"A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift

Read "A Modest Proposal." Answer the questions you received in class. Swift's essay is one of the most skilled pieces of persuasive writing used for satire. Satire is a type of writing in which the author uses humor to point out the flaws in society, government etc.Chaucer used this device when he wrote The Canterbury Tales. Then write your opinion about the article by posting a comment in the space below. This is not optional; all students are to give some reaction to the piece, or comment on something somebody else has said. I am looking forward to your opinions.
Close Reading Questions
“A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift

1. What format does Swift appear to be using for his satire on the treatment of the Irish by the British, who at this time ruled over them?

2. What causes distress for the people who walk the streets of Dublin?

3. Who does he feel should have a statue erected to his honor?

4. What is Swift insinuating is the cause of the “present deplorable state of the Kingdom?

5. How do we know that Swift has tried to find an answer to this problem before this?

6. How old are the children that Swift intends to provide for?

7. What does he achieve when he refers to the “horrid practice” of abortion and the “sacrificing of the poor innocent babes”?


8. What advantage does he say his proposal will have?

9. Why dos the narrator think the food he proposes is “very proper for the landlords”?

10. What is the connotation of referring to the wives as breeders?


11. Why does he say it would be impossible to provide for the number of children that are born? What do you think he achieves by saying this?


12. What methods of satire are used in the passage about the market value of children?


13. What is his “modest proposal”? What effect is achieved by calling the proposal modest? What is he doing here?


14. Why does he plan to allow one-fourth of the males top grow to adulthood?

15. To whom will the babies be sold?

16. How have the landlords “devoured” the present parents of children? Why do you think he uses the word devoured? What is the connotation of this word?


17. How is Swift satirizing Catholics in general?

18. In discussing the economics of his proposal, what kind of appeal is the writer making? How is he hoping to persuade his readers?


19. When the narrator suggests “dressing” children “hot from the knife” what does he mean? What effect does he expect his word choice to have?


20. Why does Swift disagree with the suggestion of his friend?

21. What effect does the narrator’s reference to his objection to cruelty have on you?

22. Why does the narrator reject the idea of selling and eating the twelve to fourteen year olds?

23. Why does the narrator say they do not have to worry about the sick and elderly?


24. What are the six advantages he says can be gained form his proposal?





25. In the paragraph beginning “Supposing that one thousand families. . .” what is he using in order to push his proposal?


26. What is the difference between the proposals in italics and Swift’s ‘modest proposal”?


27. What insight do we get into Swift’s real feelings about the situation in Ireland from the paragraph which begins “But as to myself,. . .”?


28. What are the problems that must be solved in Ireland at this time according to the narrator?


29. With what kind of appeals does Swift close his essay?


30. What is the true purpose of Swift’s essay?