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. The main rhetorical challenge of this ironic essay is capturing the attention of an audience. Swift makes his point negatively, stringing together an appalling set of morally flawed positions in order to cast blame and criticize …show more content…
The modest proposal is of course anything but modest. But other subtle ironies may be overlooked if Swift is simply dismissed as an extravagant madman. Most important, Swift characterizes him as rational and calculating in order to show that these qualities are dangerous when taken to an extreme. People who rely on speculative reason to solve problems may end up thinking the unthinkable rather than following what should be more natural and humane impulses of common sense and compassion. Swift uses these qualities to paint England as the madman in forgetting about
Jonathan Swift is the speaker in the story, A Modest Proposal. He is also the author of many other books and stories. In the text of A Modest Proposal, Swift addresses what he believes to be a big issue in the magnificent country of Ireland, Dublin to be exact. Therefore, he proposes a solution to the problem, however, the solution is not what we would call humane, orthodox, reasonable, or even one that we would consider performing today. Swift wrote this piece for anyone that can read and comprehend what the text implies.
“A Modest Proposal” was written in 1729 by a satirical author by the name of Jonathan Swift. Swift studied at the University of Oxford and was also know for his popular writing in Gulliver’s Travel. The purpose for his satire “A Modest Proposal” was to enlighten the citizens of Ireland about their hardship and suffering. He informed them about their scares of food, money, and property, but provided a possible solution to their problem. To persuade the people Swift adopts a comforting and friendly tone to his audience for the people to react to his solution.
Swift used irony throughout the essay, beginning with the title, “A Modest Proposal”. The irony of the title gives the audience a false idea of what the essay will be, later on he gives his argument and the title serves as an ironic statement. Swift also used the irony of the title to emphasize how absurd his idea truly is, by claiming the proposal is modest he allows the reader to understand how
“The Modest Proposal” is anything but modest. It is actually kind of scary, creepy might just be would be a better way to put it. Johnathan Swift comes off as innocent because he is genuinely sympathetic to the people of Ireland in the beginning of the story. Swift comes off as knowledgeable, confident and caring person when he presents his idea to help resolve the problem occurring in Ireland. Swift uses a scare tactic and then appeals to false authority in order to try and convince the people of Ireland that this could be logically sound proposal.
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
Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is an attempt to bring attention to horrible the condition in which the poor or destitute people in Ireland are living in. His argument that children of these improvised people should be sold to “the persons of quality and fortune” (A Modest Proposal) for consumption, is Swift’s gruesome way of saying you might as well eat the babies, if no one is going to actually try to fix the problems of the poor in Ireland.
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.
The real issue being addressed in “A Modest Proposal” is the poverty that was plaguing Ireland. The piece was written at a time when the poor people were seen as a burden to their country and were being oppressed by the wealthy English government and landowners. Swift makes the argument to make the poor useful. 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 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 willed to understand the country’s predicament.
The work is a great example of how a text can have more than one thesis, depending on how it is read, or who reads it. In it’s time, A Modest Proposal was taken as serious by the audience of rich men. It caused some hysteria and confusion in upper class communities. Imagine reading an anonymous work which promotes cannibalism! Swift eventually had to reveal himself and his 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 planned to take the text to heart. It should shock them into lowering taxes and decreasing the cost of shelter. Jonathan Swift uses irony and sarcasm to hint at his essay not being serious, and uses his writing skill to try and solve a serious problem. And of course, the solution Swift is actually looking for, is not about eating
...lready devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children.” He tried to make the parents realize that the present they are living in will become the future of their children. Swift’s use of these appeals helped his audience to take such a ridiculous proposal as something serious. If one could see through the veil created by all the sarcasm and satirical diction they would see a man who only wants to aid his nation in its time of need
Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a shocking satire that discusses the dire poverty in Ireland. It says if one is born poor they will stay that way unless society puts them to use. Children are food to be eaten. In an economic slump children will be used to feed and clothe Ireland’s population. Swift’s purpose for writing A Modest Proposal was to call attention to the exploiting and oppressing by the English to the Irish. He wanted to shock his readers by proposing his “modest” proposal. He presents selling babies as food to reduce overpopulation. This causes the reader to disregard this suggestion. Swift wanted to raise awareness on the issue that was haunting Ireland. Throughout A Modest Proposal, Swift effectively uses verbal irony, diction, and sentence structure to achieve his purpose of making people realize that there are problems in society that needed to be handled in a reasonable manner. He also wanted to help advance the country’s trade, provide for infants, relieve the poor and help the rich. Swift ultimately wanted to get people thinking about actual solutions that could solve their current problems.
...ture the attention of the audience by means of “political pamphleteering which is very popular during his time” (SparkNotes Editors). The language and style of his argument is probably why it is still popular till this day. By using satire, Swift makes his point by ridiculing the English people, the Irish politicians, and the wealthy. He starts his proposal by using emotional appeal and as it progresses, he uses ethos to demonstrate credibility and competence. To show the logical side of the proposal, he uses facts and figures. By applying these rhetorical appeals, Swift evidently makes his argument more effectual.
The essay, A Modest Proposal, is a proposal to end the economic dilemma in Ireland by selling the poor’s children, at the age of one, for food. The narrator states, “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 father, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance” (Swift). According to this proposal, by selling the children for food to the wealthy in Ireland many problems will be resolved. The poor mothers will earn money to live on and will not have to raise children, the wealthy will have a new meat source and “an increase in his own popularity among his tenants” (Sparknotes), and the economy will improve because of all of the market action. In the narrator’s eyes, this proposal equals an all around win for the people of Ireland and he cannot see any objection to his plan.
Irony is a beautiful technique exercised to convey a message or call a certain group of people to action. This rhetorical skill is artfully used by Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet “A Modest Proposal.” The main argument for this mordantly ironic essay is to capture the attention of a disconnected and indifferent audience. Swift makes his point by stringing together a dreadfully twisted set of morally untenable positions in order to cast blame and aspersions on his intended audience. Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” employs despicably vivid satire to call for change in a world of abuse and misfortune.