A Modest Proposal: Essay 3

The lack of care shown by English landlords during a large crop failure led to the death of many Irishmen. Jonathan Swift displays his solution to the desperate times in Ireland in the essay “A Modest Proposal”. The English landlords need to be enlightened on the situation occurring in Ireland and that their desperate neighbors are starving from crop failure. Swift writes how an extravagant proposal, including selling infants to be eaten, must be adopted to end this economic era in Ireland. Through his use of satire in “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift uses organization, diction and figurative language to develop his position. The organization of work can largely determine the position the author has In paragraphs twenty through twenty six of Swift's “A Modest Proposal," Swift organizes the advantages to his proposal numerically. This organization makes it seem that there are no negative effects to the proposal. In this numerical format, the impression is given that Swift has spent much time and effort in preparing the advantages. This makes Swift’s proposal more persuasive to the reader, increasing the chance for them to agree with his position. Along with the organization of the essay, the diction adds to the development of Swift's position. The choice of diction by Swift is important in the development of his positions. Despite the fact eating babies is an extremely gruesome subject, Swift uses euphonious diction. This makes this the subject matter sound far more pleasant and far less gruesome. Euphonious diction makes the practice of eating babies seem tolerable and nearly justified in the complex times that were occurring in Ireland. This is the point of the article, which is to show how the English have done nothing to help the Irish and that if the Irish are to survive the English must intervene. A quality selection of diction allows for the exaggeration necessary in any good piece of satire. Diction plays one role in the development of the position along with figurative language. Figurative language, but more specifically irony, plays a significant role in the establishing of Swift's position. "For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen the number of papists, with whom we are yearly overrun" is an example of irony because the Irish are the papists. This is ironic because the purpose of the letter is to get the English landlord to respond the starvation, not number of papists. Another example of irony is "Men would become as fond of their wives during the time of their pregnancy as they are now of their mares in foal, their cows in calf, their sows when they are ready to farrow; nor offer to beat or kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of a miscarriage." This is ironic because a man should never beat his wife no matter what the circumstances. These examples of irony add to the overall development of Swift's positions. In “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift develops his opinion in his satirical essay through organization, diction and figurative language. The English landlords need to consider the horrors that occurred in Ireland and present aid to them. Swift stressed his proposal to the English landlords so they can help the starvation from the crop failure. Swift’s proposition was written in “A Modest Proposal.” Many Irish died due to the carelessness of England landlords.op