanation having 20,000 poor children reserved for breeding and the remaining 100,000 used as sustenance for the rest of the populace. Swift also forms a solid argument by appealing to pathos in addressing heartbreaking topics such as, “the mothers who, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants,” which promotes sympathy in the readers, thereby influencing them to agree with his proposal to counteract such unfortunate circumstances.

Satire is a form of literature in which an author tries to demonstrate his or her point of view by ridiculing. The author uses heavy irony and sarcasm in order to criticize a social issue. A perfect example of a work of satire is Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. In this satirical essay, Jonathan Swift attacks on the issue of the Irish poverty in the 1700s. The essay sarcastically suggests that Ireland’s social and economic problems would be quickly solved by putting the children of impoverished Irish families on the food market. Through heavy exaggeration, Jonathan

Swift appeals to pathos to make the audience feel disgust and is made through exaggeration. Swift makes a plan to sell children of beggars as food and females “ may be Breed, whereof only one fourth part to be Males”. He exaggerates it by going so far as to calculate the thousands of children to sell for food and how many females to turn into breeders. Then he goes on to describe the suffering of the people that “ they are every Day dying, and rotting, by cold, and famine, and filth, and vermin”.

In addition to the use of Irony,Swift also uses appeal to emotions in his essay to make the people reading his context to be ashamed of themselves.In the very beginning of the essay,Swift states how "it is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town,when they see the streets,the roads and cabin doors crowded with beggars of the female sex,followed by three,four,or six children " (Swift 1-3).The author talks about the many beggars and undernourished citizens who are "forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants" (Swift 5-6) which immediately makes the readers lament the fates of these poor mothers and children.By stating the terrible sight that one would see in the streets of Ireland,the author is able to make the reader feel the terror,which would evoke a sympathy in reader's mind.In addition, the author makes use of harsh and bitter words to address the citizen such as "bastard children"(Swift 31).Swift also states that "a young healthy child well nursed makes a delicious,nourishing ,and wholesome food whether stewed,roasted,baked or boiled." (Swift 62-63),which he considers to be "somewhat dear,and therefore very popular for landlords,who,have already devoured most of the parents"(Swift 79-80).The author is cleverly using these horrific words and imagery to make the people,especially the rich citizens of Ireland,who in any manner have not shown any sign of humanity towards the poor,to feel

Swift Uses a hyperbole in paragraph ten “...a child just born will weigh twelve pounds...” in a tie when everybody is starving and poor it is almost impossible for most babies to be even close to 12 pounds. He does this to try and give justifications of eating babies after they grow for a year. Then he goes as far to say “...buying the children alive…” in paragraph 14, just so then can save more money by preparing and killing the baby

Overall, Swift is also using irony by relating this unheard of cruelty to babies to cruelty animals. He suggests that buying children alive and “dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs” (411) is the best way to serve them. This was intended to tell the audience that the Protestants are basically treating the Catholics like animals with no regard to life. This carefully crafted technique lets the reader see how malicious the Protestants are actually being, and that they are killing Catholic babies alive by ruining any chance at a good life. Swift did not actually mean for people to go out and cook babies like pigs to get the most satisfactory, he simply meant that if you are going to treat them like pigs, you might as well eat them like pigs. If the people of Britain can’t see that through adults, maybe

Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" can be said to have a satirical surprise ending, even though the reader is well prepared for it based on the tone and style of Swift's writing and any prior knowledge of the author's intentions. Swift's final solution to the problem of overpopulation is for the poor to sell their children as food for the rich. He introduces this proposition quite early into the document "A Modest Proposal," which is why the ending is not so much as a surprise as it is an intriguing rhetorical argument. The reason why the ending might seem surprising is that it seems as if Swift may indeed be presenting a realistic argument of what can be done about overpopulation, in spite of all evidence to the contrary. A reader not used to inferring messages based on tone or style might be forgiven to misread the beginning of Swift's document. For example, a person who has never heard a sarcastic tone could very well believe that Swift was being serious; in which case the reader would continue to view Swift's proposal as reasonable and either consider him a monster or a genius. Generally, Swift uses the surprise ending to alert the readers to the absurdity of the original problem that reveals social injustices and inequities. One of the biggest surprises in Swift's document is when he states, "I can think of no one objection, that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it should be urged, that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the

