A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

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Sell your children for money! Children caused a great burden to their poor parents in Ireland, and to lift that burden, there was proposed by Jonathan Swift to convert the overpopulation of infants born of the poor into a benefit to the public. In his essay, A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift is reacting to the circumstances of his time. Jonathan Swift was a protestant and a satirical Irish writer, native to Ireland, who lived from 1667-1745. In the late 1720’s Ireland had political, economic and religious struggles, which had caused it to become a virtual English colony. Swift came and caused uproar to condemn the arrogance and greed of the rich English men, and the religious fanatics. Here is posed the question, what three specific things were going on when Swift wrote A Modest Proposal?

One circumstance that was going on during that time was the poor irish family conditions. There were a great number of poor people, such as mothers with children, in that land, and they were starving, earning little for money and reaping what they could from begging. “These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to …show more content…

This lack of resources came from the overpopulation of children from catholic parents. Families of these children were just too poor to take care of them, feed them, and keep them clothed. Jobs are few for young children also. “Each year, several hundred thousand babies are born to Irish parents. If you subtract those who are born to well-to-do parents, those who are stillborn, and those who die after birth as a result of disease or accident, you are still left with about 120,000 babies who have to be supported by poor parents.” This leaves them to be cared for and fed by the economy, which wasn’t strong. Therefore they were only a burden to those taking care of

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