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A Modest Proposal
The purpose of Swift's satirical essay is to call attention to the problems that were being experienced by the people of Ireland. He wanted the English (who ruled Ireland) to realize what they...
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A Modest Proposal
After unveiling his shocking plan to slaughter "surplus" Irish children for food, Swift argues (tongue in cheek, of course) that it has six advantages. First, it would reduce the numbers of Irish...
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A Modest Proposal
A modest proposal is a work of satire. As such, there are really two main ideas. The main idea as it would appear if we take the story at face value and the true point of the author.The main idea...
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A Modest Proposal
The first thing that I would cite as a metaphor in this essay comes in the fourth paragraph. There, he talks about a child that has just been "dropt from its dam." These are words that you would...
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A Modest Proposal
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift is a satirical piece on how to deal with the poor’s problems. Basically, “Swift suggests that impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling...
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A Modest Proposal
The entire essay is hyperbolic, from his description of the squalid conditions of the peasants and their anticipated reaction to the proposal, to the narrator's cold detachment to the actual plight...
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A Modest Proposal
One example of irony is in the title: "A Modest Proposal." The narrator goes on to propose that the Irish sell their babies to the English as a food source so that the Irish can make a profit,...
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A Modest Proposal
The narrator of this pamphlet, having made his proposal that the poor Irish sell their one-year-old babies as a food source to the rich English, states, "I grant this food will be somewhat dear,...
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A Modest Proposal
Jonathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal” is widely regarded as one of the most effective pieces of satire ever written. Among the elements that help make the essay effective are its appeals to...
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A Modest Proposal
Sarcasm—or, as it is often called, verbal irony—is saying the opposite of what you think. When a person falls down while walking across the room, a sarcastic response is "Graceful!" or "Good job!"...
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A Modest Proposal
In "A Modest Proposal," Swift identifies poverty in Ireland as a problem. Through a narrator, who is not Swift but Swift's creation of a clueless bean counter who sees poor people as widgets or...
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A Modest Proposal
Swift's pamphlet addressed a few intended audiences: both the English who were buying up all the land in Ireland, and the Irish themselves. By the time he wrote "A Modest Proposal," the wealthy...
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A Modest Proposal
"A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift is a prime example of satire. Satire is defined as "the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices,...
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A Modest Proposal
First, Swift employs dramatic irony: this is when the audience or reader knows something that a character does not. Swift does not actually want anyone to eat babies; however, the speaker—a...
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A Modest Proposal
Diction is a key element in Jonathan Swift's satirical essay "A Modest Proposal." The speaker of the essay proposes that a possible solution to over-crowding and poverty would be to 'harvest' the...
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A Modest Proposal
Jonathan Swift's satirical essay "A Modest Proposal" is rife with hyperbole. The entire proposal itself is hyperbolic. A hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration that is used to emphasize an author's...
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A Modest Proposal
In Swift's "A Modest Proposal," the narrator offers the following four benefits for his plan of having the poor fatten and sell their babies as food: 1. It will bring in money to impoverished...
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A Modest Proposal
The final paragraph of Swift's "A Modest Proposal," first, serves the usual purpose of a final paragraph in an essay by providing the conclusion. He summarizes the benefits of his proposal, for...
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A Modest Proposal
The whole point of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is to satirize the British rule of Ireland. Swift's proposal for the problems that British rule has (in his opinion) brought to Ireland is...
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A Modest Proposal
"A Modest Proposal" retains its relevance for multiple reasons. First, it is a very entertaining essay and a masterpiece of satire. To read Swift make his absurd case using facts, figures, and...
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A Modest Proposal
Your original question contained two questions. You are not allowed to ask multiple questions in enotes, so I have edited the second question and will focus on your first. Please remember to only...
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A Modest Proposal
Pathos is emotional appeal, and Swift's narrator spends the opening paragraphs of "A Modest Proposal" painting a heart-rending picture of the plight of the Irish poor. The narrator appears quite...
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A Modest Proposal
It will help to get rid of Roman Catholics, who have lots of children. That way there will be more room for the Protestants. Poorer tenants will have something of value that can help pay their...
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A Modest Proposal
It is at paragraph eight that the reader would begin to realize that this essay is satirical. Up until this point, the narrator sounds like a completely reasonable and humane person, concerned with...
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A Modest Proposal
The proposal being made by the narrator is that the poor Irish sell their babies to the wealthy English as a food source. The narrator suggests that this would rid Ireland of many ills as well as...
