Title Satire is an effective way to offer social criticism and influence people-- it uses techniques such as irony, parody, sarcasm, and exaggeration to allow readers to look at serious issues from a comedic view. In “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift responds to the growing famine in Ireland and overpopulation issues of the eighteenth century by proposing that Ireland can solve the economic crisis by eating babies and selling children. Rather than writing an angry article about how the British exploit poor, defenseless Irishmen, Jonathan Swift took on a different approach and wrote a satire. His goal wasn’t merely to ridicule and express his dissatisfaction with how the Irish was handling the social and political problems, but also to open …show more content…
Through the satirical technique of providing solutions so outrageously absurd and immoral, Swift creates waves of shocks that draws upon more awareness from the audience, as well as provokes the readers to think twice while they are reading the proposal so that his ideas would stick in their minds. One of the dominant satirical elements that can be found in “A Modest Proposal” is irony, in which the literal meaning of the what is written is the opposite of what the author really intends to convey. To mock and criticize the unsuccessful attempts of the British to solve the economic problems, Swift uses verbal irony and compares the British as landlords that ate the parents of the children (the poor Irishmen) without directly mentioning their names. “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children” (Swift, pg. 3). While it seems that Swift is …show more content…
For instance, Swift presents that one of the advantages of this proposal would be that women would care more for their children because children would provide “annual profit instead of expense” (Swift, pg. 5). Yet in reality, Irish women had to abort or kill their children because they couldn’t afford the expense of raising a kid. A second advantage of the proposal would be that “poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own….which [could] help to pay their landlord’s rent, their corn and cattle being already seized, and money a thing unknown” (Swift, pg. 4). While Swift seems to make the advantages seem beneficial to the poor, the bitter truth was that the upper class that “justly value themselves upon their knowledge in good eating” (Swift, pg. 5) take away resources from the poor and spend large amounts of money on meals rather than focusing on the famine spreading across
In “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift writes of the poor men, women, and children of Dublin, Ireland crowding the streets due to the years of drought and crop failure. He estimates that 120,000 children are born each year and asks the question of how these people are to be provided for. Then he tells of his proposal. He states that 20,000 of the 120,000 may be reserved for breeding purposes, while the other 100,000 be sold to dine on. Swift offers several advantages to his proposal some being: the poor tenants will have something of value in their home, the wealth of the nation will greatly increase as well as the cost of caring for the child will be eliminated after a year, and eliminating the food shortages the nation is undergoing. The only counter argument he offers is that killing and eating those infants will decrease the population so much that it will make it easier for England to concur them. He finishes his proposal with a statement that he himself is not interested in making a profit since his own children are past the right age and his wife not being able to have any more children.
In addition, the wit that is contained within “A Modest Proposal” is astonishing and superb. Although some have taken “A Modest Proposal” seriously and actually thought that Swift was trying to propose to boil infants and eat them. The reader cannot yield that seriously and if the reader does then it would co...
In his lengthy literary career, Jonathan Swift wrote many stories that used a broad range of voices that were used to make some compelling personal statements. For example, Swifts, A Modest Proposal, is often heralded as his best use of both sarcasm and irony. Yet taking into account the persona of Swift, as well as the period in which it was written, one can prove that through that same use of sarcasm and irony, this proposal is actually written to entertain the upper-class. Therefore the true irony in this story lies not in the analyzation of minute details in the story, but rather in the context of the story as it is written.
Imagine reading an anonymous work that promotes cannibalism! Swift eventually had to reveal himself and the purpose of his pamphlet, which was to exaggerate the steps necessary to stop the Irish famine and poverty epidemic. A Modest Proposal is almost a scare tactic. It brings attention to the distances people will go to stop hunger and homelessness. The audience of rich, land-owning men were expected to take the text to heart.
Swift's opposition is. indirectly presented in the report. The author uses satire to accomplish his objective not only because he is able to conceal his true identity but also because it is the most effective way to awake the people of Ireland into seeing their own deprivation. Firstly, the narrative voice begins the essay by describing the horrible conditions in which the Irish peasants live. He demonstrates there is a serious problem with a great need for a solution.
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.
