Essays on A Modest Proposal

Surprise ending

A modest proposal is a widely read essay by Jonathan Swift that was written with an aim of providing the solution to the aggravating hunger problem in Ireland. From the beginning of the proposal, Swift adopts a satirical approach which ensures into a surprise ending. The ending comes as a surprise to me because, at the start of the essay, Swift takes the persona of a concerned economist proposing that to alleviate the poverty and overpopulation better in Ireland, the children of the poor should be sold as food to the wealthy. This, he argues, will significantly increase the ...

I think that “A modest proposal” is really outstanding pamphlet of the later works of famous Irish writer Jonathan Swift. It shows us that Swift was not only a writer but an outspoken defender of Irish people and their welfare. At first sight this essay is about women-beggars who beg for money to feed and dress their numerous children. Their kids had no good life because their parents were poor, and the British government didn’t care for them at all. In addition at that time the harvest was poor so the most possible way to get food was ...

The vast majority of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” reads like a scientific treatise, packed with facts and figures as it seems that Swift has assembled a persuasive case for actually raising the children of Irish poor families in the same philosophical manner that farmers raised sheep, cattle and pigs for slaughter, even going into the various cuts of meat that would be available. However, as the reader nears the end of this treatise, he descends into a chiding tone that asks the reader to conduct some internal self-questioning to determine his position on the issue. Swift, writing ...

1. Clearly state in your own words the “surprise ending” in the reading you selected. Clearly identify the point in the reading when you realized that there were elements in the reading that surprised you. Not all of the surprises come at the end. The “surprise ending” of Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” became evident when the work made it apparent that the argument it was making was satire. This became obvious due to the increasingly radical views that were being proposed within the text. As the author continued to monetize and commoditize human life and began discussing trading ...

Illegal immigrants entering the USA especially from Mexico are in the long run a huge burden and a disadvantage to the American society. Theses illegal immigrants bring in harmful drugs like cocaine and among them are also hardened criminals who end up carrying out uncountable robberies, rapes, murders and even thefts. As a result, the illegal immigrants are a threat to the community they choose to sneak in. Regardless, of the huge inconveniences, the taxpayers money is used to regulate and even support these immigrants regarding offering healthcare, education and even necessities. Moreover, illegal immigrants may be mediums through ...

It is depressing for the people who walk through the city and town streets every day seeing beggars in huge numbers. This research paper is discussing a proposal by Jonathan Swift on how children born of poor mothers will receive care and their mothers as well will get good money and be able to pay rent to their proprietors. Female beggars with young infants are the most common all over the world. The female beggars spend their entire day in the streets to get something to feed their children instead of going to workplaces to earn a living for ...

Contained within Johnathan Swift’s Modest Proposal, is his twisted and often backwards comedy relief that explains how the inability for Ireland to maintain its economy, balance the wealthy bad attitudes, and the poor living situations of the common folk and less fortunate are surviving . He then offers a satirical solution in the form of a preposterous idea to consume, sell, or get rid of the children of the poorest community members. He offers this solution in an effort to relieve Ireland of its largest problems. Swift complains that Ireland is subjected to England’s whims and exploitations. He ...

Contained within the satire essay ‘A Modest Proposal, Johnathan Swift not only entertains with a backhanded and witty criticism of the privileged and hypocritical wealthy, the ridiculous uselessness of the politicians in Ireland, and the dreadful conditions that the poor in Ireland must endure. Swift ridicules those who have the financial means to help, but refuse to help the situation in a positive way, as well as the horrid cruelty of the English that makes the whole thing absurdly incompetent on the part of those who refuse to help themselves. (Swift & Fabricant, 2011) When Swift wrote this piece, in ...

The Fool has played an important role throughout much of the course of literature and the arts. Whether it is Falstaff serving as a foil for the more serious side of the young prince Henry, who has his own partying to do before he has to take on the more serious role of governing England (Shakespeare), or whether it is Al Czervik, the outrageous jester who somehow has found his way onto the golf course of Bushwood Country Club in the film Caddyshack, the Fool points out many of the elements of human nature that otherwise might remain safely ...

There are many manners in which to be a hero; not all of them include donning a cape and fighting evildoers. Some heroes are more intellectual in nature, and all they need to change society’s wrongs is words, be it through pen and paper or by talking. The latter kind is usually not as well-known as the former, yet they have also influenced history in very important ways. One way of bringing society’s ills to light is through satire, of which there have been many master’s throughout the years. This genre ridicules the subject, using irony, ...

Throughout time, the definition of heroism has undergone a very great change. Where once heroes were seen as brave and fearless warriors who plunged into the danger of battle with swords and spears, now heroes are defined in many different ways and in much broader terms. However, even with the passage of time and societal advances, the basic underlying traits of a hero remain essentially the same. Heroes are those who have the courage to face dangerous situations and risk of harm; put the needs and wants of others above their own; and either defend or attack in order ...

