A Modest Proposal
What's for dinner? How about a thirty-one pound, flame broiled, Italian dressing marinated, fifteen month old baby? In his essay "A Modest Proposal," Jonathan Swift paints a picture of Ireland in his day: the hypocrisy of the rich, the cruelty of the English, and the squalor in which so many Irish people live. In this essay, Swift's unusual word choice and brilliant use of hyperbole show the reader how he feels about the atrocities in Dublin. "A Modest Proposal" is full of surprises that shock the reader at first, but make him think critically about values and motives by the end. The alarm raised by Swift's piece serves as a metaphor for the terror that the people of Ireland were experiencing. Jonathan Swift begins his essay by painting a picture of crowded streets, begging gypsies, and starving children in the reader's mind. Swift then states that when the children of Dublin grow up they have three choices, none of which is positive. The children may become slaves, go fight in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes. Swift s
" The author writes about this human dish as if it were a piece of chicken to shock the reader. In the next paragraph, Swift goes into detail about what his proposed solution would entail. " In saying this, the author is referring to the rich English landlords who have overthrown Ireland. " This statement infers that the landlords have taxed the parents of starving children unreasonable sums of money, and that they might as well claim the children for themselves too. Swift's statement is satirical because it shows that a wealthy man asked a medium how much a newborn weighs when he could have asked any mother and almost any other average person. He states, "Of the 120,000 children, 20,000 may be reserved for breed, whereof only one-fourth part to be males. ets up this image of poverty to show that the children might as well just be served on a platter. Another example of satire in Swift's essay is "I have reckoned upon a medium that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds. The craft of Swift's essay, "A Modest Proposal," makes it a perfect example of tongue and cheek satire. " Twelve pounds is an extremely heavy weight for a newborn, especially considering how scrawny babies born to starving mothers in Ireland were. Swift states that "a very knowing American" has informed him that "a young healthy child well nursed" is a tasty treat "whether stewed, roasted, baked or broiled. Jonathan Swift concludes his essay with a powerful statement, claiming that the children will make meals that will be "very proper for landlords, who, as they already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children. This information shows that Swift is writing in a satirical tone.
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