What Is Swift's Argument In A Modest Proposal

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In the article "A Modest Proposal" Jonathan Swift shares his proposition of eating children at the age of one to better serve his nation by putting a stop to voluntary abortions, contributing to the clothing and to the feeding of many thousands, and to help remove beggars of the female sex with many children at their feet. Swift fails to provide solid supporting evidence to prove and support his proposal is a good idea. Although he doesn't provide any logical evidence to support his scheme, such as experimentation, he does make sure to include specific details and goes in depth throughout his article to give a better understanding of what he's talking about. Swift attempts to come up with an abnormal solution to the widespread famine in …show more content…
Swift provides benefits and descriptive reasoning throughout his article as he attempts to appeal to logic with his audience. Some of the pros he mentioned were eliminating voluntary abortions and providing meals for many thousands in his kingdom. While paying attention to providing enough details, he forgets to support his vile proposal with primary or even secondary sources to better accommodate his grand scheme. The lack of supporting evidence and experimentation leaves the audience to believe this is all his own assumptions he's trying to put into action. Though I don’t agree with his plan to end poverty in his kingdom, I will admit he does a fine job of describing in detail the pros of eating children as a cost effective and beneficial solution as presented in sentences such as, "Supposing that 1,000 families in this city would be constant customers for infants' flesh besides others who might have it at merry-meetings, particularly at weddings and christenings" (767) including the other rewards that come with consuming children. Jonathan Swift provides a solution no ordinary person would think of, not as the first or second answer,

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…

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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…

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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…

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Modest Proposal Essay

personal meaning to the text. This then conveys another argument to what exactly is the value of irony itself? Is irony a rhetorical device or a stylistic tool? I will now care to argue that both Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) and Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) deliberately place the reader within the predicament of trying to decipher what irony is and how it is tolerated and concealed. The two texts I will be exploring and deconstructing are ‘A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland…

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A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

not pay attention to them. As a way to take advantage of the overlooked pamphlets handed out, Jonathan Swift author of “A Modest Proposal” sets out to write an over exaggerating proposal to one big problem that was plaguing Ireland. The reason for him writing this proposal is to show the people of his country how bad it is in its economic wealth and social class. Swift’s proposal is to have the “children of professed beggars” (486), sold to the wealthy people of Ireland so that they would “contribute…

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Face. Jonathan Swift Essay

Jonathan Swift proposes in his “A Modest Proposal”, for the country to resort to cannibalism by using children as meat for consumption. By raising and selling the children as cattle, it would help Ireland combat overpopulation and unemployment; generating economic growth for the nation. The purpose of his proposal was to show the English parliament the “moral injustice” which they were responsible for creating. Swift was effective in his satirical argument by using sarcasm and irony to inspire a call for action for Ireland…

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Modest Proposal Essay

LIU,Jiacheng ENGL 102 CU01 Word count:571 “A summary of A Modest Proposal” In 1729 Jonathan Swift wrote an essay called “ A Modest Proposal”. In his essay, he talks about helping poor people in Ireland by selling their infant to the wealth English people so that both sides got the benefits. It is a classical satiric novel that satire the English and try to help Ireland. Author states that, in the country there are too many beggars, most their children are compelled to become a thief or fight for the pretender in…

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Modest Proposal paper

Mark Tabone English 355 11 June 2015 Rhetorical Analysis: A Modest Proposal In the seventeenth century, people made habit of distributing political pamphlets in Ireland to promote intellectual ideas. Many people threw these pamphlets away and did not pay attention to them. In 1729 Jonathan Swift, author of “A Modest Proposal,” devises this proposal to show how bad and backwards the social class and general state Ireland was in. His proposal was that the infants of the desolate and poor should “contribute…

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Lifeboat Ethics The Case Against Helping The Poor Rhetorical Analysis

In the two essay’s “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor” by Garrett Hardin and “The Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift make an argument about helping out the poor. Garret Hardin’s states ethos and logo’s while explaining his argument towards helping out poor people. The essay that was argued most effectively was “A Modest Proposal”. Jonathan Swift explains his point thoroughly using Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos is the credibility taken from an ethical perspective. Hardin is an…

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Diction In A Modest Proposal

An Anglican priest well known for his political pamphlets, Jonathan Swift, in his essay “A Modest Proposal” addresses the over population of poor people having children and its effects on Ireland. Swift’s purpose is to induce anger in the readers by making an outrageous proposal to deal with the poor population of Ireland. He creates an ironic tone in order to point out the horrible living conditions in Ireland to the wealthy landowners who are exploiting them. Swift begins his essay by emphasizing…

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