A Modest Proposal is a satirical work by Jonathan Swift aimed at skewering English reactions to the then-contemporary issues of poverty and famine in Ireland. It revolves around a detailed argument that the problems of poverty, famine, overpopulation and many other social ills could be solved by selling one year old Irish children to be cooked and eaten dressed “hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs” at English dinner tables (Swift, 1729, p.9). It was written in the early 18th century when Ireland was effectively an English colony and had been ruled as such for centuries. Colonialism ...

A Modest Proposal by Johnathan Swift and The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope are both written in genre of satire, but with different purposes. The plots and historical backgrounds of these literary works are also different. The Rape of the Lock was ordered to be written by Alexander Pope. The story that lies in the plot is real and happened in London involving young Arabella Fermor and Lord Petre. The last one cut off the lock of his bellowed Belle that became the reason their families became enemies. The satirical poem was written in order to make ...

A Modest Proposal was written in the 18th century by Jonathan Swift and the proposal he makes in this essay is not real, but satirical. Swift was mocking the way the British dealt with Irish people. His proposal about using babies for food is very original and it deals with the nature of people who are cruel and who cannot find a good way to take care of the well-being of the citizens. This essay contains a lot of irony and this pamphlet is political because it criticizes British rule. The British government proved to be uncivilized and there ...

- Brief biography of the author. Jonathan Swift was born on November 30 in 1667, His family of Anglo-Irish Protestant lived in Dublin, Ireland. His father died a little time before he was born, and his mother had to return to England and left her son in the care of relatives because of poverty. He was well educated: first at Kilkenny Grammar School, which was, at the time, the best in Ireland then at Trinity College in Dublin, though he was not a very good student. In 1689 Swift went to England and became secretary to Sir William Temple at ...

Part one

‘A Modest Proposal’ by Jonathan Swift is about how to solve the issue of hunger. Jonathan begins by describing people who are living in the streets. The streets are filled with starving beggars. Jonathan Swift uses ethos, pathos and logos to make a strong case for his suggestion of using babies as a source of food. He does establish his credibility, and he shows the readers his logic throughout his proposal. He does back up all the points raised in the proposal with hard evidence and facts. He does show how the consumption of infants would support everyone.

Pathos refers to ...

Would you consider Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” to be a literary piece or more directly political in nature and why?

First published in London in 1729, Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a famous piece of satirical writing which criticizes the attitude of the establishment of England towards Ireland as a whole and in particular to the poor people of Ireland. The history of England’s relationship with Ireland has for centuries been fraught with controversy and frequently marred by violence, even in the modern era. From an Irish point of view, England has been guilty of treating Ireland as a colony and of regarding the Irish themselves with prejudice – because of their ethnicity and because of their adherence ...

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the satirical essay ‘A Modest Proposal’ by Jonathan Swift (1729) and the surprises in it that appear through the text and towards the ending. Jonathan Swift in his essay tries to bring forward the plight of misery of the people of Ireland under the English rule. The paper also tries to explain how that period’s key social, cultural and artistic contributions contributed to historical changes. Further in a historical context it runs through the importance of the cultural and artistic expressions of the society at that time. The paper also tries to observe the influences of ...

When many people think of satire, they understand that it is a subversive approach to a certain social or political issue through the use of irony. Works like the Earl of Rochester’s “A Satire Against Reason and Mankind,” Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal or John Dryden’s MacFlecknoe all make fun of some perceived failing of its audience, whether it be the “Satire’s poking fun at rationalism and reason, Swift’s pointing out of the problems facing Ireland as a result of English ignorance, or Dryden’s ridiculing of his contemporaries’ inadequate literary criticism. However, to what end do ...

Annotated Bibliography

Bohn, William E. “The Development of John Dryden’s Literary Criticism.” PMLA 22.1 (1907): 56-139. In Bohn’s article, the author discusses Dryden’s critical essays, particularly in terms of his use of satire. Here, Bohn notes the way in which Dryden used a satire as its own form of criticism; “satire is itself but a sort of criticism; it has always been the form assumed by the highly trained, versifying prose-understanding” (118). Dryden was never one to give literary judgments one at a time, but rather to convey his ideas in a more abstract way, which is where his ...

1 . Socrates suddenly awakes and finds himself in medieval France. At a bookstore he buys a copy of Montaigne and reads “Of Cannibals” and “Of Coaches.” Would he agree with Montaigne’s ideas? If so, with what would he agree? With what would he disagree? In writing your answer, be sure to describe Socrates’ (or Greek) philosophy and what was different in Montaigne’s time. Despite the disparity between the early modern Europe and the ancient Athens, it is possible to find some affinities underlying the ideas of Socrates and Montaigne. However, if Socrates suddenly awoke and found himself in ...

Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal (1729) gives an example of the straight-faced satire concerning social illnesses. The author mocks socio-economic situation in Ireland. The narrator offers the solution of overpopulation and the mistreatment of citizens in Ireland. So the poor should sell one year children to the rich as food in order to solve the problem of poverty and starvation in Ireland. Swift, of course, understood that society was and is far from ideal. Therefore, his irony often has such a stunning bright ideas and details that take them as the truth is almost impossible. The purpose of Swift’ ...

