Essay Database

Unlike most essays, Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is written for the reader to see through what the narrator is expressing. The narrator does not want the reader to agree that the solution to overpopulation and poverty in Ireland is to eat babies, he wants the reader to see there needs to be a practical solution. By stating the advantages and objections to his proposal, using ironic words and phrases, he directs the reader not …

…animals are bred, proposing that children be bred the same way. In conclusion, the narrator is deeply angry about the way in which the English treat the Irish peasants and he thinks something should be done. By stating the problems and proposing an extreme solution, he works with irony throughout the essay to allow his reader to see things on the flip-side. Swift's proposal is an antithesis to get the reader to see the contrary.