Jonathan Swift, a writer in the 1700s, wrote an article entitled “A Modest Proposal.” In his writing, Swift proposes an idea that he believes will prevent the children of the Irish poor from becoming a burden to their parents and country. Throughout Swift’s article, he adopts an informative tone in order for his suggestion to be viewed as an actual solution to the poverty issue sweeping Ireland.
In the 1700s, English landlords taxed the Irish land resulting in countless unemployed Irish. Several traveled to America in search of work, but most were driven to poverty. In response to the increasing issue, Swift argues that by eating the children at a prime age of one, the parents of these children can sell them as a source of food, ending hunger. Appealing to the poor in Ireland, Swift argues that by following this proposal, the Irish can change their ways of living and can prevent their children from evolving into burdensome beggars such as themselves. Swift applies facts and statistics along with emotional appeals to support the argument he is making as he assumes the Irish will suppo...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
During the 1720’s, the Irish people were suffering dearly, due to the oppression by Great Britain. There oppression came in the form of being displaced by wealthy English people who were buying up land in Ireland and then not living there. They would proceed to rent some of their land to the Irish people at extremely high rent, which eventually led to them not being able to pay neither their rent or provide their families with food or clothes. The reason behind Swift’s proposal is simple. He is an Irishman. He has a sense of patriotic duty to attempt to help his fellow Irish people. He wants them to know that it is possible to move forward form poverty and out from under the oppression of the British. He structures his essay through a basic form of presenting an idea and then backing it up with “facts” like the growth in weight of babies or expert accounts on the taste of children from a credible source. Something that Swift just assumes that the audience will take for granted. Additionally he assumes that the audience won’t simply put his article down, taking it as the ramblings of a mad man talking about eating babies like it’s a normal everyday thing.
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 in 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. Jonathan Swift he says that the people, politicians, and English were all to be at fault for the terrible state and poverty of 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.
“A Modest Proposal”, written in 1979 by Jonathan Swift, is a fascinating sardonic, irrefutable hyperbole. He reconnoiters the miserable fate of poverty-striven Irish whose struggle in vain in an effort to feed their huge emaciated families. In the essay, Swift advocates that the penurious Irish should sell their babies to the rich ladies and gentlemen and obtain monetary power required to ease their economic predicaments. The babies will in turn be turned into ‘delicious’ food for the wealthy landlords. The straight-faced parody that features predominantly in the essay makes it outstanding in exploring the tarnished relationship between England and Ireland as well as comprehending the strategies that were thought to be best in resolving the
his idea will be charitable and will actually help the poor as well as the
In A Modest Proposal, author Jonathan swift begins by discussing the dire poverty that is rampant in Ireland due to England’s exploitation, and the terrible state of the social classes. Swift then proposes that the poor people of Ireland sell their babies as food to the rich to ease their economic troubles as well as to improve Ireland’s economy and standard of living. Swift says this because the women in Ireland continued to have babies, but were unable to provide for them. He states his proposal will make the babies “beneficial to the public” (Swift 2). Swift also, blames the politicians for Irelands grim living standards because of the lack of concern they presented in the decision making process to resolve the poor conditions.
In Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift talks about solution that he thought may solve Ireland’s economic and social problems. Jonathan’s plan to reduce poverty was to kill and eat babies. He believed that his idea was the best because he said that by killing babies, you can get and that way poverty will go down and also their population will decrease. Although he was trying solve the problem and thought it was a good idea, I disagree with him. I get that he was trying to solve the problem but I don’t think this is a right way to solve this problem. You cannot just kill someone to solve a problem. I don’t think that killing can ever be a solution to any problem. There’s always another option, an option that doesn’t involve killing at least.
Comedy and humor do more than entertain. They are intertwined into people’s everyday existence and are used to change the way people feel, think, and act. Therefore, humor allows people to approach sensitive matters, such as social relationships. Society is full of prejudices, which comedy helps combat in addition to stimulating the economy and local culture. Comedy represents a social function through which the comedian and audience can question and hold those in power to account.
In Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, he proposes that children of the poor become a food source that could possibly balance the economic structure of the kingdom. Swift is aware of the scarcity of food, and he empathizes with the struggling and damaged mothers of Ireland throughout the poem. Being a well-rounded individual of education and wealth, his proposed plan for the commonwealth is quite appealing. His educational backgrounds include schooling from Kilkenny School followed by Trinity College in Dublin (Swift, pg. 2464). These opportunities afforded him the position of a satirist within a British church (2464). Swift’s strategy includes him mentioning how children are expensive and he explains how they aid in the economic decline of Ireland;
Today I like to talk about the article I read for this week’s discussion. I read the modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. The purpose of this reading quite difficult to understand without knowing some background information. The article takes place in 18th century Ireland during the potato famine and tax hikes. Many hardships were had across the country, leaving over 100,000 children homeless and hungry. The writer John Swift proposed that, “ To provide for them in such a manner as 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” (2012). Simply put, he wanted to eat the children