The major social problem that Swift addresses is
poverty
, and how the poor are an eyesore for the people of Ireland as well as a financial burden.
Swift, in the persona of a learned scientist, attempts to
tackle the chronic problem of over-population in Ireland
. In turn, this problem leads to lots of other problems, such as poverty, starvation, and an excess number of Roman Catholics.
What is the problem that Swift is addressing?
The issue that the author is addressing is the
ever-growing problem of poverty, starvation, sanitation, overpopulation, and enslavement of the Irish people
and the fact that nobody, including the Irish themselves, are willing to do anything to fix the problem.
Presented in the guise of an economic treatise, the essay proposes that
the country ameliorate poverty in Ireland by butchering the children of the Irish poor and selling them as food to wealthy English landlords
. Swift’s proposal is a savage comment on England’s legal and economic exploitation of Ireland.
What is Swift overall purpose?
What is Swift’s overall purpose? … 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 were doing and to put in place reforms that would solve the problems they had helped to cause.
In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift proposes that
the Irish should eat their children
, as it will produce several benefits. … Swift suggests that cannibalism could lead to an easy fix. Money would circulate in the economy with the trade of the children, benefiting the kingdom financially.
What advantages does Swift have in plan?
By consuming the children, there would be
less people to feed
, and it would give families with more children the ability to sell them for these meals. Additionally, it would give food to those in need, because the children now act as a source of food, as well as no longer being around to consume this food.
Who will be the beneficiaries of this modest proposal?
Who will be the beneficiaries of this “modest proposal”?
The Irish people
are the beneficiaries because they won’t have as many mouths to feed.
What are the six advantages of a modest proposal?
What are the six principal advantages? According to the speaker, his plan would (1)
reduce the number of Catholics
, (2) give the poor a tangible asset, (3) aid the economy and introduce a new food, (4) decrease the time “breeders” have to raise children, (5) improve taverns’ business, and (6) encourage marriage.
The overarching social problem the clueless narrator addresses in “A Modest Proposal” is
the problem of poverty in Ireland
. Being of a very analytical frame of mind, the narrator breaks poverty down into a number of other problems he argues will be solved if the poor fatten and sell their babies as food.
What is the real message of A Modest Proposal?
The main idea of the actual story has to do
with decreasing the overpopulation by selling babies as food
. Swift suggests that the wealthy purchase the infants of the poor and serve them as a delicacy. He gives specific details which are designed to disgust and enrage the reader.
What is the rhetorical situation in A Modest Proposal?
According to Llyod Bitzer, a rhetorical situation exists when a text has 1) an exigence–more simply: an issue with which the author is discontent–, 2) an audience–those with the desire and ability to enact a change–, and 3)
constraints–factors which shape the text, regardless of how limiting they are
.
What changes does Swift hope to bring about?
What changes does he hope to bring about?
Decrease in poverty throughout Ireland
.
Who or what is Swift criticizing in his satire?
Whom is Swift criticizing in this passage?
Wealthy people who exploit the poor
. How does Swift use satire in this passage to criticize society? He implies that the English care so little for the Irish people that they will not object to using Irish children for food.
What is Swift really saying in A Modest Proposal?
The full title is “
A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of the Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to Their Public
.” Swift emphasizes the terrible poverty of eighteenth-century Ireland by ironically proposing that Irish parents earn money by …
What does Swift see as an alternative to his plan?
What does Swift see as an alternative to his plan? These were Swift’s actual suggestions how to solve the economic woes of Ireland, however he uses ironic satire to present them as ridiculous ideas and not likely to work as well as selling babies for meat. …
He seems to have a complicated view of poor Irish people
.
