A Modest Proposal PDF

# Get Ready ## Essential Question: How can satire change people's behavior? ## Engage Your Brain Choose one or more of these activities to start connecting with the satire you're about to read. ### Fighting Poverty The selection you are about to read deals with poverty in 18th-century Ireland. Po...

# Get Ready ## Essential Question: How can satire change people's behavior? ## Engage Your Brain Choose one or more of these activities to start connecting with the satire you're about to read. ### Fighting Poverty The selection you are about to read deals with poverty in 18th-century Ireland. Poverty affects nearly all societies. With a small group, discuss strategies for fighting poverty in the United States. 1. Create a list of anti-poverty strategies. 2. Then, rank the strategies according to how effective you think they are. ### "Sick" Humor How many times have you heard someone say "That's sick!" in response to a joke or comedy skit? Write a paragraph or two expressing your thoughts about humor that is intended to shock or disturb. Consider the following: * Why do people use this kind of humor? * What different kinds of effects can it have on audiences? ### Hot-Button Issues Jonathan Swift used scornful humor to address an issue he cared deeply about. Which social or political issue upsets you the most? With a partner, discuss why this issue is so emotional for you. # Analyze Satire Satire is a literary technique in which institutions, practices, or behaviors are ridiculed for the purpose of bringing about reform. Authors write satire to comment on social and political issues and to advocate for improving society. To accomplish their goals, satirists use a variety of rhetorical devices. The success of a satire often depends on readers' ability to distinguish what is stated from what is really meant. As you read *A Modest Proposal*, use a chart like this one to identify examples of rhetorical devices in the essay. | Rhetorical Device | Example | |---|---| | Verbal Irony: a writer says the opposite of what is meant | The title is ironic because the actual proposal is outrageous, not modest. | | Understatement: a writer says less than is expected or appropriate | | | Hyperbole or Exaggeration: a writer overstates the truth for emphasis or humorous effect | | | Paradox: a writer states a contradiction that seems absurd but actually reveals an element of truth | | # Understand Author's Purpose Swift wrote *A Modest Proposal* in the form of an argument for a public policy. The unnamed narrator who makes this argument bears some resemblance to Swift: both men have previously tried to promote ideas to help Ireland's poor. Despite this ambiguity, Swift's purpose clearly isn't to persuade people to accept the narrator's claim. Instead, he uses the structure of an argument to attack British policies and the callousness of wealthy people in Ireland and England. As you read *A Modest Proposal*, consider whether Swift's satirical argument is an effective way to achieve his intended purpose. # Annotation in Action Here is an example of notes a student made about the opening of *A Modest Proposal*. As you read, mark other details that relate to Swift's purpose in writing the essay. It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants. . . . This lays out the problem in Irish society. ## Expand Your Vocabulary Put a check mark next to the vocabulary words that you feel comfortable using when speaking or writing. * sustenance * prodigious * rudiment * collateral * scrupulous * encumbrance * inducement Turn to a partner and talk about the vocabulary words you already know. Then, with a partner, write two satirical paragraphs, using as many of the vocabulary words as you know. ## Background In the 1720s, Catholics in Ireland suffered from the repressive rule of England, which stripped them of their rights and plunged many into poverty. Their misery increased with a series of crop failures that forced people to beg or face starvation. After his 1713 appointment as dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, Jonathan Swift wrote a series of publications attacking England's unjust policies. *A Modest Proposal*, his last major work about Ireland, is one of the greatest satires ever written. For many Irish Catholics and Protestants, Swift became a national hero. # *A Modest Proposal* ## Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) Born to Anglo-Irish parents in Dublin, Jonathan Swift had to depend on his uncles for support following the early death of his father. After graduating from Trinity College, Swift moved to England. He became ordained as an Anglican priest and started to write satires. Swift's first two satires, *The Battle of the Books* and *A Tale of the Tub*, quickly established his acerbic style. Whether lampooning modern thinkers and scientists, religious abuses, or humanity in general, Swift raged at the arrogance, phoniness, and shallowness he saw infecting the intellectual and moral life of the time. Though most of his publications were anonymous, people began to recognize his witty and often harsh political writing through his contributions to London periodicals. Although at first Swift felt exiled when he returned to Ireland to become dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, he soon regained his interest in politics and in satirical writing. His most famous work is *Gulliver's Travels*. This satire is now usually appreciated as a fantasy story, but Swift's main purpose in writing it was to satirize British institutions and human follies. After his death, he was buried in St. Patrick's. Swift wrote his own epitaph for his memorial tablet, saying that he lies "where savage indignation can no longer tear his heart." "I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed." ­-Jonathan Swift # *A Modest Proposal*: ## For Preventing the Children of Poor People From Being a Burden to their Parents or Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Public This essay proposes an outrageous solution for the problem of Irish poverty. 