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A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift

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In his essay, "A Modest Proposal," Jonathan Swift proposes a plan to bring his home country, Ireland, back to order after years of extreme poverty. Swift's purpose is to convey the idea that sacrificing the children of poor citizens is the only solution to improve the country's economy and correct the "deplorable state of the kingdom" (832). Swift adopts an insincere and ironic tone to reveal his frustration with society and present his "modest proposal". Swift begins by establishing a sympathetic tone, stating that seeing that the streets were "crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags..." was a "melancholy object" (831). He continues by saying that the mothers are "forced to employ all

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