Swift refers to his essay as unserious by becoming more insincere in order to show how horrific his proposal is. He late uses his dishonesty and insincerity to his benefit to show what his true meaning behind his proposal. He states that he, [has] the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work” (Swift 7). Swift discusses about having a low personal interest in killing all the children because of how might the audience think he’s untrustworthy and insincere. His audience must think that of him due to the fact of how easy it is for him explain that killing children would be the best solution. He shows how he has no personal connection to his proposal because of the fact that he is still assumed to be insincere and untruthful. Swift also might not have any personal relationship to his proposal since his children are above the age he provides people when insisting they sell their kids. In addition, Swift suggests that through his insincerity there will be another problem presented although not as major as the problem at hand. He still continues on with his proposal keeping in mind that there will be conflict in the future. Swift states that, “it will have one other collateral advantage, by lessening the number of papists among us” (Swift 3). He expresses that there will another collateral

“I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs” (A Modest Proposal). Comparing the children to roasting a pig shows that the children do not mean that much to anyone and they can just be burned alive and no one would care. He also uses the word “flesh” generally to refer to the children when they’re being served and eaten which is an animalistic association (A Modest Proposal). Usually human children would not be referred to as “flesh” or “pigs” at all. This, again, reflects upon how England and the Irish ruling classes treated the people of Ireland, especially the less fortunate. Other words Swift has a tendency of using are “breeders”, “males”, and “females” (A Modest Proposal). It’s not common to hear these words in regard to a human being especially coming from a priest. More directly with his wording, Swift speaks of the landlords in a negative manner. “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents…” (A Modest Proposal). This statement shows the way the English landlords would take every penny their tenants had. England and Ireland’s wealthy class did not care for their people what so ever, and Swift’s satire was very effective in proving these points.

Swift’s plan is an ironic attempt to "find out a fair, cheap, and easy Method"(503), for converting the starving children of Ireland into "sound and useful members of the Commonwealth” (503). His “solution” is to sell a child, after he or she reaches one year of age. “Instead of being a charge upon their parents, or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall, on the contrary, contribute to the feeding and partly to the clothing of many thousands”(503). From Swift’s perspective using the children, as food is the most efficient and cheap way to make the children a contribution rather than a burden.

Effectively ushering change in society or pointing out faults that have existed and gone unnoticed can be a daunting task for any social commentator. Often, blandly protesting grievances or concerns can fall upon deaf ears and change can be slow or non-existent. However, Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet A Modest Proposal, uses clever, targeted, and ironic criticism to bring the social state of Ireland to the attention of indolent aristocrats. He accomplishes such criticism through satire, specifically Juvenalian satire. Swift’s A Modest Proposal stands as an example of the type of satire that plays upon the audience’s emotion by creating anger concerning the indifference of the voice created. He complements such criticism with sophisticated,

Throughout his proposal, Swift shows his views on religion, the economy, England, social strata, and power. Swift reveals his view on the two separate religions of Ireland and Britain within his proposal. Ireland, being comprised of mostly Papists (Roman Catholics), “with whom we are Yearly over-run, being the principal Breeders of the Nation, as well as our most dangerous Enemies” (Swift, 21). Swift, who is not Roman Catholic unlike most of Ireland, and mocks Britain, calling the Papists of Ireland their, “most dangerous Enemies”. This allows Swift to call into question Britain’s actions (or lack thereof) towards Ireland, since Swift is a clergyman of the Anglican Church in Ireland, meaning he has extensive knowledge of the Christianity within

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

Jonathan Swift is often regarded as a foremost satirical writer due to his well-known masterpieces like A Modest Proposal (1729), A Tale of a Tub (1704), and Gulliver’s Travels (1726). Even though writing was always a sideline for Swift, he influenced mainly Irish and English politics mainly through his writings. He often made a use of a literary device called satire to impart his messages with wits and humor to his readers. For example, Swift satirically represented the foolishness of English politics that quarreled and cost lives of people over trivial matters in his novel Gulliver’s Travels.