1. It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants, who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes. 2. I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth would deserve so well of the public as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation. 3. But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the children of professed beggars; it is of a much greater extent, and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain age who are born of parents in effect as little able to support them as those who demand our charity in the streets. 4. As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in their computation. It is true, a child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year, with little other nourishment; at most not above the value of two shillings, which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her lawful occupation of begging; and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner as instead of being a charge upon their parents or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands. 5. There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, alas, too frequent among us, sacrificing the poor innocent babes, I doubt, more to avoid the expense than the shame, which would move tears and pity in the most savage and inhuman breast. 6. The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couples whose wives are breeders; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couples who are able to maintain their own children, although I apprehend there cannot be so many under the present distresses of the kingdom; but this being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand breeders. I again subtract fifty thousand for those women who miscarry, or whose children die by accident or disease within the year. There only remain an hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born. The question therefore is, how this number shall be reared and provided for, which, as I have already said, under the present situation of affairs, is utterly impossible by all the methods hitherto proposed. For we can neither employ them in handicraft or agriculture; we neither build houses (I mean in the country) nor cultivate land. They can very seldom pick up a livelihood by stealing till they arrive at six years old, except where they are of towardly parts; although I confess they learn the rudiments much earlier, during which time they can however be looked upon only as probationers, as I have been informed by a principal gentleman in the county of Cavan, who protested to me that he never knew above one or two instances under the age of six, even in a part of the kingdom so renowned for the quickest proficiency in that art. 7. I am assured by our merchants that a boy or girl before twelve years old is no salable commodity; and even when they come to this age they will not yield above three pounds, or three pounds and half a crown at most on the Exchange; which cannot turn to account either to the parents or the kingdom, the charge of nutriment and rags having been at least four times that value. # Understand Author's Purpose * **Annotate**: In paragraph 6, mark each number from the narrator's calculations. * **Infer**: Why would the narrator include these precise calculations within the satire's argument? 8. I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection. 9. I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout. 10. I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one fourth part to be males, which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle, or swine; and my reason is that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore one male will be sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may at a year old be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter. 11. I have reckoned upon a medium that a child just born will weigh twelve pounds, and in a solar year if tolerably nursed increaseth to twenty-eight pounds. 12. I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children. 13. Infant's flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more plentiful in March, and a little before and after. For we are told by a grave author, an eminent French physician, that fish being a prolific diet, there are more children born in Roman Catholic countries about nine months after Lent than at any other season; therefore, reckoning a year after Lent, the markets will be more glutted than usual, because the number of popish infants is at least three to one in this kingdom; and therefore it will have one other collateral advantage, by lessening the number of Papists among us. 14. I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar's child (in which list I reckon all cottagers, laborers, and four fifths of the farmers), to be about two shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, as I have said, will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat, when he hath only some particular friend or his own family to dine with him. Thus the squire will learn to be a good landlord, and grow popular among the tenants; the mother will have eight shillings net profit, and be fit for work till she produces another child. 15. Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flay the carcass; the skin of which artificially dressed will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen. 16. As to our city of Dublin, shambles may be appointed for this purpose in the most convenient parts of it, and butchers we may be assured will not be wanting; although I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs. 17. A very worthy person, a true lover of his country, and whose virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased in discoursing on this matter to offer a refinement upon my scheme. He said that many gentlemen of this kingdom, having of late destroyed their deer, he conceived that the want of venison might be well supplied by the bodies of young lads and maidens, not exceeding fourteen years of age nor under twelve, so great a number of both sexes in every county being now ready to starve for want of work and service; and these to be disposed of by their parents, if alive, or otherwise by their nearest relations. But with due deference to so excellent a friend and so deserving a patriot, I cannot be altogether in his sentiments; for as to the males, my American acquaintance assured me from frequent experience that their flesh was generally tough and lean, like that of our schoolboys, by continual exercise, and their taste disagreeable; and to fatten them would not answer the charge. Then as to the females, it would, I think with humble submission, be a loss to the public, because they soon would become breeders themselves; and besides, it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice (although indeed very unjustly) as a little bordering upon cruelty; which, I confess, hath always been with me the strongest objection against any project, how well soever intended. 18. But in order to justify my friend, he confessed that this expedient was put into his head by the famous Psalmanazar, a native of the island Formosa, who came from thence to London above twenty years ago, and in conversation told my friend that in his country when any young person happened to be put to death, the executioner sold the carcass to persons of quality as a prime dainty; and that in his time the body of a plump girl of fifteen, who was crucified for an attempt to poison the emperor, was sold to his Imperial Majesty's prime minister of state, and other great mandarins of the court, in joints from the gibbet, at four hundred crowns. Neither indeed can I deny that if the same use were made of several plump young girls in this town, who without one single groat to their fortunes cannot stir abroad without a chair, and appear at the playhouse and assemblies in foreign fineries which they never will pay for, the kingdom would not be the worse. 19. Some persons of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number of poor people who are aged, diseased, or maimed, and I have been desired to employ my thoughts what course may be taken to ease the nation of so grievous an encumbrance. But I am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is very well known that they are every day dying and rotting by cold and famine, and filth and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected. And as to the younger laborers, they are now in almost as hopeful a condition. They cannot get work, and consequently pine away for want of nourishment to a degree that if at any time they are accidentally hired to common labor, they have not strength to perform it; and thus the country and themselves are happily delivered from the evils to come. 20. I have too long digressed, and therefore shall return to my subject. I think the advantages by the proposal which I have made are obvious and many, as well as of the highest importance. 21. For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen the number of Papists, with whom we are yearly overrun, being the principal breeders of the nation as well as our most dangerous enemies; and who stay at home on purpose to deliver the kingdom to the Pretender, hoping to take their advantage by the absence of so many good Protestants, who have chosen rather to leave their country than stay at home and pay tithes against their conscience to an Episcopal curate. 22. Secondly, the poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own, which by law may be made liable to distress, and help to pay their landlord's rent, their corn and cattle being already seized and money a thing unknown. 23. Thirdly, whereas the maintenance of an hundred thousand children, from two years old and upwards, cannot be computed at less than ten shillings a piece per annum, the nation's stock will be thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per annum, besides the profit of a new dish introduced to the tables of all gentlemen of fortune in the kingdom who have any refinement in taste. And the money will circulate among ourselves, the goods being entirely of our own growth and manufacture. 24. Fourthly, the constant breeders, besides the gain of eight shillings sterling per annum by the sale of their children, will be rid of the charge of maintaining them after the first year. 25. Fifthly, this food would likewise bring great custom to taverns, where the vintners will certainly be so prudent as to procure the best receipts for dressing it to perfection, and consequently have their houses frequented by all the fine gentlemen, who justly value themselves upon their knowledge in good eating; and a skillful cook, who understands how to oblige his guests, will contrive to make it as expensive as they please. 26. Sixthly, this would be a great inducement to marriage, which all wise nations have either encouraged by rewards or enforced by laws and penalties. It would increase the care and tenderness of mothers toward their children, when they were sure of a settlement for life to the poor babes, provided in some sort by the public, to their annual profit instead of expense. We should see an honest emulation among the married women, which of them could bring the fattest child to the market. Men would become as fond of their wives during the time of their pregnancy as they are now of their mares in foal, their cows in calf, or sows when they are ready to farrow; nor offer to beat or kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of a miscarriage. 