A Master of Irony: Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”

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In 1729, a political journalist and an activist on human rights, Jonathan Swift, wrote “A Modest Proposal,” which offered a solution to the problem of Irish starvation and English indifference. Even though Swift wrote his proposal more than three hundred years ago, it is still considered a masterpiece today. Swift’s characterization of narrator, the sarcasm, and the sustainable irony allowed him to create a highly effective argument that supported his proposal. In “A Modest Proposal,” Swift characterizes the narrator by using two different types of voice that make the paper compelling and alive. The economy in Ireland was desperate, and someone had to find a way to bring the country to its feet again. To make his proposal credible, Swifts creates an imaginary narrator. This imaginary narrator is the first voice of Swift’s proposal. He describes the situation and gives statistics to pull the readers into the proposal. Swift interrupts with some small ironic details such as “just dropped from it’s dam” (Swift par. 4) and “women murdering their bastard children” (Swift par. 5). In the eighth paragraph, the narrator says, “I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not by lyable to the least objection” (Swift par. 8). The narrator kindly represents his ridiculous scheme, which essentially holds the principle of cannibalism. “I would rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs,” is the emotionless phrase of the proposal (Swift par. 16). Swift’s narrator turns out to be a cold hearted, crazy man. On the other hand, Swift shall not be misunderstood at this point; this is his purpose. He wants a projector to sound as absurd as his proposal, so he can... ... middle of paper ... ...tuation of Ireland in those days when parents were watching their children die, and English saw it as the Irish fault of being lazy. This proposal was highly effective in an unprecedented level of literature, even though, it did not have a big impact in the society. Works Cited Lockwood, Thomas. "Swift's Modest Proposal”: An Interpretation. Papers on Language and Literature. 10.3 (1974): 254 - 267. Rpt. in Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Traudean. Vol 101. Detroit: Gale 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 23 Jan. 2014 Print. Swift, Jonathan. “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland, from Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick.” Ed. Jack Lynch. Rutgers University-- Newark. Rutgers University-- Newark. n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.

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