Preview

A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
701 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis
In "The Modest Proposal," Jonathon Swift, satirizes the incompetence of Ireland's politicians, the hypocrisy of the rich, the domination of the English, and the unpleasantneses in which he sees so many Irish people living. In fixing this problem in society, he proposes to sell Dublin's poor unfortunate children into meat markets where this can be the remedy of Dublin's problems of overpopulation and unemployment. Johnathon Swift wrote "The Modest Proposal" in order to reveal that the Irish's politicians, upper class, and the ENglish are responsible for the nation's appalling stsate through his use of satires, parodies, and organization. Jonathon Swift uses satire to mock the politicians, wealthy, and the English. AFter reading "A Modest Proposal" attentively, the reader can assume that there were many unsuccessful journalism essays about this topic to achieve any actual progress. This essay objects the absolute inefficacy of Irish political leadership; the politicians. He also attacks the point of reference of …show more content…

Swift's proposed a remedy for solving the economic and social problems in Ireland. His solution to overpopulation, unemployment, and the starving families is so specific that it becomes a parody. He"reckoned upon a medium that a child just born will weigh twelve pounds, and in a solar year if tolerably nursed increaseth to twenty-eight pounds." Through his detailed solution and forumulas, his use of parodies are clearly shown. From each shilling to his ideas a children recipes, parody is used to show how that he means exactly the opposite idea of eating children to raise up the economy. He actually means to help the nation by improving the economic by starting out to help the poor. Through his servere mockery towards the upper class, his indiviual anguis at the failure of all this paper jounalism to achieve any actual progress is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In his renowned pamphlet, “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift brings attention to the poor conditions in Ireland. Being a native of Ireland, Swift remained loyal to his country. Upon noticing the terrible conditions in Ireland, he took it upon himself to address the issues at hand. Among these issues, involves the sickly and insufficient children in his homeland. Incorporating statistics to support his claim, Swift attempts to persuade his readers to support his outrageous plan to solve a dire situation. As a result his “logical” and preposterous plan created mixed reactions in both the past and the present.…

    • 98 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    If Swifts ‘Modest Proposal’ is satire, as everyone seems to think, then I am even more repulsed in the writing than I was before. Everyone at the webinar the other day thought the little baby was such a cute, darling, little thing, and I agree, life is beautiful. To find humor in, or joke about, killing and eating babies is quite disgusting actually. Finding humour in something so disturbing, grotesque and violent, is quite assaulting to human dignity. The fact, that the author distanced himself from the piece by writing anonymously points to the fact he knew of its graphic assault, whether satire or not.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jonathan Swift's 1729 satirical pamphlet, “A Modest Proposal from 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” under the pseudonym of Dr. Swift, has been regarded as an important historical text, exploiting the conditions of Ireland in the 18th century. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift proposes to the Irish public that to lessen the burden of poverty in Ireland they must sell their children as food and sustenance to feed the country’s wealthy. As it is a satire, Swift's approach and proposal suggests the dire economic conditions of Ireland during the 18th century, and provides a context for Ireland’s culture during this time and a framework for how people lived in all sectors of the economic classes.…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his satirical essay "A Modest Proposal," Johnathan Swift examines treatment of the poor in Ireland during the eighteenth century: “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London; that a young healthy child, well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food; whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled, and I make no doubt, that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or ragout.” (Swift 763) In his essay, Swift describes a repulsive suggestion for dealing with the children of the poor in Ireland. Swift describes in detail how poor children should be raised and sold to the wealthy at age one. He details how the children should be and how they should be prepared for the wealthy to consume. Swift's abhorrent proposal for the poor children not only points out the awful treatment of the poor in Ireland during the eighteenth century, but also Ireland's inability to devise a more desirable plan for the poor. His use of statistics and graphical depiction of the poor children's lives adds to the credibility of his essay.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    An Anglican priest known for his political pamphlets, Jonathan Swift, in his essay, “A Modest Proposal”, suggests that the infants of poor mothers should be sold as food on the market. Swift’s proposal is to call attention to the horrid living conditions in Ireland to convince the English to stop exploiting the Irish. He accomplishes this by encouraging the audience to believe he’s creditable, using statistics and the advantages of his proposal to appear logical, appealing to the emotions of the reader.…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I have received your letter and have taken in your concerns about the assigned reading of Jonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal. I have written this letter to put your mind at ease and to inform you that the purpose of the reading was to challenge the student’s minds on understanding satirical devices. The students are familiar with the definition of satire and they understand that it is sarcasm used to convey insults or scorn. The full title of the story is “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for making them Beneficial to the Publick”. Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is an excellent example of the sharp wit and biting sarcasm that was employed in the satire of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Swift uses an ironically conceived…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the first British colonization attempts of Ireland the island had been a place of tyrannical oppression and prejudicial mistreatment. This went on for centuries, with constant rebellion and resistance. In 1729 Jonathan Swift, an Irish clergyman living in England, denounced the cruel policies of England in a backwards manner. His use of verisimilitude in "A Modest Proposal exposes the corruption of British foreign policy towards the impoverished Irish people. He captures the minds and hearts of his audience, the British people, by posing a solution to apparent human issues of society, only to use ridiculously horrid ideas to show the true state of Irish treatment.…