27. Many other advantages might be enumerated. For instance, the addition of some thousand carcasses in our exportation of barreled beef, the propagation of swine's flesh, and improvement in the art of making good bacon, so much wanted among us by the great destruction of pigs, too frequent at our tables, which are no way comparable in taste or magnificence to a well-grown, fat, yearling child, which roasted whole will make a considerable figure at a lord mayor's feast or any other public entertainment. But this and many others I omit, being studious of brevity. 28. Supposing that one thousand families in this city would be constant customers for infants' flesh, besides others who might have it at merry meetings, particularly weddings and christenings, I compute that Dublin would take off annually about twenty thousand carcasses, and the rest of the kingdom (where probably they will be sold somewhat cheaper) the remaining eighty thousand. 29. I can think of no one objection that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it should be urged that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom. This I freely own, and it was indeed one principal design in offering it to the world. I desire the reader will observe, that I calculate my remedy for this one individual kingdom of Ireland and for no other that ever was, is, or I think ever can be upon earth. Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: of using neither clothes nor household furniture except what is of our own growth and manufacture: of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foreign luxury: of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming in our women: of introducing a vein of parsimony, prudence, and temperance: of learning to love our country, in the want of which we differ even from Laplanders and the inhabitants of Topinamboo: of quitting our animosities and factions, nor acting any longer like the Jews, who were murdering one another at the very moment their city was taken: of being a little cautious not to sell our country and conscience for nothing: of teaching landlords to have at least one degree of mercy toward their tenants: lastly, of putting a spirit of honesty, industry, and skill into our shopkeepers; who, if a resolution could now be taken to buy only our native goods, would immediately unite to cheat and exact upon us in the price, the measure, and the goodness, nor could ever yet be brought to make one fair proposal of just dealing, though often and earnestly invited to it. 30. Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, till he hath at least some glimpse of hope that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them in practice.. 31. But as to myself, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly despairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this proposal, which, as it is wholly new, so it hath something solid and real, of no expense and little trouble, full in our own power, and whereby we can incur no danger in disobliging England. For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation, the flesh being of too tender a consistence to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without. 32. After all, I am not so violently bent upon my own opinion as to reject any offer proposed by wise men, which shall be found equally innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual. But before something of that kind shall be advanced in contradiction to my scheme, and offering a better, I desire the author or authors will be pleased maturely to consider two points. First, as things now stand, how they will be able to find food and raiment for an hundred thousand useless mouths and backs. And secondly, there being a round million of creatures in human figure throughout this kingdom, whose sole subsistence put into a common stock would leave them in debt two millions of pounds sterling, adding those who are beggars by profession to the bulk of farmers, cottagers, and laborers, with their wives and children who are beggars in effect; I desire those politicians who dislike my overture, and may perhaps be so bold to attempt an answer, that they will first ask the parents of these mortals whether they would not at this day think it a great happiness to have been sold for food at a year old in the manner I prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual scene of misfortunes as they have since gone through by the oppression of landlords, the impossibility of paying rent without money or trade, the want of common sustenance, with neither house nor clothes to cover them from the inclemencies of the weather, and the most inevitable prospect of entailing the like or greater miseries upon their breed forever. 33. I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past childbearing.. # Essential Question: How can satire change people's behavior? # Analyze the Text Support your responses with evidence from the text. 1. **Analyze**: Swift's narrator says that he has "digressed" in paragraph 20. Explain how this digression actually serves his purpose of exposing injustice. 2. **Infer**: In paragraphs 29-31, the narrator ironically dismisses a series of ideas for reducing Irish poverty that Swift himself supported. What point do you think Swift is making by including these proposals? 3. **Draw Conclusions**: Review the graphic organizer you filled in as you read. Instead of directly attacking injustice, Swift uses irony and other rhetorical devices to convey his ideas indirectly. What conclusions would you draw about his attitude toward each of the following? * Irish landlords * how most English and Irish Protestants view Irish Catholics * Irish Protestants living abroad 4. **Interpret**: Throughout the essay, Swift's narrator expects most readers to agree with his proposal, yet he describes actions that would horrify any normal person. What message do these *Contrasts and Contradictions* convey about the wealthy people in Ireland and England who are taking advantage of the Irish? 