A Modest Proposal Satire And Irony

In “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift addresses the troubles Irish have and many literary elements such as irony and satire. Jonathon uses many literary elements in his story that help conduct it, they are used to make the story more enjoyable. The other elements help the story in a way many people like their story such as, Swift adds imagery which lets us picture things and makes us enjoy the story even better. This story is important because it makes you think of the past and what could have happened or what some people might have joined in on.

Irony is a literary element that contrasts of expectations and reality, and makes the reader think more in debt of it. Irony is important to the story because it helps add some suspense to the story where it might change expectations. An example of irony in the story is “whether they would not at thus day think it a great happiness to have been sold for food at a year old, in the manner I prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual scene of misfortunes” (Swift 6). Swift uses this literary element in this part of story to poke fun at the richer economy because they would do bout almost anything to just spend money. Why this is irony is he doesn’t want them to suffer but by killing them it is in some way making them suffer.

Satire is making light of a situation especially social and political, also it adds humor to the story.

An example of satire is “But I am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is very well known, that they are every day dying, and rotting, by cold and famine, and filth, and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected” (Swift 4). Why swift uses this literary element is to add more humor to the story so that its not all serious and makes light on the situation. Why its this element is kids are going to die anyways why not use them while you can which might make someone want to laugh and ask if he is

serious.
The literary elements help the story like this to make it more enjoyable and not necessarily serious. Without the literary elements the reader might not understand what swift means and think he really believes it and take it the wrong way. Swifts story does have its intended effect and he wanted everyone to know he wasn’t serious and was just mainly poking fun at the rich. Even in Swifts title of his story he uses a literary element which is irony, it states it’s a modest proposal which it’s not (1).
In conclusion, Swifts story is filled with literary elements that help the story come alive and help the reader picture the story. Irony and satire play a huge role in Swift’s essay that can make someone want to read more of his story or story’s. Irony is useful in a story to because it helps the reader grab onto the story and read more. Satire can be useful when the author wants to make light of the story and make sure most age groups would enjoy it.