Comparing A Modest Proposal And Top Of The Food Chain

The two satirical essays, A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift and Top of the Food Chain by T.C. Boyle, are both written to show how people can do illogical things, which then have unanticipated consequences. Swift's piece is about his proposal to alleviate the problem of the poverty-stricken, overpopulated , and uneducated Catholics in Ireland, by eating the poor. Boyle's piece is about the irrational things that people do to other living beings. Both of these authors demonstrate irony in their pieces to prove their point.

In A Modest Proposal, Swift gives a modest proposal to end the cruelty of the English toward the Irish. This story is ironic because it is not modest, but very sickening and revolting. In the very first sentence, Swift pretends …show more content…
The passage was proposed to make people conscious of the troubles of the poor, but it is certainly not in the poor's best interest. Swift even goes as far as to think of ways to make the skin into garments by saying

The idea of the poor feeding the rich as a solution to the poverty is ironic. The rich will go on enjoying the comfort of nobility such as riches, supremacy, and fine dining, while the peasants feed them. Suggesting that society should turn to cannibalism as an answer to poverty is anything but modest.

In Top of the Food Chain, Boyle talks about the village and how they tried different solutions to rid themselves of the villages pests. The story is ironic because the village people's plan was meaningless, but instead of being dispirited they were very confident of their ideas. The village people sprayed chemicals into the air, but it didn't work

In truth, their tactics didn't help, but made everything worse. These statements were made to shock the reader into making him or her realize how outlandish people can be. At the end of the piece Boyle

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Comparing A Modest Proposal And Top Of The Food Chain

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