Loranger (3) considers “A modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift to contain satire since it is written in a critique persona. The author portrays outrage to the economic and political situation in Ireland. The author claims that the remedy of poverty by the Irish Children is to sell them to the opulence in the society. Swift succeeds in the use of the voice of an economist with other literal techniques such as metaphors and irony. The modest proposal by Swift includes alternatives to the issue of children coupled with calculations to show benefits for the suggestion. The book is one of ...

All over the country many poor children, mostly Catholics lived in squalor as their families were extremely poor to feed them and keep them clothed. Jonathan Swift has argued, with hard-edged economic reasoning in addition to the self-righteous moral stance, for finding way to turn the problem into a solution. His proposal is to fatten up the undernourished Irish children and feed them to the rich Irish land-owners. Children from poor families could be bought and sold in the meat market from the age of one year, he has argued, this will combat the unemployment and overpopulation, sparing families at ...

Discussion Board Questions

Question 1 “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift contains many aspects that are difficult to understand. One of the aspects that Swift constantly uses in his work and that are one of the major sources of understanding difficult is irony. I experienced great difficulty in understanding the poem because of the presence of irony. The irony is demonstrated at the story’s end where Swift states that his proposal would not in any way affect him because all of his children have matured and his wife is unable to give birth anymore. It is actually absurd to imagine ...

Swift begins A Modest Proposal” with seeming concern for the mothers and children of Ireland who are reduced to the gravest poverty by their British overlords. His gravest concern is for the children. There are so many in each family that every parent is so burdened by the everyday care of the children that they do not have ability to work to support them. The mothers and children are reduced to begging in the streets. Swift is concerned for a solution for how these children, to provide for them so that they will be an asset rather than a burden. ...

In Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, the surprise ending was the author’s proposition to sell one-year old babies of impoverished families to rich and affluent citizens of Ireland for the purpose of being served as cooked gourmet dishes in different culinary techniques or methods. The point of realization that the ending would be different from what the beginning of the reading suggested that it would be, was actually introduced in the seventh paragraph when the author initially indicated that children were being seriously regarded as commodities through the computations stated therein: “I am assured by our merchants, ...

One of the most famous satirical pieces of all time is Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. Although the issues contained within the text are aimed specifically at the political and economic situation in Ireland and England during the early eighteenth century, the thematic ideas that Swift develops so effectively in his work remain important to this day. Swift utilizes satire and wordplay to underscore the oppression of the Irish by the English, and in doing so, creates one of the longest-lived pieces of social and political satire and sustained irony of all time. Religion in England, Ireland, ...

I used two 20th Century sources about the demographic and economic conditions of Ireland at the time Swift write “A Modest Proposal”, and in my opinion these would have strengthened the paper overall by placing it in a more detailed historical context. Neither of the articles would have changed my basic conclusions that Ireland was suffering from extreme poverty, hunger and poverty because of England’s colonial policies. They would have offered further proof of my main thesis that even though Swift’s essay was intended only to be satire, he had a very serious political purpose. In my opinion, during ...

A persuasive work comes from the need to persuade others of the goal or perspective they wish to provide in the work. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a famous open letter written by Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1963. After he was arrested for participating a nonviolent protest in Birmingham, Alabama as part of the Civil Rights Movement, he wrote this letter to address several concerns he had about the concepts of racial segregation and the ideas of racism present in America at the time, particularly the South. Pathos is used by Martin Luther King, Jr., to appeal to the audience ...

A Modest Proposal: Ending, the Revelation of Good Will

For Jonathan Swift to write his work, "A Modest Proposal," he must have a strong feeling of revolt against the mistreatment to the Irish people during his time. The piece is written in satire, a social commentary of the nineteenth-century England. The turning point of his argument is only being revealed towards the ending. Surprise Ending. Swift used paralipsis in his ending. If my analysis is correct, my interpretation to Swift's ending is that he is suggesting a reform in which he introduced in an opposite matter. Here's the reform he was suggesting: 1) compensating the non-contributing citizens; 2) patronizing organically grown ...

Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a successful piece of writing which addresses the problem of poverty in Ireland at the time. The use of satire is entirely appropriate and effective, and the piece is still popular centuries after it was written. Swift’s use of rhetoric successfully evokes in the reader a sense of outrage at the speaker and a sympathy towards the Irish. On reading A Modest Proposal, the reader realises it isn’t a straight forward essay by the second paragraph in which he speaks of making small children useful members of society (Swift, 1729). However, it is only ...

Jonathan Swift in his work, A Modest Proposal shows a ‘surprise ending’ that changes the readers previously presumed perception. When he highlights the problems that infants cause along the streets or on their mothers’ backs, one may think that he has got a humble solution to it all. This becomes not the case for he suggests that the infants flesh be sold to the rich as source of their food. When Jonathan embraces the idea of making use of his thoughts about the many underprivileged people who are old and malnourished, it is evident that the conclusion of all he ...