Swift begins his argument by stating his view on the situation and displaying his annoyance. He states, "It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country when they see the streets, roads, and cabin doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms" (Swift 1). He uses melancholic imagery for the readers to sympathize with the suffering children and to understand their situation. Similarly, Swift displays his disgust for the wealthy by stating that "There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children… which would move tears in the most savage and inhumane beast" (1). He talks about abortion and shows how ghastly and disheartening the practice is. Clearly, Swift makes use of pathos to slowly gain the reader’s confidence in preparation for his appalling proposal. He knows that many will be emotionally affected by his proposal because no one would want their own c...
Humor can come in many different forms. Many people are aware of the blatant humor of slapstick, but it takes a keener mind to notice the subtle detail in sarcasm or satire. In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift was able to create a piece of literature addressing the faults of the Irish culture while embedding in a humorous essay. Swift’s satire allows for the gravity of the Irish standings to be exploited under the disguise of a proposal for economic benefit.
The Modest Proposal was written by Jonathan Swift in 1729 and is a prime example of how satire is able to reveal issues in society with a comedic feel. This famous pamphlet suggests the impoverished Irish may ease their economic pains by selling their children as food for the upper-classes. "I grant this food may be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for Landlords, who as they have already devoured most of ...
"A child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year with little nourishments."(pg.623) In this satire, the author is explaining a child will be born and fed off of his mother’s milk, but that milk will not be plentiful because the mother is malnourished. To solve the problem of sad fate of the poverty stricken Irish people, who spend their life looking for food to feed their families. Swift has developed a plan to benefit the rich, by using the poor. His plan is to fatten up the unnourished children, and raise them as food for the wealthier citizens of Ireland. This would give the Irish economy a consequential advance, and reduce the population, which would make it easier for the great and noble England to deal with their disorderly citizens. Swift’s proposal would benefit the wealthy with more food supply and the poor with more income. This also contradicts the proposal because the poor would become rich.
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.
Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” uses ironic persona to develop rhetorical strategies. Swift prepares the audience for his proposal by writing about the poor Irish treasons of child-trafficking and cannibalism. Including a hyperbole mockery towards insensitive attitude targeting the Irish poverty and policy. Swift uses hyperbole, antithesis and pathos, the sympathetic literary devices aid to appeal the authority and draws curious attention to his extraordinary proposition.
Effectively ushering change in society or pointing out faults that have existed and gone unnoticed can be a daunting task for any social commentator. Often, blandly protesting grievances or concerns can fall upon deaf ears and change can be slow or non-existent. However, Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet A Modest Proposal, uses clever, targeted, and ironic criticism to bring the social state of Ireland to the attention of indolent aristocrats. He accomplishes such criticism through satire, specifically Juvenalian satire. Swift’s A Modest Proposal stands as an example of the type of satire that plays upon the audience’s emotion by creating anger concerning the indifference of the voice created. He complements such criticism with sophisticated, clever language which may be mistaken for the more docile Horatian satire. Yet, this urbane voice, coupled with irony and the substance of the proposals accentuates Swift’s motive to use anger as a force for action. Through his absurd/humorous proposals, stinging irony, and use of voice, Swift effectively portrays A Modest Proposal as a Juvenalian satire designed to stir emotions concerning the social state of Ireland.
Throughout the seventeen hundred’s, the people of Ireland were undergoing an intellectual high. Many people flooded into libraries desiring to read sources to expand their knowledge. Pamphlets were a common source for absorbing knowledge. A Modest Proposal written by Jonathan Swift was one of the most well-known pamphlets. In it, Swift proposes a solution for the poverty and overpopulation problems in Ireland by using strong rhetorical strategies like imagery, symbolism, and irony to achieve a satirical tone and to make the English feel guilty for treating the Irish poorly.
Jonathan Swift had a witty mind with an edge for raising questions on social and political standards in a way that catches the attention of any reader, and most likely caught the attention of quite a few readers in the 18th century. His satirical writing A Modest Proposal is arguably his most famous work in which he suggests that the people of Ireland kill off the young of the poor families and use them as a source of sustenance. Swift uses irony to point out problems within society, subconsciously reveals his actual views, and his message in this short work still has relevance to our society today, both in America and the world.