Modest Proposal
A Modest Proposal is everything that a satirical story should be.
It includes sarcasm and irony as Jonathan Swift takes us through a roller
coaster ride to show us how the poor are treated miserably.
The narrator begins by leading us down a path. He seems sincere
and thinks it is a pity how everywhere you walk in the streets of Dublin
you see the poor begging people for hand outs. He is seeking a solution to
help the commonwealth.
He appears to be a logical, educated person who makes it clear that
he has been studying this subject for years. He then tells us that he has
a solution to help the babies whose parents cannot afford them. We think
his idea will be charitable and will actually help the poor as well as the
nation.
The narrator then does something that I think set the tone for the
rest of the story. He referred to a baby just born as being dropped from
its dam. Animals are dropped from dams, not humans. Therefore poor
people in this story are nothing more than animals.
We are told how the children are a burden and how instead of
requiring food and clothing the rest of their lives, they will
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