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A Modest Proposal
Swift has several targets in "A Modest Proposal." One is Great Britain. It was British rule that played a major role in creating the horrible conditions in Ireland referenced by Swift in the essay....
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A Modest Proposal
Swift proposes that the children of the poor become a delicacy for the rich. The advantages to this, according to Swift, would be: 1) It will lessen the number of Catholics in Ireland, as more...
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A Modest Proposal
Quantification and dehumanization go hand-in-hand in "A Modest Proposal." Swift views children and even parents (who he calls "breeders") solely in terms of a cost/benefit analysis. He calculates,...
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A Modest Proposal
Part of the immense humour of this passage is the tone that the speaker uses to make his "modest" proposal. On a literal level the speaker's tone is earnest and straightforward. On the satirical...
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A Modest Proposal
The key to answering this question lies in the one-sentence paragraph that serves as the transition between the introduction of the proposal and the actual proposal. Swift concisely states: I...
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A Modest Proposal
In discussing his ironic proposal--that people should solve their social and economic woes by eating the children of the poor--the speaker alludes to several countries: First, he addresses the...
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A Modest Proposal
The speaker in this satirical essay describes a number of problems in the first two paragraphs. All of them are related to poverty and excess of population. Here is what they are: Too many female...
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A Modest Proposal
Swift, on the surface, suggests that in order to combat poverty and famine in Ireland, the Irish should raise their children and sell them to the landlords of Ireland as food. It would feed the...
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A Modest Proposal
America had a mythical quality to Europeans of the early 18th Century, especially the ones who had never been there. It was a place where a penniless Irishman could go and make his fortune in the...
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A Modest Proposal
The answer to this would depend a lot on where you live and what your politics are. However, in general, it seems to me that you could argue that this essay remains relevant in places where there...
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A Modest Proposal
As any serious proposal to solve a problem does, "A Modest Proposal" includes a discussion of the commercial viability of raising Irish children for food and includes a number of calculations...
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A Modest Proposal
If you mean what possible objections people might have to the proposal itself, the most common would be that is it inhumane to solve the problem of poverty by making it possible for poor women to...
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A Modest Proposal
The tone with which the speaker makes his proposal is fairly matter-of-fact. He does not sense the irony of calling such a proposal -- one in which he suggests that the poor Irish acquire an...
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A Modest Proposal
Although it's important to understand that these three strategies often overlap--that is, any one sentence or idea within a piece of text could simultaneously demonstrate two or even all three of...
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A Modest Proposal
The speaker uses logos, or appeals to his readers' logic, in his arguments for eating babies. He offers his calculations that of 120,000 children, it would be appropriate to reserve 20,000 "for...
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A Modest Proposal
"A Modest Proposal" is one of the greatest works of satire ever published; the concept of civilized man raising children to eat is so abominable and rediculous that it is easily dismissed, and yet...
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A Modest Proposal
I think that you can find the answer to this towards the end of the essay. There, Swift starts talking about ideas that he does not want people to consider. I think that these are the things he...
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A Modest Proposal
In "A Modest Proposal," an unnamed narrator suggests that the poor Irish should begin to sell their babies to the rich English as food. This would provide the Irish with a new source of income,...
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A Modest Proposal
In the conclusion to his "A Modest Proposal" Swift explains to the reader that he has no personal gain from his proposal. He explains that he suggests it only because he wants to support his...
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A Modest Proposal
Verbal irony is a literary device used to draw attention to what a character thinks or feels by having them express the opposite. Verbal irony often takes the form of sarcasm, but it can also be...
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A Modest Proposal
These of course are suggested ironically by Swift as ideas that would not work. He is trying to draw attention to the good ideas that he had previously proposed that were ignored. Each of these...
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A Modest Proposal
Your question had to be edited because it asked more than one question. Please remember in future that enotes only permits you to ask one question. A very important metpahor actually comes in the...
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A Modest Proposal
The narrator of the satirical essay "A Modest Proposal" offers the ostensibly serious economic suggestion that poor Irish parents should fatten their babies for a year until they are large and...
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A Modest Proposal
Of course Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is not intended to be taken seriously, not by those who originally read it and not by modern readers. Swift's use of irony serves to shock his readers...
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A Modest Proposal
The key point to remember when reading Swift is that he is a master of satire. Accordingly, read everything he is writing with a grain of salt! Try to approach the text as if it were an 18th...
