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Literary analysis of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal
Literary analysis of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal
Literary analysis of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal
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Johnathan Swifts "A modest Proposal" is comical in the aspect that he attempts to persuade the audience that his irrational proposal is better than what's currently established. His satirical language can be inappropriate out of context to what he is trying to exemplify. In his "A modest proposal," Swift addresses Ireland's dilemma of not being able to pay rent to English Lords, by imploring that people should consume children as an alternative system to what the English government offers. He suggests that this decision would benefit both Ireland and England. His proposal highlights the atrocities the people of Ireland face in the wake of England's negligence. Because England finds the impoverished people of Ireland to be redundant, then they wouldn't value the juvenile population any higher. Swift is conscious that he would face heavy resentment. By revealing the stark contrast of emotion against children and the Irish, Swifts proposal can help validate the reason that most people don't care about the Irish. The fact that people care more about a proposal, that was constructed to be ridiculed, more than people dying of famine and disease, is more disgusting that the proposal itself. Swift appeals …show more content…
In paragraph 29 of "A modest proposal," the italicization of this section establishes the sincerity behind his proposal. Most of the language seems to be ironic, satirical, and ridiculed, before it transitions into the italicizations. Swift had previously suggested that they need to supply more finances for their own country rather than export the wealth thats left of another country. They could do this by enhancing the skills of shopkeepers, but shopkeepers might cheat the price of what they offer. Despite this contradiction, Swift still appeals to Ethos by suggesting ethical and logical decisions that aren't categorized as being satirical with the rest of the
Jonathan Swift is the speaker in the story, A Modest Proposal. He is also the author of many other books and stories. In the text of A Modest Proposal, Swift addresses what he believes to be a big issue in the magnificent country of Ireland, Dublin to be exact. Therefore, he proposes a solution to the problem, however, the solution is not what we would call humane, orthodox, reasonable, or even one that we would consider performing today. Swift wrote this piece for anyone that can read and comprehend what the text implies.
The essay “A Modest Proposal” written by Johnathan Swift takes a satirical view on how to solve the starvation issue in Ireland. Swift suggests an obviously satirical solution of eating children around the age of one. He used irony, ambiguity, and ethos to emphasize the satirical nature of the essay and present a captivating idea to the audience.
Jonathan Swift, a well-known author, in his essay “A Modest Proposal,” implies that the Irish people should eat children so that they can better their chances of survival. Swift supports his implication by describing how his proposal will have many advantages such as, eliminating papists, bringing great custom to taverns, and inducing marriages. He comes up with an absurd proposal to eat and sell the children to the elite so the Irish can have a brighter future. His purpose is to show that the Irish deserve better treatment from the English. Throughout his essay, Swift uses sarcasm, satire, and irony.
The Effectiveness of A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift "A Modest Proposal 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" - Jonathan Swift 1729. In reading this you will discover the answer to the above question in three parts; · How effective is it as an argument · How effective is it as a piece of information · How effective is it as satire "A Modest Proposal" first appeared in public in 1729, Swift wrote this article after all of his previous suggestions had been rejected by the Irish authorities. Swift felt the English government had psychologically exiled him and this greatly added to the rage he felt over the way the Irish People were treated or rather mistreated by the English. Although Swift's highest and most prominent concerns were for his own class, the Anglo-Irish, he in the end spoke for the nation as a whole.
Political issues or matters concerning the well-being of mankind is not something new to us. Social and political hierarchies have existed for millennia, yet the ways in which people have voiced their concerns or opinions on sensitive topics related to these hierarchies have evolved over time. One way in which people have addressed important society matters has been through satire. Typically satirical writings are fueled by anger brought about by a political event or societal issue. Instead of voicing their anger directly to the people, Jonathan Swift and other satirical authors, have used satire as “the engine of anger, rather than the direct expression of anger” (Egendorf 40). In doing so,
To start off, the full title of Johnathan Swift’s writing is "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for making them Beneficial to the Publick." From just reading the title of the book “A Modest Proposal”, I was thinking it was a story about romance and how a gentleman proposed marriage to his female lover. His proposal, in effect, is to fatten up these undernourished children and feed them to Ireland's rich land-owners. He does this to illustrate how backwards and bad the state of Ireland is and the social classes. For these reasons, he looks at the politicians to blame for the poor conditions because of the apathy they presented while in the decision making process, to resolve the conditions.
The main issue being addressed in “A Modest Proposal” is that the many poor people living in Ireland have nothing to live with while the few wealthy people have everything. In order to address said problem, the author describes the situation at hand. He mentions how the poor’s lifestyle is a constant struggle just to find food. Also, as an Ireland native, Swift shows a bias in favor of the poor, but who wouldn’t? Jonathan just wants to see everyone in his homeland succeed, but it is nearly impossible to do so when the rich don’t even give the poor a chance to have a successful life. Therefore, the author assumes that the rich are always taking money and opportunities from the poor, so that he can target the rich in his writing. Swift’s arguments against the rich first start out as outrageous solutions to help out the poor in order to get ...
