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Rhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal

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Ben Albizzatti Prof. Genetti Comp 1 4th October 2016 The Key to Ending World Hunger? Will we ever find the cure to world hunger? Jonathan Swift seems very confident he has in his proposal. A modest Proposal is a satirical writing that goes over the mind set of the rich towards the poor starving children in Ireland at the time. Jonathan Swift uses a number of rhetorical strategies while he tries to highlight insane ideas in his proposal. Swift uses metaphors, repetition and logical fallacies as well as humor, sarcasm and satire tone to bring about some ridiculous ideas to fix Ireland. In order to really understand what works and what doesn’t, one must truly understand the background behind Swifts idea. At the time “A Modest Proposal” was …show more content…

Instead of begging for scraps Swift proposes that everyone is capable of making a modest living by simply breeding babies to be eaten. Killing two birds with one stone in a sense. By eating children, the number homeless people roaming the streets diminishes and at the same time the food shortage is also being solved. Swift uses logos thought his proposal to get his insane point across. logos is defined as an account, or a clear and logical explanation, or an argument. As crazy as it may sound, Swift gives logical reasoning to his madness by going into great detail about how to actually eat …show more content…

The name it’s self, “A Modest Proposal” is satire . If you though Swift was serious with his proposal, you are not the first. I thought the same too. Satire is “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity and vices, particularly in the context of politics.” I believe that without satire, Swift would not have gotten the response that he did. During the time that “A modest proposal” was written, it was extremely hard to get the peoples attention and the only way Swift saw fit to get the peoples attention was to write a satirical parody. Even though Swifts idea to improve the lives of the poor were quite unorthodox he got the people talking about actual ways to fix the problem at

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1729, a Papist infected Ireland was being devoured by the taxes that the British placed on them. The taxes were turning into what once was a glorious place into ruins. Jonathan Swift, an Englishman and Irish sympathizer, realized that someone had to do something to wake up the British. This lead to the creation of A Modest Proposal, a pamphlet heavy with irony and juvenalian satire, which was how Jonathan Swift planned on compelling the British to do something about the poor situation in Ireland. His use of rhetorical devices gets his point across in an effective and powerful way.

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Swift’s A Modest Proposal Timothy Blackman Strayer University In reading the article you first have to gather some type of idea what he was talking about. I understand in society we all see a lot of people that are probably considered or labeled undesirables. I spent time trying to figure out if he was ranting about the homeless kids or he was just upset. He also then talks about abortions, which is always a debate for everyone.

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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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The title itself is satirical, as "A Modest Proposal" suggests a reasonable solution to a problem, but the content of the proposal is far from reasonable. Swift uses hyperbole and irony to mock the idea that the poor should sell their children as food, stating "A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food" (paragraph 9). He chastises the English landlords and politicians who exploit the Irish people, stating "I can think of no one objection, that will possibly be raised against this proposal unless it should be urged, that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom" (paragraph 28). Swift also challenges the Irish people to take action and help themselves, stating "who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children" (paragraph 22). Another example of satire in A Modest Proposal is when Swift sarcastically suggests that the sale of babies for food could be a solution to the problem of overpopulation: "I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couples whose wives are breeders; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couples who are able to maintain their own children...

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Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a satire which is a type of a persuasive writing. Satire is a use of irony or humor to expose or criticize people’s bad habits or vices. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift wrote it to surprise English society to awareness of England’s unfair policies against Irish. Swift uses persuasive appeals or techniques to convince the reader that England didn’t care about the Irish at all. It was brutal and merciless.

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The autor of the essay “A Modest Proposal” wanted to express so many points of view. Points of views from the rich and poor people. Jonathan Swift use the sarcasm to point the problem in the society at the 18th century. In the 18th century people who needed most, because of the bad economic situation in their home, were the people that suffers most. The bureaucracy in their country was really mark.

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The narrator has a proposal in the essay “A Modest Proposal” that is considered outrageous. The proposal of the narrator was about the parents not being able to raise their kids so they are used for food to scare the people of Ireland. The narrator says, “… it is exactly at one year old that I propose

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In the story A Modest Proposal, Swift expresses a very dramatic situation where there are too many children in Ireland. He tries to satirize the situation by writing a story about it and i think that he got his point across. Swift seems to care a lot about the overpopulation of Ireland. With a story like this you can tell that he wants to gain attention.

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Swift titles his piece A Modest Proposal, but truly his proposal is extreme, and ridiculous. Swift reinstates his point of irony by stating "I shall therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection". This is one of Swift's main examples of figurative language because Swift positions the claim before proposing his solution. Swift genuinely desires for people to accept his solution. But ironically Swift is aware of the absurdity of his argument, therefore knowing it would receive many objections.

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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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“A Modest Proposal” is a satirical piece in which Swift proposes that children of poor families ought to be sold and used to feed others. His thought is that this will solve the country’s overpopulation, unemployment, and economic problems. It is commenting on the way poor people are

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A Readers Perspective of A Modest Proposal Different writing styles can have many different effects on a reader. Through wording and phrases an author can choose to convey their message in a variety of ways. In “A Modest Proposal,” the author Jonathan Swift heavily incorporates satire throughout the story. Swift whom is famous for his quality work specifically in satire, implies that overpopulation and poverty might be solved through eating all the poor children. Obviously such a cruel and unusual act would be a travesty to occur in reality, however the implication that something like this could happen may lead to individuals questioning their own morals and government.

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Just as sarcasm was used, irony was entertaining to readers off Swift’s works in the upper class. The whole essay in itself is ironic. No reader could possible believe that Swift was serious about his proposals. However, there are several specific instances. For example, Swift listed off several reasons as to why his plans would greatly benefit society.

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The title, “A Modest Proposal”, reveals itself as satirical and comedic the moment Swift refers to children as a “most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food” considering that no person, (even in the 1700’s) would enjoy partaking in cannibalism. This immediately establishes his tone as sarcastic, mocking and over-exaggerated and the later paragraphs reveals the comparison to which he is referring when he makes such outlandish suggestions while “ having no other motive than the public good of my country” (Pg: 416) can refer to none other than English politicians during this time who maintain their stubborn ideas and belief that they are doing good. The satirical approach should make the reader laugh and not only allows for the tone to be built upon further, but establishes pathos. By creating an image that depicts the Irish as so desperate they need to eat their own children, it creates a subtle emotional response while still maintaining a satirical and comedic

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A Modest Proposal: deplores the fate of the Irish people who are stricken by poverty. The argument given by Swift is somewhat sad because he argued that the poor Irish families should sell their children to the rich (the English who happened to be the land owners) after fattening the children (Swift 2004). The case presents a number of premises in the argument provided by Swift. Firstly, the first premise is in Swift’s argument is that uneducated mothers with many children are becoming a burden to their country. Further, Swift argued that children can be sold out to the meat market as soon as they are one year old so that to reduce overpopulation in the country; his reasoning is that when a low-income family sells the kid, they will not meet

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