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A Modern Proposal Rhetorical Devices

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During the Eighteenth century there was this famine in Ireland. It had killed dozens and dozens of people. There were so many poor families that they weren't able to provide for themselves. Everyone but more specifically the women and children were to beg for food so that they wouldn’t starve to death. In Jonathan Swift’s A Modern Proposal talks about a solution to this epidemic. Using irony, diction, and sarcasm to convey his purpose. Swift states that the poor Irish should sell off their children and if they were animals such as cattle or just eat the children themselves. Swifts tone is sort of like mocking so that he is able to say that he does not support cannibalism but is just using it as a metaphor. Swifts uses information to back up his claim. He talks about religion a lot but by presenting this idea of cannibalism tells the reader that he is talking in a sarcastic tone. Throughout the passage Jonathan uses irony to show his sarcastic tone even more. Since this was the eighteenth century almost all the residents in Ireland belonged to the Roman Catholic Church who are extremely against abortion or any type of birth control so when Swift mentions the killing of babies and the church in the same paragraph it creates the perfect example of irony. …show more content…

He really goes into great detail to the way he thinks can cure the great epidemic. “ A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines 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. I have reckoned upon a medium.” (Swift 2)From this you can tell just how harsh/sarcastic tone Swift is when describing the poor children in Ireland. Which any reader can tell that his passage is also a dig a the government for not doing anything for the poor families in

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In 1729, Ireland faced many complications. “A Modest Proposal” was published in 1729 in response to the worsening conditions in Ireland. Ireland was controlled by England and had no say in affairs. They faced famine, fuel shortages, emigration, and being heavily taxed. (sparknotes)

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The "Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift is a very persuasive essay to get attention to the famine in Ireland at the time. * The structure of the essay is well done. Organization gets you hooked before it proposes the topic of eating the children of Ireland.

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Jonathan Swift, one of the greatest writers in the world, used lots of satires in his article “A Modest Proposal” in order to criticize the disability of the ancient hierarchical society in the Ireland, the anti-human behaviors, the tyranny of the wealth English and the superior method of Irish Catholic. Although the tone and the words used in the article all show the ironies, the examples narrator used most strongly showed the irony. The title of the article is “A Modest proposal” because the article was based on the famine in the 18th century when Irish were also suffered from the high taxes made by the landlords in the Ireland. So the condition of the country was really like a disaster where “they are every Day dying, and rotting” (Swift 3), “the streets, the Roads, and Cabin-Doors crowded with beggars of female” (Swift 1).

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He says by selling the children, it will take a burden off of the parents, it will even stop mothers from having abortions. Swift says that his proposal will stop the horrible things that mothers do to their children to hide their shame like sacrificing innocent children. The irony to this is Swift’s proposal would have innocent children be sold, slaughtered, and eaten by the wealthy. Which is pretty much the same thing as

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It is simply that they show an indifference to the suffering of others. We also get a sense that cannibalism is present in Swift’s proposal, and it is not something that is normally practiced. In Candide, Voltaire shows how humans are cruel to one another. The novel may

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1729, a Papist infected Ireland was being devoured by the taxes that the British placed on them. The taxes were turning into what once was a glorious place into ruins. Jonathan Swift, an Englishman and Irish sympathizer, realized that someone had to do something to wake up the British. This lead to the creation of A Modest Proposal, a pamphlet heavy with irony and juvenalian satire, which was how Jonathan Swift planned on compelling the British to do something about the poor situation in Ireland. His use of rhetorical devices gets his point across in an effective and powerful way.

