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Research aspects related to Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal
Research aspects related to Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal
Research aspects related to Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal
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“A Modest Proposal,” written by Jonathan Swift, is a story about the one year old children of poor people in Ireland. Swift wants to raise awareness of the overpopulation in Ireland by making this essay. Swift’s proposed that Ireland could solve their current situation by making their children a foundation. Swift’s audience, tone, and pathos strengthen “A Modest Proposal.” The intended audiences of the essay “A Modest Proposal” are the rich and the poor people of Dublin, Ireland. According to Swift, the poor people of Dublin are the “beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms” (1). Swift wanted the mother of these children to know this so that the mother would …show more content…
Swift used disgust to describe how the young children will be prepared. Swift stated “that a young healthy child well nurse, is... a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust” (4). Another example that Swift used was how some people would skin the young children and use it as clothing. “Those who are more thrifty may flea the carcass; the skin of which, artificially dressed, will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen” (6). The frustration part of it was towards the higher authorities. Swift obviously cared about the people of Ireland to create this essay. Swift states that “who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets… crowded with beggars” (1). The capital of Ireland is “crowded with beggars” and the higher authorities is not doing about this problem. Swift is at least trying to find a solution to solve this problem by making this proposal. By making the readers disgusted and frustrated, Swift strengthen his proposal because he wants to show and to do something about this
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 the time frame that Swifts’ A Modest Proposal was written Ireland was going through political, economic, and religious struggles. In 1729 England had contrived, with the help of Irish venality, to wreck Ireland’s merchant marine, agriculture, and wool industry. Prostitutes in Swift’s paper are having kids like senseless people, but yet they can’t afford to feed them. Jonathan Swift proposes that his people should sell the babies and eat them. He thinks this would help solve the problem of over population. Swift tried to give his people pamphlets on how to fix the problem that was plaguing their country, but they ignored them. Swift says “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.”(1) Swift proposes that the mothers sell the babies for 8 shillings; the rich would find the child to be a delicacy and the extra money would go to the landlord. So everyone would benefit from this proposal. He does this as a way of making his people aware of what is going on in their
A “Modest Proposal” is written by a man who had been exiled from England and forced to live among Irish citizens for many years during which he observed major problems in Ireland that needed a solution. The writer of this piece is Jonathan Swift, and in his proposal, “The Modest Proposal,” Swift purpose is to offer a possible solution to the growing problem of the homeless and poverty stricken women and children on the streets of Ireland. Swift adopts a caring tone in order to make his proposal sound reasonable to his audience, trying to convince them that he truly cares about the problems facing Ireland’s poor and that making the children of the poor readily available to the rich for entertainment and as a source of food would solve both the economic and social problems facing Ireland.
He favors the poor and hopes that they will find a way out of their seemingly hopeless destitution, which is why he writes this pamphlet. He is knowledgeable in economics and societal functions, which gives him credibility in addressing the Irish people. His main argument is that babies should be eaten in an effort to make use of the poor. He assumes that his audience will be intelligent enough to analyze the satire of his piece and be willing to understand the country’s predicament. Jonathan Swift is a well-known author and satirist who graduated from Oxford University in England.
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 explains how selling a marketable child will be profitable and why the people of Dublin are willing butcher children to survive. He does this by saying, “I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs” (585). Swift uses verbal irony in a powerful way to state that Irish people should not be treated like animals killed as food. Swift points out the famine and the terrible living conditions that are threatening the Irish population by stating that children are a good source of food just like real animals do.... ... middle of paper ...
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 was published in 1729 by Jonathan Swift. It was published during an economic crisis and a period where the English developed a great dissatisfaction toward the Irish. The Irish were facing a devastating economic crisis during the 1700s. The Irish faced starvation and Swift wanted to expose the misfortunate lives of the poor in order to have the country striving for change in the lives of each. The English were aware of everything occurring and were not satisfied with how awful their state was turning out. Swift wanted change; he wanted to save the county before the oppression toward the poor reached the extreme. Soon, Swift took action and announced his proposal to the Irish in order for them to come up with better alternative solutions. The proposal was to eat babies in order to help the devastating economy the poor were facing. In his proposal he mocks the authority of the British officials as being an oppressive regime responsible for the suffering of the Irish, and also tries to find a way to evoke a sense of sympathy to his audience with the use graphic imagery and mockery. Swift uses graphic imagery to get his audience attention in order for them to develop alternative solutions rather than his own proposal.
