A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

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A significant span of life in 18th century Ireland has been marred by poverty and famine. Abysmal numbers of families, destitute of basic necessities, are struggling to provide for themselves- much less their fellow countrymen. What results is a cycle of misery that has snowballed to a desperate level. Like his contemporaries, the speaker- presumably the author- of “A Modest Proposal” has formulated a plan to reverse the suffering; uniquely, the speaker employs satire to outline the causes of the poverty, the effect on the people, and his thoughts on how to alleviate the situation.
In the order of logic, the speaker had to recognize the causes of the recession. The speaker attributes part of the problem to the vast number of children being born, primarily to already poor parents. When the speaker states “…it is of a much greater extent,…the whole number of infants…are born of parents in effect as little able to support them as those who demand our charity in the streets,” he criticizes impoverished couples for having babies that they can’t …show more content…

The speaker asserts, “…it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner,” as previously mentioned, “…[to] contribute to the feeding, and…clothing of many thousands.” Returning to his satirical mindset, the author interjects that his method “…will prevent those voluntary abortions.” The speaker feels so strongly against that “horrid practice…would move tears and pity in the most savage and inhuman…,” he believes it is a “great advantage” to eliminate abortion as an option. Nevertheless, the speaker admits that providing for the necessary population of children is “utterly impossible” and that they may have to resort to stealing when they become six years old; this shows his uncertainty and the dire nature of the

