An Extreme and Convincing Proposition
Brittany Moletz
Argument and Research
Professor Gardner
September 18th, 2015
In 1729, Jonathan Swift released “A Modest Proposal” in order to take a satirical approach to the serious problems that were occurring in Ireland during the eighteenth century. The political pamphlet begins with his version of people walking through the streets of a small Irish town. Unfortunately, the paths are filled with malnourished beggars fluctuating in ages from the young to the elderly. Jonathan Swift proposes the idea of eating children at the ripe age of one in order to solve the issue that surrounds the beggars. He uses facts and statistics to back his idea and develops trustworthiness between himself …show more content…
He presented the idea that eating children; “would greatly lessen the number of Papists, with whom [Protestants] are yearly over-run” (Swift, 1729, p. 299). During the 18th century in Ireland, the term “Papist” was used to denote people that chose to follow the Roman Catholic Church instead of following the widely accepted Church of England. Roman Catholic Irish citizens and Protestants generally did not have respectable relations due to their differences in beliefs during that era. By making this observation, Swift was able to reach out to religious factions that shunned the Roman Catholic Church teachings and assure them of his valid …show more content…
Swift did pre-interviews with local merchants to assure that a child just entering their teenage years is not as valuable as a small infant. The reliability is based on the fact that Swift guaranteed that he did access the situation with merchants preceding the writing of his proposal. He also makes the point that selling a child while they are still babies would bring in more money to their families rather than when they were older. Swift is attempting to make the point that retailing babies for the intentions of eating them would yield more revenue and consequently help the financial hardships that happen to those less fortunate. By describing each possible positive of selling a child at the age of one, Swift is successfully able to ensure his integrity on the sensitive
Brittany Moletz
Argument and Research
Professor Gardner
September 18th, 2015
In 1729, Jonathan Swift released “A Modest Proposal” in order to take a satirical approach to the serious problems that were occurring in Ireland during the eighteenth century. The political pamphlet begins with his version of people walking through the streets of a small Irish town. Unfortunately, the paths are filled with malnourished beggars fluctuating in ages from the young to the elderly. Jonathan Swift proposes the idea of eating children at the ripe age of one in order to solve the issue that surrounds the beggars. He uses facts and statistics to back his idea and develops trustworthiness between himself …show more content…
He presented the idea that eating children; “would greatly lessen the number of Papists, with whom [Protestants] are yearly over-run” (Swift, 1729, p. 299). During the 18th century in Ireland, the term “Papist” was used to denote people that chose to follow the Roman Catholic Church instead of following the widely accepted Church of England. Roman Catholic Irish citizens and Protestants generally did not have respectable relations due to their differences in beliefs during that era. By making this observation, Swift was able to reach out to religious factions that shunned the Roman Catholic Church teachings and assure them of his valid …show more content…
Swift did pre-interviews with local merchants to assure that a child just entering their teenage years is not as valuable as a small infant. The reliability is based on the fact that Swift guaranteed that he did access the situation with merchants preceding the writing of his proposal. He also makes the point that selling a child while they are still babies would bring in more money to their families rather than when they were older. Swift is attempting to make the point that retailing babies for the intentions of eating them would yield more revenue and consequently help the financial hardships that happen to those less fortunate. By describing each possible positive of selling a child at the age of one, Swift is successfully able to ensure his integrity on the sensitive