In this inflammatory, satirical essay, Swift proposes that the starving poor of Ireland sell their excess children to the rich as food. Swift assumes a hyperbolically heartless tone that mocks those with negative opinions of the Irish poor, namely
the Irish rich, politicians, and British officials
.
What does A Modest Proposal criticize?
In A Modest Proposal, Swift vents his mounting aggravation at the ineptitude of Ireland’s politicians, the hypocrisy of the wealthy, the tyranny of the English, and
the squalor and degradation in which he sees so many Irish people living
.
Who is being criticized in a modest proposal?
What two groups are being criticized in a modest proposal? The correct asnwer is:
The upper classes and Politicians
. The poor citizens of Ireland are fed to the wealthy elite.
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 real argument in A Modest Proposal?
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 are the 6 advantages in 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.
How long is A Modest Proposal?
The average reader will spend
5 hours and 21 minutes
reading this book at 250 WPM (words per minute).
How is A Modest Proposal ironic?
“A Modest Proposal” is the shortened title of a 1729 essay by satirist Jonathan Swift in which he
ironically proposes that the people of Ireland sell their children as food
. … It is used ironically in the title of “A Modest Proposal” because the proposal is actually outrageous.
What are the problems in the modest proposal?
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.
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 is Swift’s main purpose in 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 were doing and to put in place reforms that would solve the problems they had helped to cause.
Why is a modest proposal confusing?
In “A Modest Proposal” Swift
uses an intense, serious tone throughout the entire piece
. … This is because the serious tone creates this confusion within the reader, just like my junior class was confused the first time we read satire.
Did a modest proposal change anything?
Despite its power as a piece of rhetoric, A
Modest Proposal did not lead to any lasting changes for Ireland’s rural poor
; and just over a century later, thousands would perish in the Great Potato Famine.
What is the proposal that Swift makes?
In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift proposes
that the Irish should eat their children
, as it will produce several benefits. He claims that it will help with population control, making money, prevent crime, and make fashionable clothing out of the children.
What are the moral lessons of Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal?
Lesson Summary
Satire is
the use of irony, humor or exaggeration to criticize the ideas of others
. In his essay, Swift argues that children could be sold into a meat market as early as the age of one, giving poor families some much needed income, while sparing them the expenses of raising so many children.
