A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

The predominantly satirical writer, Jonathan Swift, wrote many pieces in response to other works of literature. During the enlightenment period, Swift wrote an essay titled “A Modest Proposal” as a response to enlightened thinkers. Jonathan Swift took the enlightened, everything should have reasoning, way of thinking and wrote a work of satire resulting in “A Modest Proposal.” The setting was in Ireland where areas were overpopulating and women could not afford to care for their children, which resulted in the women becoming beggars. Jonathan Swift took this situation to create his work of satire from the point of view of an enlightened thinker. He took one topic to the extreme to catch the attention of enlightened extremists to show that the logical response for everything in life can become inhumane. …show more content…
He claims that since there is such an overpopulation of children, and not enough money or resources, that the women should begin selling their babies for a value not over two shillings. The money the women received would amount to what they would earn from begging, so this proposal would get most of them off of the streets. But Swift did not stop there. He went even further to say they should begin eating the unwanted children and using them for clothing to benefit thousands. Jonathan Swift then takes the proposal even a step further and says he will make these women who are unable to care for themselves breeders. According to Swift, one male would have been sufficient enough for four females. The women were to be responsponsible for taking care of the children until they were one year old and were also responsible for making sure the children had the nourishment needed to be eaten when the time came. After this process, the women begin it over