A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis
Dear Mr. Smarmy,
I have received your letter and have taken in your concerns about the assigned reading of Jonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal. I have written this letter to put your mind at ease and to inform you that the purpose of the reading was to challenge the student’s minds on understanding satirical devices. The students are familiar with the definition of satire and they understand that it is sarcasm used to convey insults or scorn. The full title of the story is “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for making them Beneficial to the Publick”. Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is an excellent example of the sharp wit and biting sarcasm that was employed in the satire of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Swift uses an ironically conceived …show more content…
In using the word “modest” in the title to describe his proposal utterly ludicrous to describe an proposal as appalling and horrific as this. Swift casually states that an acquaintance of his has assured him that "a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicate, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled. He then adds, "and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout. This statement is full of irony and wit. Before bringing the proposal to a close Swift proposes an unsarcastic statement it reads “Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, till he hath at least some glimpse of hope that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice”. The sarcastic comparisons and ironic exaggerations along with the witty language add an overtone to the proposal and leaves an strong imprint on the reader that is hard to forget. Jonathan swift wields sarcasm expertly in this proposal. Although the subjects or targets of his sarcasm are different he uses a genius method of
I have received your letter and have taken in your concerns about the assigned reading of Jonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal. I have written this letter to put your mind at ease and to inform you that the purpose of the reading was to challenge the student’s minds on understanding satirical devices. The students are familiar with the definition of satire and they understand that it is sarcasm used to convey insults or scorn. The full title of the story is “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for making them Beneficial to the Publick”. Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is an excellent example of the sharp wit and biting sarcasm that was employed in the satire of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Swift uses an ironically conceived …show more content…
In using the word “modest” in the title to describe his proposal utterly ludicrous to describe an proposal as appalling and horrific as this. Swift casually states that an acquaintance of his has assured him that "a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicate, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled. He then adds, "and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout. This statement is full of irony and wit. Before bringing the proposal to a close Swift proposes an unsarcastic statement it reads “Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, till he hath at least some glimpse of hope that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice”. The sarcastic comparisons and ironic exaggerations along with the witty language add an overtone to the proposal and leaves an strong imprint on the reader that is hard to forget. Jonathan swift wields sarcasm expertly in this proposal. Although the subjects or targets of his sarcasm are different he uses a genius method of