Discuss the ways in which Swift criticises his society in 'A Modest Proposal'.

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Discuss the ways in which Swift criticises his society in

‘A Modest Proposal’.

The proposal that Swift wrote, was aimed at the high class Protestants in Ireland. Swift wanted to show them the injustice of his time of how the Catholics were treated. In his pamphlet, he criticises many different things, such as marriage relationships and landowner behaviour, and then links them to a main criticism, which is how badly the Protestants treat the Catholics, and how they have not realised how bad it really is. Swift used many satirical techniques to bring his point across and by doing so, he had hoped to make the Protestants realised how immoral they were being.

Swift creates a narrator as so the reader, who is intended to be a Protestant of high class, can relate to. An example of this is, “It is a melancholy Object to those, who walk through this great Town, or travel in the Country, when they see the Streets, the Roads, and Cabbin-Doors, crowded with Beggars of the female sex.” Here, Swift starts his pamphlet with a long articulated sentence from the narrator, as so the reader can associate with him because of the upper class phrasing and wording, and want to continue reading. The word ‘melancholy’ shows us the reader is high class and well spoken, and shows how he has respect for his town. We also see his disapproval towards the peasants because they are ruining everything. The first part of the pamphlet sounds like a normal, interesting idea discussing how to make these children useful to society, which makes the reader curious about what the narrator is talking about. The narrator is there to draw the reader in, and because the reader has related to the narrator; because the reader is a high class, wealthy Protestant like the narrator, the reader feels guilty at what rich people like themselves have done to the poor.

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Swift uses emotive language to remind the reader of the difficulty the peasants have to face. An example of this is ‘are forced to employ all their time in Stroling, to beg’. Here, Swift makes us feel sorry for the peasants, and begin to understand how hard their lives are. In addition, this draws the reader into the article as he becomes interested in what the narrator is going to say next. Another example of this is when he says, “Sustenance for their helpless Infants, who as they grow up, either turn Thieves for want of work,” This also gives ...

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