Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

Words: 514
Pages: 3

In the satirical piece Modest Proposal, Swift points out the problems in seventeen-hundred Ireland in an unconventional way. With all of the poverty and overpopulation in Ireland at the time, he suggests raising poor children as food or delicacies for the wealthy. Swift shocks the reader with this suggestion in order to express the problems of Ireland through satire which is created by formal diction, logical evidence, and irony.
Throughout this piece, Swift speaks in a professional tone as if he were giving a presentation. He uses formal or professional language while he uses words like “importuning”, “prodigious”, and “emulation”. His formal language paired with the ludicrous idea of eating children creates a humorous tone. While arguing the advantages of his proposal, he states “First, as things now stand, how they will be able to find food and raiment for 100,000 useless mouths and backs” He is trying to say that parents should not worry about finding food for their children because they are useless. He says this sentiment in such a calm manner that the extremity of the statement is almost forgotten. The extremity of this statement, of asking poverty-stricken parents to give up their useless children as food for the wealth, and the formal language lets the reader know that he is not being serious about this point but rather
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He explicitly lists out six logical reasons and for some, he even includes statistical data. For example, he says, “The national stock market will be thereby increased £50,000 per annum.” This shows that Swift actually put in the time to research specific facts like how the babies will impact the economy and the stock market. The logical evidence makes the argument more realistic which in turn creates satire because of the logical evidence supporting an absurd