C F A Swift Essay on Satire

Swift’ s logical approach to the problems in Ireland—although outrageous—greatly contributes to his credibility. roughout the essay, Swift argues that the upper class in Ireland should start eating the children of the lower class in order to solve the issue of children starving on the street. He uses examples such as “the nation’ s stock will be thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per annum”, which is very specific as he has calculated the exact amount of money each child is worth and how much it will benefit the economy (25). It is easy to tell that Swift has thought this out as he points out he has been thinking about this issue for “many years” (4). Although Swift’ s proposal is completely satirical, his use of logos helps to shock the reader as his proposal is so well developed. Swift is also able to build his credibility through complex diction which helps to make Swift sound very educated on the topic. Some of the diction Swift uses is “collateral,” “carcass,” and “submission” to describe his proposition (13, 29). ese words help to create a cold tone as these words are much grimmer than their counterparts. Swift could have used body instead of carcass, but the specific choice of “carcass” helps to bring perspective to Swift’ s argument. Although the wealthy aren ’t eating children, what they are doing to the poor is just as bad. is helps to appeal to Swift’ s target audience which is the upper class who have created this situation as they only care about the lower class for monetary gain. Logos and complex diction both contribute to Swift’ s credibility with his audience.

Swift’ s calculated use of political satire is aided by outside factors that line up with Hodgart’ s four criteria and help to create an extremely persuasive argument. e idea of eating children to help the lower class out of poverty is an extremely outlandish idea that is clearly satirical. Obviously, children’ s flesh would not “make admirable gloves for ladies; and summer boots for fine gentlemen” as Swift just uses this to mock the upper class (15). Swift is able to use this satire in two ways to create an effective argument, as the upper class who can actually understand the satire may see how corrupt they have become and the lower class

that may not understand that this proposal isn’t serious will get angry at the upper class. Swift is able to set a trap for the reader by being extremely inhumane by proposing someone could “gain eight shillings sterling per annum by the sale of their children” as the reader will end up despising the speaker by the end of the essay (24). Since Swift is writing from the perspective of someone of the upper class, the reader will in turn despise the upper class; Swift sets this trap because he wants to bring attention to the upper class. ey have gotten away with destroying the lower class by taking everything for themselves, which is why so many people in Ireland are living on the streets. Swift sacrifices his own reputation (many people were calling for his execution after the publication of this essay) in hopes of some change in the living conditions of the poor in Ireland. is argument was also well timed according to Hodgart’ s four criteria for political satire to be effective. According to Hodgart’ s first point, there has to either be free speech or a lack thereof, and since Ireland was under English control which offered little freedom of speech. Secondly, the educated class has to care about politics and since Ireland was having so many problems people were definitely looking for solutions. ird, the writer has to believe their writing can actually influence people and Swift definitely wrote this essay hoping it would impact Ireland’ s situation. Lastly, the audience has to enjoy wit or imagination and Swift definitely uses both is his crazy proposal. Both the use and timing of Swift’ s use of political satire contribute to the persuasiveness of his argument.

Many of the factors that contributed to the success of “A Modest Proposal” can be seen in issues of social media today. e political satire that is so prevalent in “A Modest Proposal” has become extremely popular in today’ s political culture. Satire by definition is humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’ s stupidity and vices, and this is exactly what can be seen going on in social media today. Whether it be making jokes that ridicule President Trump or someone trolling on the internet, satire has become extremely popular in our everyday

lives and we often don’t even notice. Social media platforms, such as Twitter, have a character limit which lends itself to personal attacks much more than a well thought out argument. Satire can easily be used to create a one liner to try and end an argument than develop your point. I would argue satire has become abused which has contributed to the toxicity of social media. ese satirical arguments about politics are also played out on TV, with shows such as SNL which rely heavily on satire becoming more and more politicized. More recently the rise of “OK Boomer” in meme culture is another example of political satire. e phrase is used to disregard people’ s opinions by ridiculing their age. Swift initially used satire to make a statement about the difficulties people faced in Ireland, but as time has progressed it is now abused and often used differently than Swift intended. e use of satire in Swift’ s essay is elegant and so well-crafted that it almost seems as if he is being serious. But the satire that can be observed in social media today is a far cry from that format, which has devalued the effectiveness of political satire.

Satire today is used in many ways; some are very similar to Swift to make a political statement while others just use it to insult people on social media. Whether you think Swift went too far or not far enough, his calculated use of satire has popularized it, resulting in the constant use of satire in pop culture today. Social media is in part responsible for the spread of satire into pop culture, as much of our culture is posted everywhere on social media, which seems to be the breeding ground for satire. Social media has contributed to the rise of meme culture which is often quite satirical and is most definitely pop culture. Satire has had a larger impact on our culture than many people recognize, and its prevalence today can be attributed to social media.

A Modest Analysis

A F

Life for the common people of Ireland was not in any way desirable. e streets were filled end to end with beggars trying to scrounge up enough change to feed their families, while the upper class were sitting high and mighty in their castles. e poverty ridden country was running itself into the ground as the margin between the everyday people and the nobility was growing at a steady rate. With little hope in sight, Jonathan Swift’ s satirical piece “A Modest Proposal” effortlessly harps on the aristocracy of Ireland with intentions that the Irish people would begin to address and put forth a solution that doesn’t involve marinating the carcasses of babies. Swift creates an engaging, persuasive essay through deceiving appeals to ethos, allusions, metaphors, specific diction, and symbolism alongside his combination of humor and political commentary all hidden under a blanket of satire. At the same time, he gives his two cents about American slavery. is rhetorical decision strengthens his own argument, while exposing how outrageous it is to claim that enslaving people can be justified. Additionally, according to Richard Hodgart, Swift’ s essay had fulfilled the four criteria to be truly effective from a political standpoint. Firstly, he states that there has to be a degree of free speech, whether it is granted