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A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

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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) Landlords were paid from the produce of the land, which workers could hardly afford. (universalteacher) It was a poor country that was overpopulated with poverty and homelessness. Crop failures, high unemployment, rising prices, and trade restrictions imposed by the British government all caused the poverty to increase. In the essay “A Modest Proposal” Jonathon Swift challenges the status quo of the time and place in which it was written by suggesting unheard of ideas about the children of Ireland to show how bad the conditions truly were in that time. Swift challenges the status quo by suggesting selling children in Ireland. Swift states in the essay that children above twelve years old would not be worth more than three pounds. Children above the age of twelve would not be worth anything to sell because they cannot accommodate to the parents or kingdom. Swift wonders the actual value of the children at that age and soon sees they wouldn’t be the best to sell. He believed that younger children would be the best to sell. …show more content…

He says that a baby that is well nursed at the age of one would be the best to eat. Flesh of a fourteen year old boy is too lean to eat he claims. Girls at the age of fourteen might soon become breeders of infants and raise the infants until the age of one. Swift says that a well nursed baby will be the most wholesome food, no matter the way they are cooked. He jokes with sarcasm that a baby could make a well rounded meal for a group of people in this time. Swift proposed all these ideas, yet he does not want to be liable for an

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Swift does a good job using ethos, pathos, and logos to describe the Ireland’s economy and how he thinks it can be improved. All of his references to the killing of innocent children were just a way to open up the eyes of their society to how the Irish poor beggars were not being given any type of aid. He uses ethos in the best way and also does a good job using logos. Swift has ideas that are not that ethical but does an interesting way to get his ideas

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Swift completely had missed out on his daughter growing up. She was 27 when he got out and missed out on having a father growing up. His prime has been missed out and it was because of about 6 people not caring enough to help keep him from having his life missed out on. I understand that mistakes happen but for several people to have not properly done their jobs cost Swift everything he could have had like a family, friends he would have made, no work experience or retirement fund, and much

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My Majesty, King George II, I am writing to you to explain Mr. Swift 's zealous and also absurd proposal on what we shall do with the young children of Ireland. In Mr. Swift 's "Modest Proposal", he suggests turning the children of Ireland into "sound and useful members of the Commonwealth". The main idea here is to turn the children into livestock, being used for sale and consumption. According to him, this solution benefits Irish society by providing a good source of nutrients to the commonwealth, as well as a reliable income for poorer families in Ireland.

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In fact, he refers to “A very worthy Person, a true Lover of his Country, and whose Virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased, in discoursing on this matter, to offer a refinement upon my Scheme”(17). As a result, Swift shows that even the most patriotic person to both Ireland and Britain (since Ireland was under British control at the time) realizes that within this current situation of poverty, this proposal is a solution and can be acted out in many different

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1413 Words | 6 Pages

Swift, as the author, clearly does not believe in this idea, and that is evident through the speakers word choice. He states, “I shall now humbly propose my own thoughts...” (59), before stating his preposterous idea. The word humble is so beyond ironic due to the level of insanity that the proposal

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947 Words | 4 Pages

However, the proposal seemed so heart-wrenching and far-fetched, it repulsed the audience by his description of when and what age to harvest the children as if he really believed his proposal was the solution. The way he described the women and children as beggars on the street in the beginning was emotionally difficult to read because, he gave the reader a vivid mental image. One part showed great imagery as he discussed how the children could be “stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled” (Swift 2), which the reader could now picture by him using terms people use when cooking animals. This piece of imagery shown indicates that the Irish government was treating its lower class no better than animals. Another strong image is created when he suggests using the children’s skin to make lady’s gloves and men’s summer boots, which is terrible and gruesome to even think about.

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In “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, a solution is presented to assist in solving Dublin, Ireland’s issue in 1729 of having too large of a population to feed and take care of. A majority of those in poorer conditions were female beggars and their large group of young children. These children often are brought up without proper education and nourishment, turning them into citizens who beg and thieve that reap little in society, burdening the nation as a whole. To solve this predicament, Swift uses satire to propose that a certain amount of these specified children be preserved and the rest sold at a year old to the prestigious and the general public for use as a food and clothing source. Swift wrote that his proposal would solve the issue

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Another article reads: “...and his personal sense of the wrongs he had received at the hands of the English only intensified the anger he felt at the way England mistreated Ireland” (The Victorian Web 1). During this time period, Ireland was also suffering from famine. A famine occurs when food becomes scarce. Additionally, Ireland was a freezing country at the

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159 Words | 1 Pages

As Swift keeps saying how it would benefit people to eat the children, he decides to go a different route at the end. Although he says that he “can think of no one objection,” he gives great pointers as to how the dilemma may actually be solved. Even though he is using sarcasm while saying them, he starts it out with “Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients…” He goes on about taxing, using only what is needed, not spending as much on women, learning to love their country, getting along with each other, and more. Although his earlier ideas challenged the status quo, he derails the train of thought by saying this now.

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1436 Words | 6 Pages

In The modest proposal, The author Jonathan Swift gives his idea on how to eliminate poverty-stricken children in Ireland. His big scheme is that the poor children should be taken, fattened up, and used as a food supply for the wealthy. The benefits of using a child for a resource should not outweigh the ethics and rules of society. In the writing the author even begins to go into how he would prepare the kids for meals and ways he believes their taste would best benefit society.

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834 Words | 4 Pages

Luckily, Swift found a way to put these children to good use: raise them as food for the wealthy citizens (Shmoop Editorial Team). Swift points out that it may be easier for the mother if they had money instead of an obnoxious child. Swift said that people’s only suggestion would be that less people would occupy Ireland. He even stated that he of course would have no bias because his children were too old to gain prophet for eating. The best part, Swift points out, is that the children being sold will give the economy a boost.

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851 Words | 4 Pages

Jonathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal” was first published as a pamphlet in 1729. The piece is clearly written in essay form having an introduction of the proposal, presentation of the proposal, its explanation followed by the arguments supporting the idea and convincing the readers of its usefulness. The words beneath the title, “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” (1729, Swift) seems to prepare the reader for a serious argument where the author is going to convince us to agree with him. “A Modest Proposal” is an essay with a proposition. In clear, simple words, the writer offers the idea of cannibalism as the solution to the problems of

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483 Words | 2 Pages

The absurd idea of eating children was never Swift real intention. Swift 's real views about how to relieve poverty included solutions such as not purchasing foreign products, taxing English landlords who didn 't live on their Irish land, teaching landlords to have mercy toward their tenants and learning how to love their country. I think his policies involving English landlords leaning to have mercy towards their tenants and paying taxes for not living on their land

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740 Words | 3 Pages

Mazin Abbas 900140098 Dr Motawy Rhet 1010 Imagined Worlds: Utopias and Dystopias 8 October 2014 A modest combination of literary techniques A satirical essay so ridiculous that people start taking the ideas behind it seriously? That sounds like something out of a fictional tale.

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867 Words | 4 Pages

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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