These tactics have been taken up by many authors after Swift and can even be seen as the basis for satirical news publications such as The Onion. Swift’s proposal is a savage comment on England’s legal and economic exploitation of Ireland. Swift’s essay is an early example of Western satire that uses rhetorical devices, such as example-based argumentation, in order to criticize a social or political phenomenon. The proposal argues that in order to deal with the poverty and overpopulation in Ireland, the children of the poor should be sold as food to the wealthy. Through his biting sarcasm, Swift mocks these people and persuades readers to pity the Irish and hate the speaker. A Modest Proposal, written by Jonathan Swift in 1729, presents a satirical proposal through an anonymous proposer. His aim was not to solve the problems in Ireland but to expose the ridiculousness of quick-fix schemes proposed by politicians and officials to relieve all of the social problems in Ireland. Swift assumes a hyperbolically heartless tone that mocks those with negative opinions of the Irish poor, namely the Irish rich, politicians, and British officials. In this inflammatory, satirical essay, Swift proposes that the starving poor of Ireland sell their excess children to the rich as food. By the time Jonathan Swift penned A Modest Proposal, poverty and famine were widespread in Ireland, and many of the poor Irish had resorted to begging in the streets. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift A Modest Proposal PDF A Modest Proposal by by Jonathan Swift This A Modest Proposal book is not really ordinary book, you have it then the world is in your hands. Patricks Church in Dublin, had written several pamphlets suggesting solutions to the horrific problem of poverty in Ireland. Just what was Jonathan Swift’s “Modest Proposal” to fix this problem? Eat the children. Swift, a clergyman who was appointed the dean of St. The poor were extremely poor, often having to beg for food or money in the streets. In 1729, Ireland was suffering from religious, political, and social strife as well as a famine.

J swift a modest proposal