In Swifts proposal he uses many appeals and satire to try and make a convincing proposal to save Ireland from the extreme famine and tragedies on the streets. His suggestion of killing babies and selling them for “delicious stew,” is an outrageous idea to save an economic crisis. Even though this is a satirical piece, the idea that Swifts mind was thinking and making a plan to “murder” children is gross. The proposal does have strong promises that it will fix the crisis in Ireland, but is most certainly not the correct way to do so. I believe Swift chose such a outrageous plan to catch the government heads and wealthy eye and actually realize there is a serious issue and its come to crazy proposals like this to solve the crisis. The article is quite juxtaposition by being humorous and disturbing, but very well written by the author Jonathan Swift.
Swift, in return, asks any author of contradiction to consider the debt 100,000 infants will soon bring to the country in addition to the lack of resources available to feed these many souls. Throughout Swift’s logical argument, he leaves no doubt that his proposal is the answer to Ireland’s troubles. In the satire “A Modest Proposal” Jonathan Swift successfully hooks, informs, and offers the people of Ireland a fail proof opportunity to reverse the poverty that has overcome most of his countrymen and women.
In the first few paragraphs of the Proposal, Swift characterizes the proposer as a sophisticated, civilized, and educated gentleman to relay the ostensible purpose of the proposal. The first few paragraphs manipulate syntax and are entirely devised of long-winded sentences explaining the situation in Ireland. The proposer presents his proposal of importance that he deserves “his statue set up for a preserver of the nation” (Swift 2633). Swift is emphasizing the proposer’s pompous tone; this proposal, according to the proposer, is a revolutionary solution to the problems of “the kingdom” (2633). Swift’s creation of the proposer’s opinions towards the “melancholy object” (2633) of the beggars of Ireland, mainly of Catholic religion, mirror those of the absentee landlords, causing an identification with the proposer and...
His use of language is shown effectively throughout, as he describes to the reader, the conditions of streets of Ireland, while he confirms to his readers that this proposal is not meant for moral human beings, as he states, “Crowed with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four or six children, all in rags and importing every passenger for an alms,” (Swift 2462). Swift also advances his readers into portraying wives as breeders, as shown in the third paragraph of the second page, as he states, “It is true, a child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year, with little other nourishment; at most not above the value of two shillings which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her lawful occupation of begging,” (Swift 2463). This gives Swift’s arguments great persuasion and influence. With this in mind, Swift uses these techniques to interact with the intellect of his readers within the satirical elements of the essay itself. As eating children is unimaginable and portraying women in a negative light is figuratively immoral, the mere encouragement to consider the resolution carries an arrogance of rhetorical confidence that would provoke such thought within both texts.
In the article “The Modest Proposal” the credible author known as, Johnathan Swift informs us readers on the starving families in Ireland. Swift’s total purpose of the article is to educate the article readers on how these families struggle for survival from the problem of starvation. Swift adopts an emotional and relatable feeling in his readers. Swift further conveys his explanation later on in the article.
In “A Modest Proposal,” the speaker uses provocative diction, logos, and an ironic tone to convey his message of social critique and the injustices faced by the impoverished Irish under British colonial rule; the speaker has a shocking proposal for consuming Irish babies. The speaker’s choice of provocative diction plays a crucial role in conveying his message effectively. For example, Swift describes children as “the most delicious, nourishing and wholesome food” (Swift 4), evoking a feeling of disgust. He uses provocative language to shock and create a reaction from the audience. He employs vivid and descriptive language to describe the conditions faced by the impoverished Irish.
Jonathan Swift, a writer in the 1700s, wrote an article entitled “A Modest Proposal.” In his writing, Swift proposes an idea that he believes will prevent the children of the Irish poor from becoming a burden to their parents and country. Throughout Swift’s article, he adopts an informative tone in order for his suggestion to be viewed as an actual solution to the poverty issue sweeping Ireland.
When first reading A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick, commonly known as A Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift, it is easy to allow the content of the essay to take you by surprise. A Modest Proposal was written by Jonathan Swift in 1729, as an answer to the problems that Ireland was facing at the time. After the first reading of the essay, one might think that Swift is a mad man and that he should be put into a mental hospital. The subject of the essay is quite shocking, but once one learns the history behind the essay, they can discover what Swift was really meaning in his essay. At first glance, this proposal seems