A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis
1170 Words | 3 Pages
Pamphlets were often used to spread ideas throughout Ireland in the late 1600s, however, many were discarded and ignored. “A Modest Proposal,” by Jonathan Swift, uses the pamphlets to his advantage by proposing a ridiculous idea to show how messed up the state of Ireland was. Swift proposed that the babies of all the poor would “contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands” or in other words, improve Ireland 's economic problems and standard of living (Swift). His main reason for proposing this drastic idea was because women continued to have children they could not provide food or anything for in some cases and Swift’s idea would make the children “beneficial to the public” (Swift). For these reasons, Swift looks at not only the politicians to blame for the poor conditions but the citizens of Ireland as well. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift uses harsh
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Rhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal
898 Words | 2 Pages
In eighteenth century Ireland, the nation was in a famine and an epidemic of poverty due to the high prices of land and food. Jonathan Swift saw a problem, so h wrote and spread what we call today, A Modest Proposal. Swift’s essay is satirical. He exaggerates and gives inaccurate statistics to deliver a thesis that runs deeper than the explicit one about eating babies. While much of the essay seems to imply that Swift’s persona eats babies, there are some instances where Jonathan hints at the ironic themes of the writing.
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Satire and the Deployment of Irony in A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
2756 Words | 6 Pages
"A Modest Proposal" has been hailed by literary critics as one of Jonathan Swift's greatest satirical works. The essay takes the form of a proposal that sets out to offer a solution to the problems of overpopulation and poverty in 18th century Ireland, a...
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Critical Analysis Of 'The Potato Famine' By Jonathan Swift
1640 Words | 4 Pages
A Modest Proposal is undoubtedly one of the most recognized works of satire. This essay was designed to shock its readers in Ireland. Swift’s goal was to show the people of Ireland just how ridiculous their situation during the famine was. He also showed a great deal of disgust in relation to control. Swift was displeased with England’s control over his country, and how the dominance was being used. However, he showed a greater level of disgust with his own people. This is exemplified when another author writes about A Modest Proposal that
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A Modern Proposal Rhetorical Analysis
741 Words | 2 Pages
A Modern Proposal is a satirical essay written by Jonathan Swift in 1729. Swift was unhappy with the way that the Irish politicians were running the country, and the poverty that ensued. The Irish nation was in a hopeless state with a great amount of poor women and children strewn throughout the streets. These poor single mothers were not only unable to care for themselves, but their children as well. With no other way to bring attention to this problem, Swift creates an amusing argument for selling children, in hopes to create a solution for the poor.
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Today’s economy and the environment are hurting due to the lack of nurture we have been providing. Conventional farming rules the world of agriculture, but not without a fight from organic farming. Organic farming is seen as the way of farming that might potentially nurture our nature back to health along with the added benefit of improving our own health. With her piece “Organic farming healthier, more efficient than Status Quo,” published in the Kansas State Collegian on September 3, 2013, writer Anurag Muthyam brings forth the importance behind organic farming methods. Muthyam is a senior at Kansas State University working towards a degree in Management. This piece paints the picture of how organic farming methods
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A Modest Proposal a Rhetorical Analysis
582 Words | 2 Pages
“A Modest Proposal” was written in 1729 by a satirical author by the name of Jonathan Swift. Swift studied at the University of Oxford and was also know for his popular writing in Gulliver’s Travel. The purpose for his satire “A Modest Proposal” was to enlighten the citizens of Ireland about their hardship and suffering. He informed them about their scares of food, money, and property, but provided a possible solution to their problem. To persuade the people Swift adopts a comforting and friendly tone to his audience for the people to react to his solution.
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A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis
562 Words | 2 Pages
Jonathan Swift was ahead of his time. Most of his stories are satirical and meant to be funny, but were harshly chastised as being a actual idea in the eyes of the general public. His strengths, in writing terms, are irony, overstatement, and good ol' sarcasm. His mannerisms are a expressionistic and simple, to say the least. Every sentence trickles instead of flowing. A Modest Proposal is a attention grabber. It, at first, make the reader think that Swift is legit about selling children. Later on they realize he is addressing a problem in Ireland, that is a famine, and sneakily taking a jab at the English across the pond. In modern times, Swift is considered a rhetorical genius in his writing not to mention getting a point across. England tried to solve many of Ireland's problems, but failed in the most miserable way. They made it worse in fact. A Modest Proposal is a perfect example of how a book can be judged by the cover.
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Rhetorical Analysis Of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal
1115 Words | 3 Pages
His solution is paradoxical in that eating children is beneficial for economic reasons, of which he lists in points of order with numerical calculations, yet raises further moral problems. Swift utilizes verbal irony in his writings to demonstrate a contradiction in his sarcastic proposal of eating children by dehumanizing certain people to achieve a constant expression of his own opinions. Swift’s proposal appears to be anything but “modest” as consuming children is irrational and absurd, adding to the sarcastic and humorous aspect of the work. He dehumanizes women by saying that they act as “breeders” and they can only pay for their children by “[getting] the value in scraps, by her lawful occupation of begging.” Rather than utilizing language on how parents should be able to have plentiful food, he states they “contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands.”
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Satirical Response To A Modest Proposal
650 Words | 2 Pages
During the 18th century Ireland was in a very serious crisis. Jonathan Swift decides to write “A Modest Proposal” as a satirical response to this crisis. In that essay he gives a solution to each of the problems that Ireland was having during that time. The main points that he wanted to discuss were domestic abuse, overpopulation, poverty, theft, and the lack of food. This crisis led the great nation of Ireland into economic struggles.
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Pathos In A Modest Proposal
755 Words | 2 Pages
Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is an attempt to bring attention to horrible the condition in which the poor or destitute people in Ireland are living in. His argument that children of these improvised people should be sold to “the persons of quality and fortune” (A Modest Proposal) for consumption, is Swift’s gruesome way of saying you might as well eat the babies, if no one is going to actually try to fix the problems of the poor in Ireland.
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Humor as an Argument: A Modest Proposal
690 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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A Modest Proposal - Rhetorical Analysis Essay
737 Words | 2 Pages
In 1729, Jonathan Swift published a pamphlet called “A Modest Proposal”. It is a satirical piece that described a radical and humorous proposal to a very serious problem. The problem Swift was attacking was the poverty and state of destitution that Ireland was in at the time. Swift wanted to bring attention to the seriousness of the problem and does so by satirically proposing to eat the babies of poor families in order to rid Ireland of poverty. Clearly, this proposal is not to be taken seriously, but merely to prompt others to work to better the state of the nation. Swift hoped to reach not only the people of Ireland who he was calling to action, but the British, who were oppressing the poor. He writes with contempt for those who are oppressing the Irish and also dissatisfaction with the people in Ireland themselves to be oppressed.
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Verbal Irony In A Modest Proposal
1197 Words | 3 Pages
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.
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Social, Economic And Political Themes In Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal
1439 Words | 3 Pages
During the eighteenth century, Jonathan Swift was distributing pamphlets around Ireland in hopes of promoting intellectual growth in his homeland. As he noticed this was not making an impact, he decided to address the problems in Ireland with a different approach. Jonathan Swift took to paper and constructed “A Modest Proposal”, a satirical piece that proposes a humorous solution to the social, economic, and political problems in Ireland. Swift’s proposal suggests that babies who are born to poor families become a source of food for public, which benefits Ireland by reducing the overpopulation and adding to the food supply. In “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift uses satire to draw attention to his argument that the problems in Ireland are greatly affecting his homeland; in doing so, he portrays the themes of class division, suffering, and greed.
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A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis