Analysis of Irony

Irony, by its definition, is a rhetorical device or literary technique that conveys a subsurface meaning which is exactly opposite from the literal meaning of its evident words. Writers tend to employ such a technique to evoke readers’ reconsiderations about the issue that stated by the writer. Jonathan Swift in his A Modest Proposal throws out what he called a “modest proposal”, which is utterly horrific and inhuman, to address the poverty problem. Mark Twin, too, expresses his enthusiastic and patriotic emotion towards the war in his The War Prayer. However, neither of these on-the-surface statements by Swift and Twin is their real intentions, which are undercover by the evident words and implied by writers.

In Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, the persona – a character assumed by an author in a written work – is different from Swift (author) himself. The persona in Swift’s pamphlet is used to present the atrocious idea of the “modest proposal” – eat babies – to make readers feel like “What a horrible idea? Are you serious about that?” and then, lead readers to rethink about what the unmentioned real intention is. For instance, the persona says, “I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs” (860) and “the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with little paper or salt will be very good” (860). In these cruel and inhuman words, he describes the “Papist” babies like commodities rather than mankind. He reckons the economic profit that the babies could make without any compassion or mercy. Actually, these extremely brutal and antihuman statements made by persona are, indeed, Swift (the author)’s sarcastic revolt and scorn towards the unfair r...

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...m who is the source of love, and who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek his aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.”

Even tough both Swift and Twin employ irony in their works, the ways they use irony are unlike. The Swift’s A Modest Proposal is more like a sarcastic irony and more explicit. …… the fine gentleman would not mind to pay more pennies for the gloves. However, the Mark Twin’s irony in A War Prayer is way explicit than Swift’s in A Modest Proposal. Someone who does not really know much about the historical background of the war may deem that the chauvinistic view of the narrator equals to the value of Twin towards the war. In addition, another difference of the irony use between Swift and Twin is that Swift does not mention his real intention, whereas Twin somehow expresses his view on war by the old stranger.