Personal Response to "A Modest Proposal"

Authors Avatar by domokeats09 (student)

        Personal Response to A Modest Proposal        James Keats

        In the essay A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift, tones of both Irony and Sarcasm are used to open the reader up to Swift’s underlying statement. The subtle, and unsubtle, uses of sarcasm and irony alike make the reader think back on some of things they have already read in the essay, and possibly have a new perspective on what Swift could possibly mean.

        Swift’s use of Irony in this essay was to make sure that nothing Swift says in the essay can be taken literally. This doesn’t just let the reader know that Swift has no actual plans of eating dead children, it also makes the reader look for alternative meanings to what Swift is literally saying. It opens up the reader’s mind to other possible interpretations. The fact that it would be absolutely absurd to believe a rational human being would want to partake in the slaughter and consumption of another human being makes sure that before anyone analyses the text they know it’s completely fictitious. Swift uses irony to let the reader know that he has no intentions of actually pursuing this ridiculous idea. The irony could also be used as a decoy in making people think that he is making a joke of such a ridiculous solution, when the underlying idea here is that he doesn’t want the poor, and the beggars in Ireland. Since this essay would only be read by the rich, he might not be actually saying ‘Let’s eat poor babies’ but he could very well be suggesting that a good solution to many of the countries issues could be dealt with by eliminating the lower-class and beggars.

Join now!

        Possibly even more-so than irony, Swift uses a stylistic tone of sarcasm to dish out his underlying statements. Swift was a member of the upper-class of Ireland –after making lots of money from Gulliver’s Travels—which gives us some possible insight to his actual point of view. In the first paragraph he says ‘It is a melancholy sight to see… when they see the streets… crowded with beggars.’ After an initial read-through, the reader would most likely think that what Swift is trying to say is obviously that beggars filling up the streets is so melancholy to see, because no one ...

This is a preview of the whole essay