5. **Evaluate**: A parody is writing that imitates either the style or the subject matter of a literary work. Is Swift's parody of an argument an effective way to achieve his purpose? Explain why or why not. 6. **Connect**: The period from the late 1600s through the 1700s is known as the Enlightenment, a time when many writers promoted scientific reasoning as a means of solving social problems. Swift was often critical of such writers. How is this attitude reflected in *A Modest Proposal*? # Choices Here are some other ways to demonstrate your understanding of the ideas in this lesson. ## Writing ### Satirical Essay Write a short satirical essay that addresses a problem in your school or community. Before you begin drafting, review your notes and analysis of Swift's use of satirical devices such as irony and exaggeration. Then, model your essay on his style. * Identify a problem or behavior that will be the target of your satire. * Think of a solution to the problem or a way to reform the behavior. * Draft your essay using rhetorical devices to show the problem or behavior in a critical light. ## Social & Emotional Learning ### Group Discussion Swift's satire takes aim at landlords who have no empathy for the poor in Ireland, saying that they "have already devoured most of the parents" of the babies he proposes to sell. With a group of students, discuss the importance of empathy for individuals and society. Consider the following questions: * How do you define empathy? * What is the difference between empathy and pity? * What factors make it harder to feel empathy for others? ## Research ### Timeline After a series of military conflicts, England gained full control over Ireland during the 17th and 18th centuries. England was a Protestant nation, while most of the Irish population was Roman Catholic. With a partner, conduct research on this period of Irish history and create an illustrated timeline showing how Protestants came to dominate Catholics in Ireland. # Expand Your Vocabulary Answer the questions to show your understanding of the vocabulary words. 1. Which is a rudiment of farming-knowing how to grow plants or knowing how to cook harvested food? 2. Which would a scrupulous landlord be more likely to do for a tenant who is out of work-offer a break on rent or ask for rent earlier than it is due? 3. Which is a collateral effect of heavy rains-overflowing dams or falling lake levels? 4. Which is an inducement to exercise more-getting a guitar or getting a skateboard? 5. Which of these provides healthier sustenance-a salad or a cake? 6. Which of these is an encumbrance to maintaining your household-not getting a bigger office at work or not earning a high hourly wage? 7. Which state is more prodigious-Texas or Rhode Island? # Vocabulary Strategy ## Context Clues Context clues are often found in the words and sentences around an unknown term. A context clue may consist of a definition or a restatement of the meaning of the unfamiliar word, an example following the word, a comparison or contrast, or a nearby synonym. The unknown word's position or function in a sentence can also be a clue. For example, the placement and suffix of the vocabulary word *prodigious* in paragraph 2 tells you that it is an adjective, which makes the word easier to define. After using context clues to get a preliminary understanding of a word, you can verify the word's meaning by looking it up in a dictionary. ## Practice and Apply Use context clues in each sentence to help you identify the correct words to complete the sentences. Check your answers in a dictionary. * inclemency * liable * reckoned 1. The farmer was _______ for the loan payment on the farm, even though he was not responsible for the failure of his crops. 2. He _______ the cost of raising a child, computing it to the penny. 3. The _______ of the winter weather, with frequent snow and ice storms, added to the misery of the homeless. # Watch Your Language! ## Active and Passive Voice In *A Modest Proposal*, Swift often uses the passive voice to imitate the bureaucratic language typical of a policy proposal. The voice of a verb tells whether its subject performs or receives the action expressed by the verb. * **In the active voice**, the subject performs the action expressed by the verb. Example: English callousness drove Swift to write the essay. * **In the passive voice**, the subject receives the action. Example: Swift *was driven* to write the essay by English callousness. Usually, the active voice is preferred because it is more direct and energetic. However, the passive voice may be used to emphasize the receiver of the action or when the doer of the action is not known or is unimportant. ## Practice and Apply Write four sentences about poverty in the passive voice. Then, exchange sentences with a partner and rewrite each other's sentences in the active voice. Compare the differences between the two versions. # Assessment Practice Analyze these questions before moving on to the Analyze the Text section on the following page. 1. Which reason has prompted Swift's argument? * Wealthy landowners need a constant supply of food. * Irish mothers in despair have stopped having children. * Parents are not allowed to work to support their children. * Too many starving adults and children are begging on the streets. 2. Which technique of satire does Swift use in paragraph 16? * understatement * verbal irony * hyperbole * paradox 3. Which sentence best states the importance of paragraph 29 to the narrator's argument? * Paragraph 29 establishes the claim that the "modest proposal" will significantly decrease the Irish population. * Paragraph 29 ironically justifies the "modest proposal" with a list of reasonable solutions that have been rejected. * Paragraph 29 satirizes the attempts that the narrator has made to assist the poor and starving Irish people. * Paragraph 29 argues for the importance of making Ireland a self-governing, morally upright, and industrious country. # Respond ## Analyze the Text Support your responses with evidence from the text. 1. **Analyze**: Swift's narrator says that he has "digressed" in paragraph 20. Explain how this digression actually serves his purpose of exposing injustice. 