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Analysis of jonathan swift's a modest proposal
Discuss the use of irony in a modest proposal
Analysis of jonathan swift's a modest proposal
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Jonathan Swift, a satirist author, writes A Modest Proposal to explain the attitudes towards poverty and starving kids in his society. Jonathan achieves his purpose with figurative language such as irony, sarcasm, as well as exaggeration to point out the negative attitude. These rhetorical devices show how his society dehumanizes humans. Jonathan implies a pathos appeal by including irony. He compares humans and women to animals which creates an argument. He states, “there may be about 200,000 couple whose wives are breeders.” This comparison saying that woman breed creates the satire in the proposal because he is dehumanizing woman. Swift includes sarcasm by making his readers believe that he wants to eat children. In his proposal says,
It is a great contradiction and absurdity that a husband and father proposes the idea of cannibalism. The narrator does not want the reader to agree that the solution to overpopulation and poverty in Ireland is to eat babies; he wants the reader to see it. needs to be a practical solution. Although something seems one way to the narrator, Jonathan Swift wants. the reader to see it in the opposite light.
The issue that Swift is addressing is the fact that there are too many poor children in Dublin and that they are becoming such a huge burden for all the poor mothers or parents of the country. Swift then creates his own solution to the problem. He proposes that all poor children who are around one year of age, be cooked and eaten by the people of Dublin, preferably the poor. With this solution, he argues that it will eventually put an end to the overpopulation of the poor young children and it will satisfy the hunger for all the other people. Crazy right?
A modest proposal by Dr. Jonathan Swift demonstrates acts of satirical devices which help develop and better his piece. Swift uses sarcasm throughout his piece, which keeps you hanging on and makes you want to keep reading to see why he does this. Swift also uses invective, he uses this in his piece by saying things that are contradicting, only to add strength to what he is supporting. Lastly and most important, Swift uses understatement and minimizes the situation of cannibalism and makes it seem like it is an everyday thing and that it isn’t a big deal.
To start off, Swift used irony to get his point across by keeping the readers entertained and really making them think to what extent what they just read is correct. In line 56, he states “I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.” This can be seen as irony because in reality everybody disagreed with the idea of eating human babies. Swift then proceeds to write “Infant's flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more plentiful in March, and a little before and after…” This is another example of irony because there is no way to tell when exactly women will give birth the most.
Swift establishes these tones as his proposal of killing impoverished infants through the shock of this idea and by exaggerating the viability of this argument which causes his proposal to evoke laughter. To aid in the creation of tone Swift uses understatement which helps to add subtlety to a crazy idea which makes the argument, of killing babies, more accessible and relatable to the audience. It is a sarcastic tone as he clearly knows that this is a crazy idea. However there is still a sense of seriousness in his tone as it is about poverty and the living conditions of the Irish. “nor offer to beat or kick them (as is to frequent a practice) for fear of miscarriage” appealing to the emotions of the reader and also showing how domestic violence is an issue within Ireland. Prior to this quote Swift also establishes a likeness in the treatment of animals and the treatment that the Irish have received. This shows the fact that while Swift is making jokes and being satirical he still recognizes the issues faced by the Irish community as he stops cracking all these jokes to recognize the fact that many women are abused by their husbands. There are several tones that are working together (the sarcasm as evidenced by the preparation and uses of infants create a comical tone and serious tones like the women facing abuse) to make the argument less harsh and angry which makes people more receptive to his ideas but also draws a reader in to later reveal a sadness and shock that makes a reader
Satire is defined as the use of humor and exaggeration to criticize politics or current issues. “A Modest Proposal” was written anonymously by Jonathan Swift in response to the current treatment and economic trouble of the Irish in the 1700’s. Jonathan Swift manages to encase his readers into a horrendous but feasible idea of murdering poverty-stricken children to be fed to the rich. He uses a well thought out process of supporting details, adhering to the people’s needs, and straightforward, heartless attitude that make him seem like an expert in is field. This is why his proposal was taken with more than a grain of sand.
Swift firmly believed the children could not be bought or sold, thus eating them was the only option. Comparisons of children to animals were written in A Modest Proposal in a serious tone throughout the story to show humbly emotion of helping poverty but a sense of complete absurdity as well, making it extremely controversial. These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants.” (Swift) This was very ironic due to the fact swift described in detail the rags on the starving innocent children’s backs as being a great way to gain nutrients by eating them.
In Jonathan Swift’s satire, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift writes about the starving people of Ireland in the early 1700’s. He makes a wild and absurd proposal to help remedy the problems of overpopulation and poverty. Swift wants to make a political statement by using the “children” as satire to grasp the attention of the audience - the English people, the Irish politicians and the rich – and make them aware of the political, moral, and social problems. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s arguments are presented effectively by using pathos (emotional appeal), ethos (ethics and values), and logos (logic reasoning and facts).
It is a mastery of social commentary, political criticism, and satire. To ignore this would be to ignore the entire message that Swift is trying to outline. The title of the essay itself is deep-seeded in parody and farce and it also outlines the sarcastic and facetious tone that Swift displays. The “proposal” that Irish babes born into poverty should be served for food is no way “modest” or even human. It is a savage plan that cleverly attacks our current political officials and their systems. Swift’s keen and unique sense of humor is extended throughout the entire work. Not only does he present an absurd plan, but he also presents a number of benefits that is a comical attempt to establish logic and
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.
...that the author is sarcastic about his own proposal, any kind of opposing view or counterargument is in reality the voice of reason and intelligence when compared with Swift’s proposal. The argument is in a way weak or flawed because of the sarcasm at hand. Yes, it is full of satire, but in the following argument Swift builds up his proposal only to diminish the value of his argument by blatantly expressing the sarcasm in this piece. This proposal is flawed throughout the text and is in no way a rational or logical solution to the problem as Swift claims it is. In conclusion, Swift’s proposal is a satire filled piece, which he delivers in a dry indifferent style. His arguments, rationally presented, support an irrational solution to the problem and he evokes pathos in his audience by using only logos in his proposal and that is the brilliance of his piece.
Jonathan Swift is an author, well-known for his satirical essays, and the effects that his writing has on his readers. He was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1667, and in 1729 wrote the famous essay “A Modest Proposal” as one of the Irish pamphlets he wrote to draw attention to social and economic crisis’ the country was facing at the time. These pamphlets were written to put blame on Ireland’s government, and encourage the Irish people of 1927 to take initiative in improving the quality of life and taking the state of their country into their own hands. “A Modest Proposal For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick.” is the most famous of these
Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” During the late seventeenth century, political pamphlets were distributed throughout Ireland to promote the ideas of various intellectuals and laymen. However, many discarded them and did not pay attention to them. Jonathan Swift, author of “A Modest Proposal,” takes advantage of the overlooked pamphlets, and constructs a ridiculous proposal. He does this to illustrate how backwards and bad the state of Ireland is and the social classes. Swift proposes that the babies of all the poor and desolate will “contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands” to improve Ireland’s economy and standard of living (Swift 868).
Jonathan and other artist at the time resorted to satire in a bid to address Ireland’s deplorable poverty conditions and the widened gap between the rich and the poor. By avoiding the conventional way of addressing similar problems, these artists were able to amass a lot of attention.
In 1729, a political journalist and an activist on human rights, Jonathan Swift, wrote “A Modest Proposal,” which offered a solution to the problem of Irish starvation and English indifference. Even though Swift wrote his proposal more than three hundred years ago, it is still considered a masterpiece today. Swift’s characterization of narrator, the sarcasm, and the sustainable irony allowed him to create a highly effective argument that supported his proposal.