Social Issues In A Modest Proposal

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When you see published propaganda, it is usually not as straightforward as Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal: for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public”. In order to show his aggravation with how 18th century Ireland was being run and its lack of ideas on how to solve the social issues that were affecting it; Jonathan Swift an 18th century satirist wrote the journal “A Modest Proposal” as a sarcastic way to show people that they hadn’t come up with any rational suggestions to solve social issues such as abortion, overpopulation, and poverty. While using the horrific idea of everyone becoming cannibalistic to solve the problems of Ireland …show more content…

Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is a travesty. Swift uses emotional and ethical appeals to make his argument. Swift suggests that we eat small children. He is aware that many readers will be moved on an emotional level by his proposal because no one wants their child to be fattened up and made some rich person’s lunch. Swift wanted to bring attention to the issue and he knew most would believe it is unethical to eat a …show more content…

The language and style of his argument is probably why it is still so unique today. Swift used descriptive language to make his argument effective.Swift uses both satire and irony which are often used as exaggeration tools for authors such as Swift. He not only suggests we eat children; he gave a detailed description. I strongly believe that without his use of satire his argument would not stand out like it does. The Modest Proposal begins by describing the serious poverty of people in Ireland. Swift comes across as oddly sympathetic ,but sets out facts and details, showing that there is a huge amount of children who cannot be fed. He examines the possibility of selling the children into slavery, but objects to this not because it is disgusting he explains no one is going to by a child under

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