    • 869 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jonathan Swift uses satire in many of his works such as “A Modest Proposal”. Satire is the use of humor, irony or ridicule human vice. “The true satirist is conscious of the frailty of institutions of man 's devising and attempts through laughter not so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling" (Thrall, et al 436). Although he was born in Ireland, Swift considered himself an Englishman first, and the English were his intended audience.…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Swift is using the majority of satirical techniques. The whole essay is an example of grim irony and understatement. This irony is the dominant figure of speech and creates a totally opposite meaning of what Swift is trying to convey. The reader is shocked when the idea of eating offspring is announced, he also believes that selling and eating the children will ease the economy and presents financial calculations to support his proposal; and to complement a horrific statement, he offers cooking advice on how to prepare and serve the newborn offspring. Metaphors are used throughout the text, an example includes ‘A child just dropped from its dam’, emphasizing that the child was not literally dropped from its dam, but instead the child came out of the mothers whom. An interesting device used in the text is paralipsis where Swift is emphasizing beliefs by pretending to ignore it, for example when he says: ‘Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither clothes, nor household furniture, except what is of our own growth and manufacture: Of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foreign luxury...’. Hyperbole is used throughout the text to over exaggerate his ideas and beliefs, for example, ‘eating children’ and the ‘deplorable state of the…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift provides a logical solution to the poverty crisis in Ireland: eat the children of the disenfranchised lower class. Swift’s pattern of thought carries the reader through the process of birthing, raising, and breeding poor children as a delicate form of livestock which would theoretically alleviate Ireland of its financial and social burdens. The obvious irony in A Modest Proposal is that, by most moral standards, Swift’s proposal is far from modest. What impresses me about Swift is his ability to convincingly defend such a disingenuous opinion. In A Modest Proposal, Swift not only exhibits his rhetorical capability, but he also raises legitimate questions about the social climate of Ireland.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jonathan Swift’s, A Modest Proposal, is a satire about the social, political, and religious positions of Britain and Ireland. In this Swift proposes that children, at the age of one years old, should be sold and eaten, and their skins be used to make profitable products. He supports this claim by stating that this would help society because it would provide food, and take starving children off the streets. Also it would discourage abortions, and men beating their pregnant wives because they child would become profitable. This proposal highlights Britain’s exploitation of Ireland. Also Swift underscores England’s barbarity by using a narrator who offers a rational, and reasonable sounding solution to the problem of Ireland’s crushing poverty. Swift exposes the immorality of English politicians who made policies that made them rich while leaving everyone else hungry and poor. The rational view of the narrator satirizes the Enlightenment’s view of human society as a…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    On a Modest Proposal

