Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, By Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift uses satire and irony to convey his attitude about the situation. In the book, Satire: A Critical Reintroduction, Griffin how “A Modest Proposal is full of satire by saying, “A more famous satire whose structure from beginning to end is based on carefully reasoned consecutive argument is Swift’s “Modest Proposal” (104). In the book, On the Discourse of Satire, Simpson writes, “In fact, the first seven paragraphs of the Proposal review various schemes and recommendations, including some championed by Swift himself in the years before, to alleviate poverty and starvation and generally to improve ‘the present deplorable state of the kingdom” (143). Dr. Swift also uses an ironic tone while writing “A Modest Proposal.” One piece of evidence that proves that this is an ironic piece of writing is that Swift compares the children to animals. He says, “although I rather recommended buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs” (97-100). Another example of having an ironic attitude is the title itself. It is called “A Modest Proposal,” but his proposal is not modest at all because it is morally incorrect to sell and devour children. Overall, Dr. Jonathan Swift has an ironic and satiric attitude while writing “A Modest

"A Modest Proposal" is a social commentary written by Jonathan Swift, he uses techniques such as irony, satire, and sarcasm to mock the Irish government of his time. After reading Swift's essay half way through, one might not believe how graphic and shocking it's been written. He wrote a letter suggesting they sell the children of the poor to the wealthy families, as this will provide food, clothing, and will decrease the population. Throughout the letter he uses remarkable details as to how they should go about eating the children, treating them as livestock. The letter ends with a completely different tone when the author explains the absurdity of his proposal and instead suggests something a bit more realistic and humane like the wealthy should give up some of their luxuries. He uses a lot of thorough, literalized metaphors, and ironic and sarcasm techniques to a devastating effect. A Modest Proposal has been judged as an excellent work of rhetorical brilliancy, and it acquires readers critical attention up until now Swift exposes all the bizarre remarks and ideas he has been discussing about are all a humorous way to make fun of the way the government is run and how they are not serving their country. Afterwards he expresses a proper proposal of taking away some of the wealthier people's luxuries in order to help their economy. this essay explains the three techniques used in Swift's proposal, such as; Irony, Satire and Sarcasm.

In the 1700s, Ireland was under the control of the British. They also owned Northern Ireland. The British were causing immense numbers of problems for the Irish people because their policies were leaving people homeless and starving. Jonathan Swift was a man who was born and raised in Ireland during these times. He engrossed himself in Irish politics especially during this time. Swift saw the struggles of the Irish people and became outraged by their conditions. He decided to fight against the British’s actions in a unique way, hoping that it would end this time of extreme poverty for the Irish. To do so, Swift wrote the satirical essay “A Modest Proposal”, using the voice of an upper class

Jonathan Swift was a very crafty writer for his time. Living in 16th and 17th century Ireland must not have been easy considering the history. During this time there was a famine and England was watching and waiting for the downfall of this country. Swift was a satirical writer who was very good at his craft. In “A Modest Proposal,” Swift introduces a lunatic idea that his country should “eat the children.” He is, of course, joking, but he makes a huge statement in saying this. It shows that the government would rather ignore or blame the problem on someone else rather than fixing the problem itself. This reading relates to an audience in that Swift is trying to let the people of his time see what a horrible government the people of Ireland live in. This argument mattered to the people of Ireland and it should matter today because it shows how a government can say it takes care of its people when it truly does not. “A Modest Proposal,” is a very valuable piece because it proves that it just takes one voice to open the eyes of others, and I believe that Swift did an excellent job using the rhetorical triangle because his satirical masterpiece made people think about how they were being treated by the government.

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

Whether it is to someone who does not fully understand the purpose behind it or someone who understands what he is actually trying to do. The emotional appeal is what really shocks the reader because he is talking about killing mass numbers of poor infants and then eating them because it will make the economy run smoother. I am certain that would pull some sort of emotion out of anyone; however, by doing this he is also talking down to the Irish, treating them like they are tools and cattle; sizing them up by whether or not they are healthy and a good dish to eat. One would assume that he is in no way credible because he is suggesting extreme and taboo methods; however, Swift establishes his credibility by enforcing that he has lived in Ireland for many years and would know the state of the economy. The amount of people he sees roaming the streets and begging for cash could probably lead to his supposed proposition, but also lead him to his actual proposition, for drastic change. Despite how sinister the proposition is, in a way it could be viewed as logical and extremely practical. He demonstrates this by using a series of statistics and mathematics to calculate exactly how many people he would have left to turn into meals, which could be used as a form of credibility, because he comes off as smart. Swift is actually a lot smarter than one would assume by first reading this article. His purpose was to establish a sense of awareness in the Irish and a feeling of guilt in the British by focussing on a “rich feeding off of the poor” stance. The rich being the British feeding off of poor

Jonathan Swift was a very famous satirical writer of the 16th and 17th century. Living in Ireland, he describes the many problems of the country including: poverty and overpopulation. Swift used his writing to inform people that nothing was going to be done about said problems until they were to rise together and make a stand. In “A Modest Proposal,” Swift comes up with the not so marvelous idea to eat the children of the poor which are causing the problem of overpopulation. Swift’s satire shows that the government would rather ignore or blame the problem on someone else rather than fix the problem. The audience of this piece would be the people of 16th and 17th century Ireland. Swift uses pathos, or emotional appeals the most to get his point across. This piece of writing is a valuable part of writing and is still very important today because it shows that people had to hide their true feelings in their writing and satire was one way to do it.

Beginning with an examination of the subtitle, the stance of the narrator and his views of the poor are evident immediately. “…For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland, from being a Burden to their Parents or Country; and for making them beneficial to the Public." (Swift Para.1). This example is a distinct instance of irony; in which Swift uses such long, elaborate sentence to summarize his main proposition. By referring to

Swift shows his despair from the rejection he has experienced from every caregiver or leader in his own life, just as the poor have been rejected by society, forcing them to resort to begging. He feels that something drastic will have to happen in order for things to change, otherwise the misery of being devoured by society will be upon the poor “breed for ever,” as well as himself (Swift). Perhaps this drastic change that would have to occur is already too late for Swift. Perhaps his unresolved childhood complexes are too far past that they can never be resolved, but he is still trying to resolve them through his proposal that is trying to resolve society’s large problem of poverty.

Another way he utilizes parody 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 diminish premature birth rates since ladies will esteem their kids as a wellspring 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

Jonathan Swift constructs a ridiculous essay which he titled “A Modest Proposal”. He wrote this proposal to illustrate how backward the economy and standard of living are in Ireland, but also how his proposal could improve the economy and standard of living for the Irish people. Swift proposes that the babies of the poor will help the wealthy of Ireland, these babies will be used to supplement their food source by being eaten. Now they will no longer be a burden on society but now they will help contribute to the feeding of society. Swift makes this proposal because of Ireland’s current sub standard living standards. Within his proposal Swift is offering a way to rid the county of its excess children and in turn using them to contribute to society so they do not “grow up either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native

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

Swift uses irony instead of straight forward remarks to express his anger toward the British and how their oppression on his people is destroying the economy. Swifts anger has become so great he states that much of the population would have been better off dead, which may be exaggerated but not ironic. Instead of coming straight out and writing a rational proposal he uses satire to mock the British but at the same time get a valuable point across. All satire is ultimately driven by anger at some level. Its purpose is to not only entertain but to drive change. A Modest Proposal is a reminder of these roots.