2. **Infer**: In paragraphs 29-31, the narrator ironically dismisses a series of ideas for reducing Irish poverty that Swift himself supported. What point do you think Swift is making by including these proposals? 3. **Draw Conclusions**: Review the graphic organizer you filled in as you read. Instead of directly attacking injustice, Swift uses irony and other rhetorical devices to convey his ideas indirectly. What conclusions would you draw about his attitude toward each of the following? * Irish landlords * how most English and Irish Protestants view Irish Catholics * Irish Protestants living abroad 4. **Interpret**: Throughout the essay, Swift's narrator expects most readers to agree with his proposal, yet he describes actions that would horrify any normal person. What message do these *Contrasts and Contradictions* convey about the wealthy people in Ireland and England who are taking advantage of the Irish? 5. **Evaluate**: A parody is writing that imitates either the style or the subject matter of a literary work. Is Swift's parody of an argument an effective way to achieve his purpose? Explain why or why not. 6. **Connect**: The period from the late 1600s through the 1700s is known as the Enlightenment, a time when many writers promoted scientific reasoning as a means of solving social problems. Swift was often critical of such writers. How is this attitude reflected in *A Modest Proposal*? # Choices Here are some other ways to demonstrate your understanding of the ideas in this lesson. ## Writing ### Satirical Essay Write a short satirical essay that addresses a problem in your school or community. Before you begin drafting, review your notes and analysis of Swift's use of satirical devices such as irony and exaggeration. Then, model your essay on his style. * Identify a problem or behavior that will be the target of your satire. * Think of a solution to the problem or a way to reform the behavior. * Draft your essay using rhetorical devices to show the problem or behavior in a critical light. ## Social & Emotional Learning ### Group Discussion Swift's satire takes aim at landlords who have no empathy for the poor in Ireland, saying that they "have already devoured most of the parents" of the babies he proposes to sell. With a group of students, discuss the importance of empathy for individuals and society. Consider the following questions: * How do you define empathy? * What is the difference between empathy and pity? * What factors make it harder to feel empathy for others? ## Research ### Timeline After a series of military conflicts, England gained full control over Ireland during the 17th and 18th centuries. England was a Protestant nation, while most of the Irish population was Roman Catholic. With a partner, conduct research on this period of Irish history and create an illustrated timeline showing how Protestants came to dominate Catholics in Ireland. # Expand Your Vocabulary Answer the questions to show your understanding of the vocabulary words. 1. Which is a rudiment of farming—knowing how to grow plants or knowing how to cook harvested food? 2. Which would a scrupulous landlord be more likely to do for a tenant who is out of work—offer a break on rent or ask for rent earlier than it is due? 3. Which is a collateral effect of heavy rains—overflowing dams or falling lake levels? 4. Which is an inducement to exercise more—getting a guitar or getting a skateboard? 5. Which of these provides healthier sustenance—a salad or a cake? 6. Which of these is an encumbrance to maintaining your household—not getting a bigger office at work or not earning a high hourly wage? 7. Which state is more prodigious—Texas or Rhode Island? # Vocabulary Strategy ## Context Clues Context clues are often found in the words and sentences around an unknown term. A context clue may consist of a definition or a restatement of the meaning of the unfamiliar word, an example following the word, a comparison or contrast, or a nearby synonym. The unknown word’s position or function in a sentence can also be a clue. For example, the placement and suffix of the vocabulary word *prodigious* in paragraph 2 tells you that it is an adjective, which makes the word easier to define. After using context clues to get a preliminary understanding of a word, you can verify the word’s meaning by looking it up in a dictionary. ## Practice and Apply Use context clues in each sentence to help you identify the correct words to complete the sentences. Check your answers in a dictionary. * inclemency * liable * reckoned 1. The farmer was _______ for the loan payment on the farm, even though he was not responsible for the failure of his crops. 2. He _______ the cost of raising a child, computing it to the penny. 3. The _______ of the winter weather, with frequent snow and ice storms, added to the misery of the homeless. # Watch Your Language! ## Active and Passive Voice In *A Modest Proposal*, Swift often uses the passive voice to imitate the bureaucratic language typical of a policy proposal. The voice of a verb tells whether its subject performs or receives the action expressed by the verb. * **In the active voice**, the subject performs the action expressed by the verb. Example: English callousness drove Swift to write the essay. * **In the passive voice**, the subject receives the action. Example: Swift *was driven* to write the essay by English callousness. Usually, the active voice is preferred because it is more direct and energetic. However, the passive voice may be used to emphasize the receiver of the action or when the doer of the