    • 1940 Words
    • 8 Pages

    During the final years of the seventeenth century, political pamphlets were distributed throughout Ireland to promote the ideas of various intellectuals. However, the general public did not pay attention to them and through them away. Jonathan Swift, author of “A Modest Proposal,” took advantage of the ignored pamphlets, and developed a truly ridiculous proposal. His main objective was to illustrate how deplorable the state of Ireland was, and to show how the distinction between different social classes was abysmal. Swift’s main idea was for the babies of all the poor and desolate to “contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands” (Swift 868) in order to improve Ireland’s economy and living standard. His idea originated from the large number of women who kept having children even though they were not able to provide for them. Swift also states that his proposal would make the babies “beneficial to the public” (866). He also states that he is proposing this because of Ireland’s truly low living standards. Thus, he blames the politicians for the poor conditions of the country (specially because the apathy and laziness they present while making decisions to improve the conditions) In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift brilliantly uses irony, sarcasm, and rhetorical exaggeration to reveal his frustration and disapproval at the current behavior of politicians, papists, and citizens of the impoverished Ireland during the late seventeenth century. Nevertheless, there are three important factors that show the reader that Swift’s arguments are not to be taken seriously: The tone of the writing, the insincerity of the author, and the utter absurdity of the proposal.…

    • 1940 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jonathan Swift Satire

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In 1729 (A Modest Proposal Summary. (2016). Jonathan Swift caused an outrage to his readers when he published his satire ‘A Modest Proposal’. Throughout the story Swift proposed different ways to “Find fair, cheap, and easy methods” for turning poor burthen children into “Sound and useful members of commonwealth” (Swift, J. (n.d.). A Modest Proposal. McGraw Hill). He uses his moral stance to argue that by doing this, this will turn a problem into its own solution (Swift, J. (n.d.). A Modest Proposal. McGraw Hill). Swift proposed that the children by fed to Irelands rich land owners and turned into delicious meals. (Swift, J. (n.d.). A Modest Proposal. McGraw Hill). After causing an outrage of offense, ironically Jonathan Swift was able to address the poverty issue in Ireland going on at the time. It took one man getting up and offending thousands of people for a major issue he believed in to be…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jonathan Swift's 1729 essay, A Modest Proposal, was a true example of satire at its best. Many readers at the time rejected the essay because they failed to understand the irony. It is presently one of the most well known works of satire and is a classic example of the technique most commonly used today. The entire essay from the title down to the last sentence were meant to be taken ironically, which is a rare form, but very effective when trying getting a point across. This essay will explain why the text was meant to be taken ironically and why Swift used irony instead of straightforward statements.…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A modest proposal summary

    • 543 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Published in 1729, Jonathan Swift’s work “A Modest Proposal” criticises the profound domination and injustice of the people of Ireland by the privileged, prosperous English. Jonathan Swift uses a critical, yet satirical form to unveil the tragedies of poverty and hunger in Ireland. He does this by lamenting the sad fate of the hardship stricken Irish, explaining their lives to be nothing but begging, growing up to become a detriment to England. Jonathan Swift offers a simple proposal to the country: Fatten the poor, worthless Irish children to sell to the wealthy landowners to become a delicacy in food and clothing. He states in paragraph 10 (PLS REFERENCE) “A child will make two dishes at an entertainment- [the fore or hind quarter] seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day.” He argues that by implementing his proposition, it will not only give the economy a boost to make up for the famines, but will greatly help the overpopulation of the needy and give those feasting on the children a higher social status. Throughout his essay, he makes his modest proposal feasible through confident statements and figures, explaining that with 100,000 Irish infants being reserved for meals will deal with unemployment, the economic downturn and most importantly keep the English from dealing with their unruly subjects. Jonathan Swift goes as far as offering recipes to the English to prepare their new dish and gives examples of how cannibalism is appropriate politically and financially. Throughout Swift’s entire proposal, he truly conveys with confidence the solution to many issues cannibalism will bring, and yet reveals the degradation and dire situation of the Irish, rarely dropping his satirical mask in the process.…

    • 543 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays