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Analysis Of A Modest Proposal By Dr. Swift

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Cat Stevens says, “A person who steals bread during a famine is not treated as a thief.” This situation appears in A Modest Proposal, a satirical essay, written by Dr. Jonathan Swift during the Irish famine in 1729. In this paper, Dr. Swift proposed to eat children as a way to solve the famine and overpopulation. However, Dr. Swift wrote the paper as a way to motivate the lazy Irish to fix their problems. In this essay, Dr. Swift ridicules the Irish with the use of Irony and Sarcasm, in hopes that they will help the poor, suffering souls.
Firstly, Dr. Swift ridicules the Irish with Irony. Hoping his irony will convince the lazy Irish, Dr. Swift wrote this paper. During his satirical writing, Dr. Swift mentions the problems of abortions. He …show more content…

Swift mocks the Irish with sarcasm. Hoping his sarcasm will spur the Irish into action, Dr. Swift spreads it in his essay like butter. In one part, the brilliant doctor adds sarcasm when he talks about the children and how they contribute nothing to their society. He suggest that, “whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the common wealth would deserve so well of the publick, as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.” (Swift 1) Clearly, the sarcasm visibly glistens as it drips from the page. However, he aches for the children of Ireland to grow into upstanding citizens. He bemoans that the citizens of Ireland hold no pride in their country. To convince them, Dr. Swift once again utilizes sarcasm to manipulate the weak minded Irish. He demonstrates how the rich land lords steal all the poor people’s money in unfair prices. He comments that eating the children will be, “very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents seem to have the best title to the children.” Bleeding from the page, the sarcasm hopefully motivates the Irish. The land lords unfair prices have lead many peopl to ruin and Dr. Swift hopes that his use of sarcasm will bring light to the issue. Ultimately, Dr. Swift uses sarcasm to expose the cheating Irish men and poor useless

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