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Swift didn’t try to solve these problems with his satire but instead he attempted to show the people of Ireland that this was metaphorically what the government was doing to them. The English government didn’t care the slightest bit about children who are poor, grow up to be poorer, end up having to leave Ireland, and ultimately live unhappy lives as long as the English government was making money, the English government didn’t care. With the Irish government allowing the English to do such horrible things to the people and not show any pity or even try to fix the problem and with Swift’s background as a first generation Irish child born to English parents it is obvious that Swift was disgusted with Ireland’s cold system run by the motherland England that isn’t like a mother at all. Around this time other writers tried to explain this to the people as well but their attempts went unnoticed by the masses, this is why Swift decided that maybe Ireland didn’t need to wake up to smell the coffee, but get the coffee thrown in their face. Swift gained the public’s attention with his sarcastic proposal and made it seem as close to home as possible by including statistics and even going as far as discussing marketing ideas, business techniques, the butchers techniques on the meat, and the value of the baby body.

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Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a very interesting take on how the Irish government should cure the famine that the country was then facing. However, the entire proposal was completely bizarre, and the whole point of the essay was to bring attention to the idea that they needed a solution to the all the problems they were experiencing but the proposal was definitely not it. He even had a strongly developed plan as to how his proposal would work which makes the reader feel as if he is serious about selling children, eating them, and using their skins as a fashion accessory; however, ultimately this proposal was not his true goal. Jonathan Swift skillfully used different styles of writing, such as imagery and irony, to show why the

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Swift uses logic to show that we can take care of the poor children as well as raising the economic state of Ireland by using the poor children for food. He immediately discusses the issues of poor people and discusses this automatic way of solving the problem. He uses the reasoning that since these children are just a waste then we should use them so that those who can afford to eat can have them. He also uses logos in explaining all the different ways in which the children could be served using different culinary techniques. He uses ethos in how he writes his whole argument which is in the form of a satire.

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For example on page 2 Swift says “so as to render them plump, and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends.” statements like this make Swift’s proposal even more outrageous. This is a sarcastic attempt by Swift to make the proposal look attractive, but his statement has an underlying meaning of making the idea look repulsive. Additionally on page 2 Swift states “That a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food.”

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Jonathan Swift used his persuasive techniques to convince people baby killing, and even eating the corpse. Jonathan used such incredible wording, that the readers thought that it was a fascinating and efficient way to help the poor and the hungry. According to Swifts satire, he said "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 486). Jonathan has a way with his words, which is why he was so efficient in convincing the people of a complete utter joke.

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Swift’s satire consisted of many “modest theories.” For example, you may have heard people talk about overpopulation. You may have your own theories about it, but what about eating children? In this instance, Jonathan Swift used his form of humor, also known as satire, to get his point across, in which wrote a pamphlet called “A Modest Proposal,” a mockery for the ideas of how to deal with overpopulation. “Satire is a technique employed by writers to

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As an element within satire, Swift uses irony to further his tongue-in-cheek essay. In such cases, his examples are written in the opposite of what he means in ways that direct the true meaning (Ehrenpreis 309). The imagery and language Swift pens is intended to promote awareness of the impoverished and the public's duty to solve it, but in actuality, his pithy remarks show he does not care for the poor or even see them as human beings. His proposal suggests this because otherwise the speaker would not advocate selling children in poverty to be consumed by the

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Swifts text was effective in using ethos, logos, and satire to convince the English to do more to address the issues of Ireland. Swift used ethos by showing he was a well-educated, and thoughtful man. He shows us when reading the text, we see the way he uses his words. With the phrase “having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors…” (Jonathan Swift, 356) it shows that he thought a lot about this topic. Swift explained that selling Ireland's children would help with many problems Irelands families are having.

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Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a very interesting take on how the Irish government should cure the famine that the country was then facing. However, the entire proposal was completely bizarre, and the whole point of the essay was to bring attention to the idea that they needed a solution to the all the problems they were experiencing but the proposal was definitely not it. He even had a strongly developed plan as to how his proposal would work which makes the reader feel as if he is serious about selling children, eating them, and/or using their skins as a fashion accessory; however, ultimately this proposal is not his true goal. Jonathon Swift skillfully used different styles of writing, such as imagery and irony, to show why the Irish should sell their children to the rich to eat.

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