A Modest Proposal

698 Words2 Pages

In the essay, A Modest Proposal, the speaker is Jonathan Swift. Swift is most known for his satirist writing style which is also evident in his novel called Gulliver's Travels. Swift was an intelligent Oxford graduate student who published his famous piece, A Modest Proposal, in 1729. In this piece he addresses the issue of poverty in Ireland by proposing a humorous solution. The purpose of his text is to shock his audience by his over the top solution to end poverty. Swift adopts a persuasive tone in his proposal to convey his readers that his solution would be beneficial.
In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift addresses the issue of poverty in Ireland. He describes the melancholy sight of beggars of the female sex with children who are populating the streets. Swift also explains how the mothers are forced to spend all of their time begging for sustenance to provide for their infants. In context, poverty in Ireland is creating an unsafe society filled with thieves and Swift believes drastic changes must be made to fix the community. Oxford graduate, Jonathan Swift is making a satirist argument. In his argument, biases are evident because his solution to ending poverty is proposed in a satirical manner that can't actually be acted upon. His targeted audience in his article is directed towards the people in Ireland who are negatively affected by poverty. The main thesis in A Modest Proposal is that poor children should be taken from their mothers to be butchered and used for their resources such as food. Swift presents a serious argument for his readers that are meant to be taken sarcastically. His purpose is to address a serious issue that needs to be mended; however, he proposes a comical solution for his readers to enjoy. He st...

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...lic as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation."
At the end of A Modest Proposal, Swift does not acknowledge other opposing claims or evidence. However, he does acknowledge that his proposal is not an actual solution. Although he debriefs his readers, he fails to propose real possible solutions to the issue. I think Swift purposely left a refute in his piece because it was never his intention to solve the problem. Rather, I believe his purpose in A Modest Proposal was to inform the readers of the issues in Ireland and hopefully inspire the people to address them. I don't dislike Swift's argument because I viewed it as a satirical piece. However, I thought it would have been beneficial for him to present real solutions. Overall, I believe Jonathon Swift presented a clever way of addressing the issues of poverty and crime in Ireland to his readers.

