A Modest Proposal Literary Analysis

In the 18th century, during the height of the British Empire, Ireland had become subject to deplorable conditions under the rules and regulations of England because they were predominantly Catholic (Baker). Life for catholics in Ireland during this time was difficult.
Jonathan Swift wasn’t first author which wrote about this issue, several authors tried to show the truth, but they were ignored. But in 1720 Swift broke nearly 20 years of silence to develop rapidly into the strongest voice of protest against this trend, which had all but reached its perfection. (www.personal.ksu.edu) Others’ ignorance led him to pen his most powerful work of literature on the deplorable conditions in Ireland- A Modest Proposal. In the essay he challenges the status quo of the time and place in which it was written by telling about problems in different ways - he used satire and sarcasm. The first way that Swift challenges the status quo is by eating children. Can you imagine this will be true? He comes …show more content…
I think he had to have courage to write something like this in time when he lived. But on the other side, when he wrote just common article, where he will tell that we should do this and this, probably nobody will be interesting in it. But he used ridiculous examples of solution to show how bad the situation was. Of course, he didn’t want to eat children, sell them like animals or make a glove from their skin. He just wanted to show how bad was situation with catholic people in Ireland .Once he finishes with his criticism, he presents very doable solutions that can benefit Ireland and English relations but needs mutual support between both countries. He uses the stark compare and contrast to show that his previous suggestions weren't so extreme after all. Irish pain and suffering had gone on too long without attention. Swift challenges the rich and powerful to change the status quo and make a