Swift’s modest proposal includes multiple instances where Swift proudly declares that “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 kingdom” in the face of potential objections to his plan (Swift 187-199). While Swift “can think of no one objection,” the reader can definitely think of millions of reasons why his plan will wipe Ireland off the map. In fact, Swift himself uses this phrase sarcastically in an attempt to get the reader to empathize with the Irish. Because the reader begins to pity the Irish, Swift ensures that he gets the message across that current conditions in Ireland are unlivable. Moreover, Swift ends his plan by vainly proclaiming that “I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country” (Swift 234-236). The narrator clearly does not have any “sincerity of heart” with his intentions, proving that Ireland cannot survive in its current position with people like the narrator in power. Additionally, Swift’s sarcastic remark about promoting “the public good of [his] country” underscores the horrifying effects of his ghastly proposal, solidifying the horrifying fate of the Irish if
The essay, A Modest Proposal, is a proposal to end the economic dilemma in Ireland by selling the poor’s children, at the age of one, for food. The narrator states, “I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their father, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance” (Swift). According to this proposal, by selling the children for food to the wealthy in Ireland many problems will be resolved. The poor mothers will earn money to live on and will not have to raise children, the wealthy will have a new meat source and “an increase in his own popularity among his tenants” (Sparknotes), and the economy will improve because of all of the market action. In the narrator’s eyes, this proposal equals an all around win for the people of Ireland and he cannot see any objection to his plan.
If Jonathan Swift had written a serious piece simply espousing his true beliefs he would not have received as much feedback, due to the fact that there were already informational advertisements at the time and nobody was interested in reading them. The only thing that would get the people 's attention was something that would create a lasting impression, so he wrote a satirical piece with trenchant humor and mochary. “A Modest Proposal” surprised people and got them thinking about the condition of the poor in Ireland and what should be done to solve it. For example Swift states that “those who are thrifty” can use the carcass of the infant for ladies’ gloves or gentlemen’s boots. This itself can help those reading the piece to begin to think about possible solutions to the substantial issues involving the poor in Ireland. He also proposes that children that are fourteen should be consumed as well so the poor don’t have to go hungry and that it would limit the number of breeders, in an attempt to illustrate the extremity of the circumstances. His sarcastic way of joking enlisted fear in the poor and concern in the rich, helping them realise the drastic issue present in the
The real issue being addressed in “A Modest Proposal” is the poverty that was plaguing Ireland. The piece was written at a time when the poor people were seen as a burden to their country and were being oppressed by the wealthy English government and landowners. Swift makes the argument to make the poor useful. He favors the poor and hopes that they will find a way out of their seemingly hopeless destitution, which is why he writes this pamphlet. He is knowledgeable in economics and societal functions, which gives him credibility in addressing the Irish people. His main argument is that babies should be eaten in effort to make use of the poor. He assumes that his audience will be intelligent enough to analyze the satire of his piece and be willed to understand the country’s predicament.
A “Modest Proposal” is written by a man who had been exiled from England and forced to live among Irish citizens for many years during which he observed major problems in Ireland that needed a solution. The writer of this piece is Jonathan Swift, and in his proposal, “The Modest Proposal,” Swift purpose is to offer a possible solution to the growing problem of the homeless and poverty stricken women and children on the streets of Ireland. Swift adopts a caring tone in order to make his proposal sound reasonable to his audience, trying to convince them that he truly cares about the problems facing Ireland’s poor and that making the children of the poor readily available to the rich for entertainment and as a source of food would solve both the economic and social problems facing Ireland.
Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a shocking satire that discusses the dire poverty in Ireland. It says if one is born poor they will stay that way unless society puts them to use. Children are food to be eaten. In an economic slump children will be used to feed and clothe Ireland’s population. Swift’s purpose for writing A Modest Proposal was to call attention to the exploiting and oppressing by the English to the Irish. He wanted to shock his readers by proposing his “modest” proposal. He presents selling babies as food to reduce overpopulation. This causes the reader to disregard this suggestion. Swift wanted to raise awareness on the issue that was haunting Ireland. Throughout A Modest Proposal, Swift effectively uses verbal irony, diction, and sentence structure to achieve his purpose of making people realize that there are problems in society that needed to be handled in a reasonable manner. He also wanted to help advance the country’s trade, provide for infants, relieve the poor and help the rich. Swift ultimately wanted to get people thinking about actual solutions that could solve their current problems.
In Jonathan Swift’s satirical work, A Modest Proposal, the reader is presented with a horrible concept using extremely effective language and logos; Swift uses strong speech, rational tone, and complex grammar to convince readers that eating children will solve all the problems in 19th century Ireland. Swift’s overall goal in his pamphlet, however, is not to actually encourage eating babies, which is why it is of satire, but instead to raise awareness of Ireland’s conditions for living, failing political figures, and the tyranny brought by England. Swift states in his sub-title, "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 Sub-Title). This quote is about fixing the problems in Ireland. Swift attacks where it hurts the most, which is the youth.
The author and writer Jonathan Swift, shows his influential attributes in his innovative text called A Modest Proposal. Swift’s purpose was simply to shock the people reading it with a proposal that he knew was the furthest thing from modest. During this point in time, Ireland had immense amounts of poverty along with overpopulation and biased trade with Great Britain. His immodest proposal suggested the selling of children for food which would take care of the overpopulation and poverty levels in Ireland. A proposal such as this would no doubt leave the reader appalled at such an idea, and Swift’s purpose is to enjoy these reactions from the reader. He adopts a confounded and overwhelming tone in order to persuade the Ireland citizens into actually taking notice of the existing problems in society.