A Modest Proposal
961 Words | 2 Pages
An Oxford University graduate, Jonathan Swift, in his article, A Modest Proposal, proposes a solution to Irelands growing poverty in the 18th century by proposing the selling and eating of innocent babies. Swift’s purpose is to state the benefits that the poor would gain from selling their one year old children to the wealthy to eat them. He takes on a concerning tone in order to convince the people of Ireland to consider and adopts his obscene plan.
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Rhetorical Analysis in A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
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Jonathan Swift is the speaker in the story, A Modest Proposal. He is also the author of many other books and stories. In the text of A Modest Proposal, Swift addresses what he believes to be a big issue in the magnificent country of Ireland, Dublin to be exact. Therefore, he proposes a solution to the problem, however, the solution is not what we would call humane, orthodox, reasonable, or even one that we would consider performing today. Swift wrote this piece for anyone that can read and comprehend what the text implies.
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Swift's message to the English government in "A Modest Proposal" deals with the disgusting state of the English-Irish common people. Swift, as the narrator expresses pity for the poor and oppressed, while maintaining his social status far above them. The poor and oppressed that he refers to are Catholics, peasants, and the poor homeless men, women, and children of the kingdom. This is what Swift is trying to make the English government, in particular the Parliament aware of; the great socioeconomic distance between the increasing number of peasants and the aristocracy, and the effects thereof. Swift conveys his message in a brilliant essay, in which he uses satire, humor and shock value.
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2432 Words | 5 Pages
tire Swift has successfully drawn attention to the extremely dire economic state of Ireland and the incompetence of the British government to solve or even begin to contemplate, in Swift's mind, these problems. This "Proposal" should be viewed as a fictional work, designed to entertain the upper-class whilst enlightening them upon the conditions of poverty in their own country. This "Proposal" could be viewed as an attempt to change the ways in which both England and Ireland viewed the state of Ireland, which was in a lethargic state. It is masterful in its own nature, the way in which Swift has challenged the prospect of changing lives and living conditions, while entertaining the audience at the same time. The true irony in "A Modest Proposal" lies not in analysing the minute details, but rather in the context of the "Proposal" as it is written.
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Rhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal
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Imagine reading an anonymous work that promotes cannibalism! Swift eventually had to reveal himself and the purpose of his pamphlet, which was to exaggerate the steps necessary to stop the Irish famine and poverty epidemic. A Modest Proposal is almost a scare tactic. It brings attention to the distances people will go to stop hunger and homelessness. The audience of rich, land-owning men were expected to take the text to heart.
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Homeless Children in A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
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The issue in A Modest Proposal is there are more and more homeless children living on the streets and we haven't done anything about it. The context is at the beginning of this piece when Swift is traveling through Dublin, Ireland and he's seeing all of this poor people on the street and all of the beggars wanting either a job or some money. Swift is the one making the argument in this piece about the homelessness and the English's mortality. Swift is a writer who was born on November 30, 1667 in Dublin Ireland, he was also a writer who always believed in the things he wrote about. Swift isn't a biased character, and his target audience would seem to mostly be Irish people but its actually more towards the English. Swift structures his argument by using irony, satire, and sarcasm. Swift's arguments makes us assume that he is mad at the English for leaving the Irish poor and on the streets...
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A Modest Proposal And Let Them Eat Dog Rhetorical Analysis
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In the time frame that Swifts’ A Modest Proposal was written Ireland was going through political, economic, and religious struggles. In 1729 England had contrived, with the help of Irish venality, to wreck Ireland’s merchant marine, agriculture, and wool industry. Prostitutes in Swift’s paper are having kids like senseless people, but yet they can’t afford to feed them. Jonathan Swift proposes that his people should sell the babies and eat them. He thinks this would help solve the problem of over population. Swift tried to give his people pamphlets on how to fix the problem that was plaguing their country, but they ignored them. Swift says “These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants.”(1) Swift proposes that the mothers sell the babies for 8 shillings; the rich would find the child to be a delicacy and the extra money would go to the landlord. So everyone would benefit from this proposal. He does this as a way of making his people aware of what is going on in their
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A Modest Proposal a Rhetorical Analysis
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In Swift’s satirical essay he stated the main issue to be the hunger and starvation of Irish country and their lack of money to support oneself. He said the complication was they themselves don’t have food, to many families in poverty, and that the Englishman took their land and charging high prices for rent. Swift makes this argument because he too is an Irish men and he struggles to see his fellow men parish in the streets. He desires his people to stand up against England and take back what’s theirs. He argues that the Irish...
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A Modest Proposal
1099 Words | 3 Pages
In Jonathan Swift’s satire, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift writes about the starving people of Ireland in the early 1700’s. He makes a wild and absurd proposal to help remedy the problems of overpopulation and poverty. Swift wants to make a political statement by using the “children” as satire to grasp the attention of the audience - the English people, the Irish politicians and the rich – and make them aware of the political, moral, and social problems. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s arguments are presented effectively by using pathos (emotional appeal), ethos (ethics and values), and logos (logic reasoning and facts).
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Satirical Response To A Modest Proposal
650 Words | 2 Pages
During the 18th century Ireland was on a very serious crisis. Jonathan Swift decides to write “A Modest Proposal” as a satirical response to this crisis. In that essay he gives a solution for each of the problems that Ireland was having during that time. The main points that he wanted to discuss were domestic abuse, over population, poverty, thieves, and the lack of food. This crisis lead the great nation of Ireland into economical struggles. By all of this problems, the parents couldn’t maintain their children so they needed a solution. Now this incredible man comes with a solution that is going to blow your mind, Swift decides to give them a proposal. It was a really uncommon one but very helpful for them. This proposal is going to stabilize once again the country of Ireland.
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Pathos In A Modest Proposal
755 Words | 2 Pages
Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is an attempt to bring attention to horrible the condition in which the poor or destitute people in Ireland are living in. His argument that children of these improvised people should be sold to “the persons of quality and fortune” (A Modest Proposal) for consumption, is Swift’s gruesome way of saying you might as well eat the babies, if no one is going to actually try to fix the problems of the poor in Ireland.
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Humor as an Argument: A Modest Proposal
690 Words | 2 Pages
This essay will have no value unless the reader understands that Swift has written this essay as a satire, humor that shows the weakness or bad qualities of a person, government, or society (Satire). Even the title A Modest Proposal is satirical. Swift proposes using children simply as a source of meat, and outrageous thought, but calls his propo...
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A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
692 Words | 2 Pages
Irishmen, educated, father and husband. All these titles make Jonathan Swift more than qualified to be the author of “A Modest Proposal,” published in the 1729. It discussed the astonishing poverty that was sweeping the Irish nation, his home country, during the early 18th century, which in his opinion was not the nations own doing. He adopts a sarcastic tone in order to display to the Irish people the injustices cast upon them, and to inspire his countrymen to rise up from poverty and stand up to those who held them down.
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An Analysis Of On Dumpster Diving By Lars Eighner
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If Jonathan Swift had written a serious piece simply espousing his true beliefs he would not have received as much feedback, due to the fact that there were already informational advertisements at the time and nobody was interested in reading them. The only thing that would get the people 's attention was something that would create a lasting impression, so he wrote a satirical piece with trenchant humor and mochary. “A Modest Proposal” surprised people and got them thinking about the condition of the poor in Ireland and what should be done to solve it. For example Swift states that “those who are thrifty” can use the carcass of the infant for ladies’ gloves or gentlemen’s boots. This itself can help those reading the piece to begin to think about possible solutions to the substantial issues involving the poor in Ireland. He also proposes that children that are fourteen should be consumed as well so the poor don’t have to go hungry and that it would limit the number of breeders, in an attempt to illustrate the extremity of the circumstances. His sarcastic way of joking enlisted fear in the poor and concern in the rich, helping them realise the drastic issue present in the
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Rhetorical Analysis: A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
1109 Words | 3 Pages
A “Modest Proposal” is written by a man who had been exiled from England and forced to live among Irish citizens for many years during which he observed major problems in Ireland that needed a solution. The writer of this piece is Jonathan Swift, and in his proposal, “The Modest Proposal,” Swift purpose is to offer a possible solution to the growing problem of the homeless and poverty stricken women and children on the streets of Ireland. Swift adopts a caring tone in order to make his proposal sound reasonable to his audience, trying to convince them that he truly cares about the problems facing Ireland’s poor and that making the children of the poor readily available to the rich for entertainment and as a source of food would solve both the economic and social problems facing Ireland.
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A Modest Proposal