Rhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal

Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” written in 1729 was his proposal “for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to he publick” (Swift, Title). This proposal included the selling, skinning and buying of babies at the age of one. This proposal that he has come up with is a very inhuman and controversial one when it comes to being socially acceptable.

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

From the beginning, irony is immediately displayed through the title of the text, A Modest Proposal. Modest means to be moderate and the proposal stated is anything but. The irony of this title serves to display to the audience how “moderate” this plan is in comparison to what the government was presently doing which was basically nothing in Swift’s eyes. Throughout the introduction, the speaker introduces the problem -- overpopulation and poverty -- and presents a solution. He mentions children in passing, which later on becomes a large part of his “proposal” to help Ireland. Swift cites that a significant part of the problem in Ireland is the struggle to provide for the evergrowing population and in order to solve this, children -- specifically newborns to a year old -- should be sold to the upper classes as food. He describes that “a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food..” (Swift, lines 70-71). This solution would lessen the pressure for the state to provide for them in addition to other benefits that Swift later expresses. This hyperbolic suggestion serves to express Swift’s viewpoint on the actions of the upper class to solve the issues that Ireland was enduring. He was implying that their

The implied thesis of Swift’s “A Modest Proposal" is that 18th century Ireland would be in a better situation if the Irish society and monarchy actually treated problems such as overpopulation and poverty, While the overt thesis is that Irish people should consider eating their children and selling them to rich Englishmen to solve the issue of poverty and overpopulation in the country. They differ form one another as one focuses on eating children, while the other focuses on giving commentary through the essay itself.

In Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, a speaker states his proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country (Swift 1). The author carefully constructs his argument before leading into his absurd proposal supporting the consummation of one-year old children. The speaker first addresses the problem in the opening paragraph, then goes into discussing why other solutions have fallen short, and then until why his solution is the only option.

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.

Like the other numerous number of circulating pamphlets, Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’ begins with a sympathetic description of poor Irish people who can’t afford raising their kids to give one a sense of sympathy towards them. Unlike the other pamphlets of his contemporaries which proposed remedies or just complained about the problem like how the British government did, he emphasizes that his proposal “…is of a much greater extent, and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain age who are

According to Jonathan Swift a plump baby on the dinner table is better than pork. Swift made this proposal to the people of Ireland in the form of a pamphlet named A Modest Proposal in 1729. Swift use many tactics to persuade his audience such as satire, ethos, and logos that eating babies was the way to go.

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.

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.

A Modest Proposal I believe uses satire to make its point, which is the use of irony, humor or exaggeration to criticize the ideas of others. Swift clearly does not truthfully hope for the people of Ireland to sell their children as food, but he’s using the idea to convey a message. Swift makes amusement of identical pamphlets that were being broadcast at the time. His word choice throughout the story, including the word modest in the title, highlights this by making fun of the false modesty in the tone of many of the pamphlets. Their style may have seemed logical, but their propositions presented an pride only too ordinary among the British ruling class toward their Irish subjects.

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."

“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.” - Jonathan Swift. “A Modest Proposal” published in 1729 is just one of many of Jonathans Swift's great pieces of satire but, “A Modest Proposal” stands out simply because it’s a unique piece in Swift collection. For good reason, it’s about proposal that Swift created for his country of Ireland to help improve the lives of everyone by simply selling and eating only a couple hundred thousand of children of poor parents. As crazy as it may seem Swift proposal contains reasonable ideas and a reasonable process on who and how it should be done and how it will positively affect the people and economy of Ireland.

A Modest Proposal was written by Jonathan Swift in 1729 to address the issues of famine and neglect in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. He uses satirical devices in his “modest proposal” to catch the attention of the people he is writing to. A dictionary definition of modest is: “free from ostentation or showy extravagance”, which is to say that this proposal is within reason, and is not a hyperbole. Although, when they get into the reading more, it is obvious that eating “a child just born [weighing] 12 pounds” (Swift, ln 79 )is not what Swift actually thinks is the solution. He goes on to explain why eating children is the obvious solution to the problem Ireland is having.

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