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How Is Satire Used In The Modest Proposal

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In Jonathan Swift's “The Modest Proposal” he uses certain rhetorical choices like irony, satire comments, and even sarcasm. In paragraph 7 Swift says ‘I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection”. Here Swift is using irony by saying he hopes no one dares to object to him in his “claim”. He also says in paragraph 15 “although I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs”. This is another example of irony by explaining how that no one cares for the children so they might as well just burn them alive because apparently nobody would care that much if that was to even happen. This relates to the thesis by showing how he …show more content…

The English where blaming the poor for being poor, but not actually blaming those who made them poor in the first place. This relates to the thesis because it just goes to show he uses satire in this article. It also connects to claim one by showing different ways Swift used his irony and satire, and both come of sarcastic and not serious compared to some others. Finally in paragraph 11 Swift then explains “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children”. He is using sarcasm here by saying that the landlords are currently eating off the parents making them poor so why not do it to the kids? He’s saying that if the landlord doesn’t have or see any issue eating off the parents, so there “shouldn't” be any issue with doing that to the children as

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“A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift is a satirical work. In “A Modest Proposal” he lists problems and how to solve them. Swift’s goal was to make rich people realize what was going on with poor people. He did this by using satire in order to grab people’s attention and get them talking. The things he satire were poverty, beggars, poor people’s life style, and how to get out of poverty.

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In times of desperation, people may seek unthinkable options to find a solution, and in this case, Swift was one of those people. Satire is used as a main technique throughout this whole piece. Swift is a personable character and proposes what he believes is an intelligent solution, and keenly announces he has found “a fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth” (1). His proposal is very satirical, and he specifically uses the young Irish children as the main advantage in his satire. His use of this technique makes his argument sound extremely effective.

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1202 Words | 5 Pages

The reason why it stood out to me so much was because it really showed the satire that was being used in the sentence, in this case him making the children into food . You can analyze what the author is trying to show, which in this case is poverty. You hear in his voice how if the problem isn't fixed then the people of Ireland might consider this option. His satirical argument is that the wealthy landowners "devoured" the Irish with their cruelty, so Swift suggests they do so literally.

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947 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 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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961 Words | 4 Pages

In the essay Swift portrays himself as a statistician who provides analytical data to back up his hypothesis that the selling of Irish infants as food would solve the problem of poverty and starvation in Irish communities in England. Swift uses different forms of satire including overstatement, understatement, and irony to provide the residents of England a form of comic relief during a time of extreme abuse. Swift himself was in a peculiar situation being both a Protestant and a native of Ireland, but he believes both the Irish and the Protestant can benefit from selling and consuming Irish infants. Swift’s use of understatement is apparent when he describes his proposal as “fair, cheap, and easy.” When he states that his proposal would end abortion, Swift uses overstatement because abortion would no longer be necessary since an infant would cost little to feed and would bring maximum profit to the rich English landowners looking to sell the children as an decadent dish.

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805 Words | 4 Pages

At the time when Swift’s proposal was made, Britain’s dictatorial reign in Ireland had left the nation in poverty and disarray. Criticising a nation was much easier to do in a joking tone or be harder to read rather than direct and upfront. Swift wanted to discuss these issues and found by writing in satire he could have the readers’ attention in way that a seriously written piece could not reach. Satire is present when Swift convinces the audience that he is an empathetic individual introducing the proposal with a sophisticated and compassionate manner beginning in the sentence, "I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection (1)," luring the reader into a sense of false trust as he begins the descriptions of the poor in Ireland. The reader is led to believe at first that this is a serious essay however it is not until deep into the proposal the reader can see how Swift uses satire to propose his thoughts found in the sentence, “a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled;” continuing on that, “no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust (1).”

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1163 Words | 5 Pages

Dr. Jonathan Swift uses rhetorical devices, logical, ethical, as well as emotional appeals to highlight the difference between Swift’s satirical attitude and the narrator’s serious attitude concerning poverty and starvation. In order to understand the nature of Swift’s proposal,

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576 Words | 3 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis Essay: A Modest Proposal Dr. Jonathan Swift places himself as a villain who is willing to do evil deeds to answer hard questions. What pushes Swift to write the essay “A Modest Proposal” is Ireland's economic and social problems. In this satirical essay Swift highlights the problems in Ireland and gives a sarcastic solution to make people feel guilt. Swift’s use of dehumanizing language is used to make the reader oppose Swift’s modest proposal.

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In “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, there are many disturbing remarks that make the readers uncomfortable. The purpose of his essay was to try to make the Irish people open their eyes so that they would take better care of themselves. At this period, the Irish politicians were corrupt and the people were not willing to fight to regain their country from the recent occupation of Ireland by England. He used the idea of eating the yearling children of poor families in order to accentuate the idea that the only people the wealthy men of Ireland cared about was themselves, and not the lives of the Irish citizens. The author uses logos to his advantage in order to show the overall amount of people that are in poverty and how they would be able

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631 Words | 3 Pages

In this selection, A Modest Proposal written by Jonathan Swift, he uses a great deal of satire throughout his essay to prove his point and get people to thinking. Satire is a great tool especially in real-world issues, it is a very clever way to inform people while also challenging them to reflect and maybe even reconsider popular or even not so popular ideas. Jonathan Swift exemplifies his usage of satire in his essay to address social and government issues, lower class abuses, this was a way to prevent the children of the poor from being a burden to their parents and/or country and making them beneficial to the people of the country. An example of Swift's usage of satire is when he makes an extravagant claim to reveal and explain to the

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834 Words | 4 Pages

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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739 Words | 3 Pages

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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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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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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1083 Words | 5 Pages

Critical Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” In the work entitled “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the theme of social injustice is enhanced by the use of verbal irony to convey a charged message. The ambiguous title and introduction to Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece does little to prepare the reader for shocking content revealed later in the text. Swift’s work is powerful, poignant and persuasive because it strikes at the heart of the modern readers ethics, as it likely would have done for the author’s contemporary audiences. Jonathan Swift’s 1729 masterpiece is a satirical metaphor centered around the pervasive assertion, “the English are devouring the Irish.” Jonathan Swift gives a more comprehensive exordium concerning his work stating that is it “a modest proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents and country, and for making them beneficial to the public (Swift 1199).

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