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