A Modest Proposal Jonathan Swift

1. A Modest ProposalJonathan Swift • Genre: Satire and Social Commentary • Widespread poverty and hunger in Ireland which was under English control • Suffering caused by humans • Neglected by absent English landlords • Indifference from government officials • Economic restrictions established in laws • Solution would shock people • Outlandish argument, aimed to disturb readers so that they would work to solve Ireland’s crisis in more realistic and humane ways

2. Satire • A piece of writing, speaking, or art designed to criticize society or human frailties through wit, humor or derision (mockery) • making fun of some aspect of culture, society, human nature to hopefully improve, reform or correct it

3. Satirical Techniques • Hyperbole: Wildly extravagant exaggeration • Sarcasm: Harsh, cutting remarks about someone • Parody: Mimicking another literary form in order to ridicule it • Verbal irony is saying one thing but meaning another. • Praising people for qualities they do not possess. • Presenting weaknesses as virtues. • Offering solutions that are worse than the problems they are intending to solve. • Situational irony is one in which something unexpected and seemingly contradictory occurs.

4. Social Commentary • Writing or speech that offers insight into society. • Can be unconscious, as when a writer points to a problem caused by social customs without explicitly challenging those customs. • Can be conscious, as when a writer directly attributes a problem to social customs • Persuasive Techniques: • Appeals to logic based on sound reasoning or logos • Appeals to readers’ sense of morality or ethos • Appeals to emotion, addressing readers’ feelings or pathos