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Rhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift

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The essay “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift was first published anonymously as a pamphlet in 1729. The form of this essay consists of an introduction of his proposal in which he presents the situation of Ireland at the time and builds up momentum towards his proposal, then in the main body he presents his proposal and further backs it with arguments convincing readers of its efficacy and conclusion stating that he is only doing this for the “public good”. Swift unswervingly addresses the state of Ireland, which at the time of English warfare (1629-1640) was left in ruins. Although Swift wrote this essay in 1729, the country took 100 years for the state to rebuild itself. When the reader reads the very title of this essay the words “modest proposal” prepares the reader for a proposals of bettering the socio economic issues. As mentioned earlier the writer here ratifies the persona of a worried economist who gives a ‘modest’ recommendation that, in order to fight poverty and overpopulation of Ireland, poor children …show more content…

The modest proposal is of course anything but modest: It is savage, frightening, perhaps even insane”(Mcgill.enotes). Overall this essay is very disturbing, in the thirty-first paragraph the reader gets a sense of hopelessness when Swift refuses to hear any argument on his proposal saying that, “let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients”(1729:Swift.para 31). This piece of literature is similar to fiction in a way that is gives details insights on the time and place of Ireland, but we know that it is a pamphlet published to propose a radical idea to help change the situation of Ireland. If this was a piece of fiction one wouldn’t take it seriously but even when it’s non-fiction one cannot take seriously this absurd idea of cannibalism i.e. the wealthy eating the children of poor and should take it as a satirical piece of

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A Modest Proposal is a short pamphlet written in 1729 by the Irish writer Jonathan Swift. The narrator explains the social inhumane conditions of a poverty-stricken Ireland and attacks the way the English used the Irish for their own profit. In addition, he remarks on the lack of action taken by the people or Ireland in order to cease their own exploitation. The unnamed, unknown narrator goes on to mention “beggars of the female sex followed by three, four, or six children” so as to emphasize their current living circumstances. Furthermore, the use of irony is well accompanied as the narrator tries to convince the reader of the humanity of his scheme.

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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.

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Caitlin Chase Mrs. Woodworth AP English Period 5 30 April 2017 A Not So Modest Proposal In an intriguing satirical piece, “A Modest Proposal” tackles the issues of child welfare, indifference of the wealthy to poverty, and economic class divisions.

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The Immodest Proposal Envision you are living in Ireland in 1729, a country full of poverty and desperation. You pick up a pamphlet called “A Modest Proposal” written by a famous author, Jonathan Swift. As you flip through the pages, you come across a bone-chilling proposition; babies of poverty-stricken families will be able to “contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing of many thousands” (2). This proposal was contradictory of modest but could help control Ireland’s poverty epidemic, overpopulation, and the countries overall standing.

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Swift makes extensive use of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos within the first eight paragraphs to create a strong initial argument that captures the audience’s attention and provide assurance that the information presented is viable. Swift starts with an appeal to Pathos by describing the state of Ireland: “the Streets, the Roads, and Cabin-Doors, crowded with Beggars of the female Sex, followed by three, four, or six Children, all in Rags, and importuning every Passenger for an Alms” (Swift, 1). The description of Ireland leaves a gloomy effect on the audience, as they are met with a somber tone set forth by a description on how thousands of people are affected by the poverty in Ireland. Swift continues this appeal to Pathos by describing the state of families within this poverty: “this prodigious number of Children, in the Arms, or on the Backs, or at the heels of their Mothers, and frequently of their Fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the Kingdom, a very great additional grievance” (Swift, 2). This description of the melancholy state of Ireland creates an emotional appeal because, the thought of having mass amounts of children being forced to cling to their Mothers and Fathers in a desperate struggle for survival, is a morose image.

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Mister Jonathon Swift, writer of the satire story “A Modest Proposal, has made the cure to poverty and the economic crisis Ireland is. In his proposal, which I say is very extreme, he says that little ones or babies, should be eaten or sold to solve the problem. He also says that we could raise a baby for about 2 shillings in one year, and then turn around and sell the child for about 10 shillings, thus making a profit of roughly 8 shillings per child. He says that since the mothers who are the most poor are often having the most children, why not sell them to the rich and make a profit and feed the others. With this happening it would cause an end to the economic crisis, poverty, and the divorce rate would drop significantly.

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Jonathan Swift, one of the greatest writers in the world, used lots of satires in his article “A Modest Proposal” in order to criticize the disability of the ancient hierarchical society in the Ireland, the anti-human behaviors, the tyranny of the wealth English and the superior method of Irish Catholic. Although the tone and the words used in the article all show the ironies, the examples narrator used most strongly showed the irony. The title of the article is “A Modest proposal” because the article was based on the famine in the 18th century when Irish were also suffered from the high taxes made by the landlords in the Ireland. So the condition of the country was really like a disaster where “they are every Day dying, and rotting” (Swift 3), “the streets, the Roads, and Cabin-Doors crowded with beggars of female” (Swift 1).

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Have you ever thought about resorting to cannibalism in order to solve the problem of poverty? Well, that is exactly what Johnathon Swift suggested in A Modest Proposal. In this work of satire, Johnathon Swift makes a proposal to the wealthy English landowners in Ireland during the eighteenth century. Poverty was a large problem during this time and the wealthy were feeling inconvenienced by the poor families begging for money to feed their children. Swift presents the idea that the poor Irish children should be butchered and sold for meat to feed the wealthy of the country in order to solve their dilemma.

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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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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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Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a morbid satirical critique of the poverty crisis in Ireland during the time, the book also serves as a call for reform regarding an impoverished Ireland. “A Modest Proposal” is a work of Juvenalian satire, employing irony and exaggeration. Examples of exaggeration include when Swift writes, “I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs” (107) such a statement is used to dehumanize children, comparing them to livestock. Another example is “These mothers instead of being able to work …or sell themselves to the Barbadoes” (4-7) used to emphasize poverty's effect on women further providing satire that appeals to pathos. Irony is present throughout the

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In Swift’s short story he humorously presents an idea to solve most of Ireland’s struggle of constant deprivation and poverty, while also venting his frustrations of the wealthy and powerful. In the early paragraphs, he builds up the topic of Ireland’s problem by spending the first couple paragraphs listing the problems that conflict his homeland by eerily saying the population problem is one of the main contributors to Ireland’s deterioration. Swift has calculated and has accounted for the price and moral weight of taking care of a child, so he closes his opening points by suggesting to the reader a notion to actually consume children. The main rhetorical challenge of this ironic essay is capturing the attention of an audience whose indifference has been well grounded. Swift makes his point negatively, stringing together an appalling set of morally untenable positions in order to cast blame and aspersions far and wide as Swift explains that the rich are selling out the people for what little scrap the once great land once offered.

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He has shown concern by investigating into the topic. Swift had traveled from England to Ireland and was very disappointed with what he saw. He writes the proposal to get out his technique for solving the issue that must be solved. The tone of the essay is ironic and sarcastic for many reasons.

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Jonathan Swift uses “A Modest Proposal” to seek validation as well as justice for his cause. “A Modest Proposal” is a satirical piece which discusses how to keep Irish children from being a burden on their families and their country by eating them. Swift published “A Modest Proposal” in 1729, after several of his other essays proposing different ways in which to boost the Irish economy were more or less ignored. Since he had already produced so much content on the subject that had been ignored, he could be considered an underdog with this additional essay. The effects of the irony

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