Rhetorical Analysis of a Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

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A Modest Proposal is a satirical essay written by Jonathan Swift in order to prevent the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden to their parents or the country, and make them beneficial to the public; yet in actuality suggest methods to help the impoverished Irish. In the essay, Swift takes on a droll tone in order to convey outrageous solutions allowing him to state his real solutions to people of England.
The dilemma Swift addresses is the way the Irish are being oppressed by the English. At the time, most people were farmers with small pay and had extreme difficulty paying their landlords. Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels, is a satirical writer that attempts to persuade the people of England into finding a solution to fix the poor problem. He structures his essay, by first stating outrageous solutions to the poor problem; such as selling, and eating children or using them for clothes, until the end where he suggested real solutions. His outrageous assumptions of eating children seem barbaric, but it captures the audience attention to the p...

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