Rhetorical Analysis Of Swift's A Modest Proposal

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“I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is, in the present deplorable state of the kingdom, a very great additional grievance” (Swift 2). A Modest Proposal is an essay that focused on the problem of Irish society’s overpopulation. Swift wanted to He wrote this essay targeting the poor people and the rich people of Ireland. In this essay Swift does a great job at targeting the audience using a very unique way of expressing his purpose of his essay using satire all along his text. Swift also does an astonishing job at referring to societies problems using irony all along. Swift knew who his audience was, and …show more content…

Poor Irish people had at least more than four children, but the problem was not the children but the fact that the parents didn’t have the financial wealth to provide the necessary standard or quality of living for their numerous families. That where the proposer came in the essay, he proposed a very strange proposal to the community as a solution that that will fix the problems that Ireland was facing at that time because of the over population, The proposal’s main idea included that since poor people couldn’t afford having kids but also didn’t believe in abortion and couldn’t stop having babies, that they should start nursing their babies for a year then offering it for sale so rich people have healthier life, Of course swift didn’t actually mean eating the babies was the only choice but he proposed this shocking proposal to grab the attention of the society, and the government. He also mentioned that it was okay to eat babies and used America as an example saying “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food” (Swift 9). By stating that Americans do the same thing he expected that they’ll want to do the same …show more content…

He started out describing the look of that beautiful country and how beggars ruined that, not only by being there, but also by bringing their kids with them, back in that time poor people had at least 4 children, so they used them to beg which made the situation worse. Poor people couldn’t afford having to many kids so the proposal that the proposer made seemed beneficial, but eating kids? That seems like a crazy idea, Swift also used a lot of sarcasm in writing this essay, “A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family fines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter” (Swift 10), And “ I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs” (Swift 16). Swift tried to make his proposal seem so silly that people start questioning it, but people actually didn’t know if he was being serious or not so they started to question he is being serious. Swift didn’t really mean eating babies he only wanted to grab the

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