A Modest Proposal Essay Analysis

Back in 1729, things sucked for the Irish. The crops were dying. The English were bleeding them dry with outrageous rent. Most of them were without homes. All was terrible in the land of the leprechauns. Along came Jonathan Swift. Mr. Swift was born in Ireland, but was technically an English citizen, so he felt a specific kinship with the Irish. He tried to provide solutions, but they were by and large ignored. Therefore, Mr. Swift was forced to get ridiculous. He had to get attention, because his previous suggestions did nothing to change anything. This essay didn’t really do anything to change the situation, but it was a step in the right direction. A Modest Proposal was published as satire, but I feel sorry for everyone who mistook it for a legitimate plan. Mr. Swift possesses such a cheerful voice in his writing that one has to reread the paper to fully understand his fury at the injustice of the Irish. Much like South Park or The Simpsons, this essay went to an absurd length to highlight how outrageous the situation was. Mr. Swift wrote this as though it was a legitimate plan, with several pros and not many cons. As a matter of fact, he penned in his essay, “I can think of no one objection, that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it should …show more content…
Although, that’s most certainly not the essay’s fault. Pretty much every piece of writing from the colonial era is difficult to read. The illiteracy rate makes so much sense now. Seriously though, do not expect to read this first time and understand everything. Language is amorphous, and adapts to its times. Even with a textbook that had footnotes, I missed the first sentence where Mr. Swift unveiled his plan. I also suspect that everyone else in my class missed it and a couple more sentences afterwards, because I looked up and no one else was losing their head about the