Naked Lunch and A Modest Proposal Essay

Dr. Jonathan Swift’s purpose while writing “A Modest Proposal,” was to shock and to inform the public about his idea to sell children of poor families to be eaten. In the book, Satire: A Critical Reintroduction, Dustin Griffin

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Smith was a proposal to the Irish people; it was an odd perspective on how to change as a nation, since the government was not helping. A vague summary of the writing includes putting the nation's children to "good use" and using them as food, clothes, etc to carry the people out of famine. Swift's proposal, though it may come across as morbid, was a fantastic way of getting the government's attention and calling them out. All-in-all, Smith really wanted change and improvement within the nation, he had to show this through a sarcastic tone to catch the attention of his intended audience (the Irish government); this most relates to current times in how governments still continue to ignore big moral issues in the nation, and push back important problems.

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 modest proposal challenges the status quo by using sarcasm. This proposal was published in the year 1729. This proposal also was published in the country of Ireland. There are several different sources of information about the “A Modest Proposal.” The modest proposal is an Juvenalian satirical essay written by, Jonathan Swift. The “A Modest Proposal”, is summed up to be about preventing the children of poor people from being a burden to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public. The Modest Proposal has an ironic tone. It’s also a use of sarcasm. The thesis for this Proposal is that most of all poor people should have many kids to sell for food. This is a masterpiece of irony. Times were very different back then from now. Times back then seem to be more desperate than times now. Being sarcastic wasn't a big thing till recently. Jonathan was humorless and was very sarcastic, but people in his decade weren't that way. They believed everything and were quite serious about everything. In the essay “A Modest Proposal” Jonathan Swift challenges the status quo of the time and place in which it was written by discussing cannibalism, selling children, and giving realistic ideas.

In Jonathan Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal", he discusses the problem with the number of poor children in the streets whose families are too poor to support them. Swift comes up with a plan to solve this problem that will hopefully help the number of poor children. The plan is to eat the children because he believes that they are going to be an excellent source of food for anybody. The satirical essay mocks how the rich treat the poor as if they are poor animals. Throughout the essay, Swift uses the rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos and logos to convince the audience to agree with his solution.

Those children doomed to grow up as thieves or leave for Spain or even become pirates. Swift then goes on to say that it should be the goal of everyone to find a way to make these children useful. He then states that he wishes not only to help the beggars but everyone else too. He gives estimates on how many mothers that are giving birth and how many of their children will be born and how many will die. He then goes on to how much a year old would weigh and how much money the cost would be for the meat. The next part is the shocker of this essay. He states that he hears from an American that a child at one year old is delicious regardless of how it is cooked. Swift then proposes that children at one year old should be taken and fed to the hungry. Swift then goes on to say that doing this will create a new market that will help both the poor and the rich. The rich will get a new food and will learn to feel more compassion for the poor, and the poor will have a new way to make

Although I realize your concern, you have missed the point of this well thought out essay completely. Despite what you may think about A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift, this essay is a satire master piece filled with irony. Swift’s essay was not intended to convince people to eat babies, but to call attention to the abuses Catholic’s face from their well-to-do Protestants. He only uses eating babies in his essay to explain to the reader the impossible burdens the Protestants are imposing on the Irish Catholics and by making their life hard, they are making a life of a new born impossible.

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

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 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.

Planning on how am going to expand my vinyl fence company in the near future, I will be forced to purchase a new warehouse facility in order to achieve the goal. My insurance company will be offering two very attractive investment options, an ordinary annuity as well as the annuity due, both compounding quarterly and which are paying 8% annual interest over a 5-year period. My budget of 5-year includes a saving plan of $2500.00 each quarter. I realized that I will have to replace the fence post- molding machine that sells for about $45,000. Have also estimated that I will have to purchase this machine within 3 years and I’m planning on saving for this purchase using the sinking fund that is compounded semi-annually, and earns a 12% annual rate.

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

Jonathan Swift, in his essay “A Modest Proposal”, effectively utilizes an extended metaphor in order to convey his message that we must take action against widespread poverty. The satirical point employed suggests that poor children be eaten in order to decrease the surplus population, and is efficacious due to the fact that in such a terrible state of affairs, cannibalism can be logically defended as a viable solution. Swift’s essay, written in 1729, clearly precedes the existing social programs in effect throughout much of the first world. However, the ominous reality is that Swift’s essay can just as effectively be used as a comparison, albeit a figurative one, to modern day society, if our current welfare spending continues.

Swift’s development of the absurd proposal for eating young children so that “the poorer tenants will have something valuable” or that there “would be constant customers for infants flesh” is enhanced by numerous examples of biting irony. Such irony exists even in the title: “A Modest Proposal.” Upon reading the text, the audience can agree that Swift’s proposal is far from modest and such irony servers to enrage and puzzle the readers to the point that they question why he would be using such shifting, ironic diction. Swift’s use of absurd logic to his proposal supplements the effectiveness of verbal irony, since no one would believe that children should be eaten to improve “in the art of making good bacon”. The aforementioned examples illustrate Swift’s craftiness and the use irony to almost mock the audience. In true Juveliean fashion, such techniques are designed to arouse the reader to anger and suspicion of what is trying to be said. A satire based on the Horatian type wouldn’t use such blatantly offensive irony. Rather, the tone of voice would be “gentler, more good humored and sympathetic” (“Horatian Satire”).

Satire is one of the distinguishing marks that makes “A Modest Proposal” a classic example of Neoclassical Literature. In his use of Satire Jonathan Swift was undoubtedly influenced by Greek and Roman cynics who criticized the status quo. Like some of these cynics, instead of offering a reasonable and moral solution to a social problem, Swift captures the attention of the Irish people by a proposition of cannibalism. Describing his proposal Swift writes, “A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends and when the family dines alone the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day especially in winter.” In statements like this Swift use the power of