A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

“A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food.” - Jonathan Swift, in his essay “A Modest Proposal.” Jonathan Swift was a satirical Irish writer. He was born in 1667 in Dublin, Ireland. Swift, most known for his famous works such as “Gulliver’s Travels”, “A Tale of a Tub”, and “A Modest Proposal” was a writer mostly known for criticizing the human society. In his work “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift expresses his ideas to solve the socio-economic problems occurring in Ireland at that time. Ireland was a desperately poor and dangerously overpopulated country, kept poor and weak by English rule. Irish Catholics suffered from poverty during this period. He writes this proposal in order

However, Swift also utilizes dark humor to criticize the segregation occurring in the Irish society. Dark humor is a kind of comedy that jokes about serious or depressing topics. The author uses dark and sarcastic humor in order to offer rough criticisms of incompetence and corruption. The entirety of the essay includes dark humor, even before starting the essay, the title “A Modest Proposal” already includes dark humor. “A Modest Proposal” is truly anything but modest. Another example of dark humor in the essay is the offering suggestion of cannibalism, which is outrageous, yet it still remains constant with dark humor. The text says, “A child (…) seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled”. (Swift, P.13). Swift mentions that the boiled child will taste better and is able to feed an entire family. This passage resemblances the absurdities of dark humor he uses to portray his solutions to the socio-economic problems of the Irish. 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, and the wealthy will have a new meat source. The essay mentions, “child dropped from its dam” (Swift, P.13). As if making a comparison between woman and animal. He continues with the dehumanization by making the people and children seem inconsequential. By using dark

According to Swift, all the masses are to blame for the Irish crisis: politicians, the wealthy, the Irish and even the English. An example of irony is within this statement of the text, “I rather recommend buying the children alive and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.” (Swift, P.16). In this passage, Swift compares the Irish people to animals, dehumanizing them. He chose his method of dehumanization because it furthered his point, and it forces the reader to consider whether they would view fellow humans in a similar manner. Irony is established by using a persuasive tone of diminution, which reduces the mankind to the level of beasts. According to Swift, “(...) mares in foal, their cows in calf, or sows when they are ready to farrow”, (Swift, P.25). Swift implies that he wishes for child caring to be a trade such as animal farming. Overall, the examples used are overstated to a certain point that may be difficult for the reader to understand. With this use of Irony, Swift can disturb the reader into paying more attention to the problems occurring in Ireland. Swift seemingly offers viable solutions to the socio-economic issues in