Satire In A Modest Proposal

Words: 549

Pages: 3

Open Document

Satire is like an onion. There are many layers that are peeled to show deeper meanings. As you get closer to the center and core, you cry because of the sad and complex message it holds. Many literary devices, including humor, sarcasm, and verbal irony, contribute to the overall effectiveness of satire by holding a deeper and sincere meaning. These writing devices are heavily used throughout A Modest Proposal, and even begins the writing with verbal irony in the title, “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 public” (page 1, Swift). This title seeps with verbal irony because the proposal is anything but modest, the term …show more content…
Swift sarcastically claims that it is the fault of poor children and families that do not benefit the country that are the source of the low quality life in Ireland. This exposes the British for ignoring and being unconcerned with the state that many Irish people are in and the fact that nothing is being done to fix the broken country. Metaphors and exaggeration are used in A Modest Proposal to hold a deeper meaning and is seen when Swift says, “A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter” (lines 70-74, Swift). The use of exaggeration and metaphors in this selection targets the wealthy and Britain. Salt and pepper is a metaphor for goods produced in Ireland that get sent to

Examples Of Satire In A Modest Proposal

A Modest Satire A Modest Proposal begins with an account of the impoverished state of many in Ireland. This satirical essay goes in depth about the consumption of babies that written to bring light to the discontent in Ireland and how there was no real action to change that. The writer, Jonathan Swift, expresses sympathy and the need for a solution. This proposal hopefully will decrease the number of abortions performed by poor mothers. The writer first calculates the number of infants born in Ireland…

Words 570 - Pages 3

Satire In Animal Farm And A Modest Proposal

There are several ways to reveal one’s perception of society. Satire is used to express the reaction or perception of the powerless towards the government or powerful. Both George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal are satirical pieces that expose government and how it takes advantage of its power to control social classes. Orwell and Swift incorporate satire to criticize and mock politicians who take advantage of the power structure and emphasize this through the use of…

Words 85 - Pages 1

A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

The text with the best use of satire is “A Modest Proposal” by Dr. Jonathan Swift. “A Modest Proposal” uses incongruity as its form of satire. This is because the text provides absurd solutions to problems which should be solved by the government, but are not. For example, in the text, a solution to the problem of hunger is solved by eating your kids. Another solution to poverty is to sell your kids for money. Also along the lines of solutions in the text Dr. Jonathan Swift says to save some kids…

Words 305 - Pages 2

Jonathan Swift Essay

Jonathan Swift 1. Swift wrote "A Modest Proposal" under a pseudonym, so who is the speaker here? The speaker is a Protestant and a member of the Irish upper class. 2. Discuss the tone of the piece. Pull examples from the text to support your discussion. Swift showed disgust for the people who would rather beg than take care of themselves. He 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…

Words 940 - Pages 4

A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

While the argument and nearly all of the content in this excerpt from “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift is satirical, the first specific example of satire is in the title itself. Before reading the entirety of the excerpt, this is impossible to recognize. Once the content of this “modest proposal” is understood by the reader, it is clear that the title is meant to be highly ironic. The proposal- succinctly stated- is that in order to deal with the surplus of unfed infants in Ireland, they should…

Words 598 - Pages 3

Analysis Of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal

Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is one of the most famous literary works of the eighteenth century. The essay begins with offering a useful proposal to help the poor children of Ireland so that it benefits the commonwealth. Later, the proposer suggests that poor families should sell their children as food for the rich. In order to support this ironic proposal, the narrator uses statistical data to suggest the number of the babies to get sell, plus their proper weight and price. Furthermore, Swift…

Words 620 - Pages 3

Irony In A Modest Proposal

Beneath the irony of Dr. Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, Dr. Swift takes a satire approach in his sarcastic treatment of Ireland’s people in poverty by the cutthroat state of mind of the well-heeled. Satirists utilize hysterics to address circumstances they find unsatisfactory and subsequently needing a change. He provides a collection of farfetched and basically foolish answers to the troubles that include the thundering treatment concerning the youth. Dr. Swift uses an unorthodox approach in…

Words 831 - Pages 4

Essay A Modest Proposal

Jake Blank Ms. Bravo English 102 15 September 16, 2013 “A Modest Proposal”: Rhetorical Analysis Johnathon Swift, the author of “A Modest Proposal”, is disgusted in seeing the amount of children who are poor begging on the streets of London. Therefore, he comes up with an outlandish proposal in hopes to persuade the country to start considering a realistic possibility. He focuses his proposition on Ireland because the problem is inside their country. “…it is of a much greater extent, and shall…

Words 1031 - Pages 5

Essay on Jonathan Swift and Swift

Binta Bojang Sarah Setnes Dale Comp. II-M February 27, 2015 Analysis of “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift In Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, he discusses a solution for the problem of overpopulation in Ireland. At the time “A Modest Proposal” was introduced, babies were being produced at an exponential rate which negatively impacted Ireland’s economy. Ireland, because of the country being crowded, suffered tremendous economic problems and quickly went into debt. Swift proposed that everyone…

Words 1004 - Pages 5

A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

Voice Of Protest Satire is often defined as a way of looking at people, societies, and questioning one's beliefs. There are many different ways that people satirize popular culture, such as Steven Colbert, The Onion, and Ig Nobel Prize. Satire has also been used in the stories we have read this LP. In the short story “A Modest Proposal” Satire was used when the author said the solution to the issue is the children. He was saying that the children should be eaten. Since the children can’t provide…

Words 446 - Pages 2