Satire, Humor, and Shock Value in Swifts' A Modest Proposal Essay

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.

Johnathan Swift published a book called A Modest Proposal. A Modest Proposal is about the impoverished Irish and that they might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. The problem in the story is their economy is failing and they don’t know how to fix it. So, they go to the idea of eating and selling children because they are running out of food.

Johnathan Swift wrote Modest Proposal with the idea to better humanity.. When you first read it you miss what the true message is. You think “Man this guy is a monster!” or “He’s sick!”, but once you reach the end the true meaning of the proposal hits you. When Jonathan Swift wrote a Modest Proposal he tried to get his audience to see the problem by taking it and providing an unethical and inhumane solution then using rhetorical devices to bring out people’s emotions.

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

We must keep in mind that Swift is serious throughout the entire proposal but his tone varies and gives the reader a sense of how absurd his proposal is. He considered the fact that the proposal was illogical to most people and wanted to make it stand out profoundly by changing the tone. For instance, Swift conveys that, “Infants' flesh will be in season throughout the year” (Swift 3). He suggests that children will be a product that Ireland will not have an insufficient amount of. His proposal will provide the rich an infinite amount of children to be bought throughout the year and years to come. Swift’s use of foreshadowing gives the reader a sense of how serious the author takes this proposal. He not only gives a sense of how confident he is in his plan, but also gives off the fact that irony is being played a part of this quote. He claims his proposal is the only opportunity Ireland has to evade its problem and also gives an inhuman method in order to reach a solution. Not only does Swift use irony as one of the tones throughout the essay, but also uses a cynical way of introducing his scheme to his audience which are composed of the English and the rich Ireland population. For example, Swift states, “I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it” (Swift 7). Swift expresses that he could name a country,

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.

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.

Swift is clever as he manages to lure the reader into a 'Fake sense of

He presents a very logical argument for his reasons to sale 120,000 thousand children out of the 200,000 he estimates there to be. Swift uses this “data” to mock the outrageous ways other politicians have used similar statistics in other proposals. The narrator expands his credibility by mentioning various tidbits of conversations he has had with gentlemen who seem to be knowledgeable in the subject. In a bill, information from reliable sources is needed as evidence, what makes Swift’s proposal incredibly outrageous is that he cites many sources, but none of these are reliable, for example, throughout the text he rarely identifies those people whose opinions are used in the text instead, he refers to them as “our merchants” or “A very knowing American” The only time he mentions someone specific, the person, Psalmanazar, turns out to be a famous imposter. The narrator uses these people to prove his point that a [that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.] Leaving the audience with the horrendous image that leaves more than one stomach weak. The narrator continues to crunch numbers so that the only thing the

Swift was said to “declare at one stage in his life: ‘I am not of this vile country (Ireland), I am an Englishman’” (Hertford website). In his satire “A Modest Proposal,” he illustrates his dislike not only for the Irish, but for the English, organized religions, rich, greedy landlords, and people of power. It is obvious that Swift dislikes these people, but the reader must explore from where his loathing for the groups of people stems. I believe Swift not only wanted to attack these various types of people to defend the defenseless poor beggars, but he also had personal motives for his writings that stemmed from unconscious feelings, located in what Sigmund Freud would call the id, that Swift

Jonathan Swift, author of “A Modest Proposal,” tries to present different ideas in order to change the situation of Ireland. Through his proposal, he is able to get his point across. He wrote this essay to show how undeveloped and bad the state of Ireland is and the social classes. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift effectively uses insincerity, sarcasm, and rhetorical exaggeration to reveal his annoyance of politicians, papists, and overall citizens of poverty-stricken Ireland in the late seventeenth century. The purpose of his argument is to raise awareness of the issue. Swift vents his growing aggravation at the incompetence of Ireland’s politicians, the hypocrisy of the wealthy, the tyranny of the English and the squalor and degradation in which he saw so many Irish people living. Swift persuades his audience by proposing an extreme and unethical solution, in hopes that he will get others to start thinking about actual solutions. On other hand, Onion is an organization that publishes articles on international, national, and local news. On the following paragraphs there are some similarity and differences between Swift essay and some articles from onion.

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

The power of a pamphlet. A modest Proposal was a pamphlet written by Johnathan Swift born (1667-1745) born in Dublin, Ireland. Swift graduated from the university of Dublin in 1686 and earned his doctor of divinity from Trinity College. The pamphlet tells of a sever way to end poverty and boost community growth in Ireland. Swift begins by pointing out the amount of the poor, Catholics and the number of children they have. So, he proposes the poor sell their children for food. Swift then backs his claim by explaining the logic behind it and how it would help Ireland. In the end Swift now anticipates an objection to his proposal and is open to any other offers to fix the problem.

Swift’s satirical suggestion stems from several different issues that, at the time, were plaguing his country. One of those issues is overpopulation and how population contributes to the country’s economy and work force. In his story he not only offers satire, but he also uses the language of economics to calculate the people’s value. He calculated the number of people in his country, and from this he figured how many of those were stricken by poverty, how many of these people are breeders capable of producing, and also how many children these breeders may bring into a life of poverty. “That the remaining hundred thousand may at a year old be offered in sale to the persons of quality and