A peice of Satire
written by Jonathon
Swift suring the 18th
Century famine in
ireland
Humorously puts forward
the idea of cannibalism as
a solution for the famin,
suggesting also a mockery
of the government and
society of the time.
Draws attention to the
nature of the rich and
the English, who
controlled Ireland during
this period, and
exploited the famine for
their own gain
Purpose is to
pursuade, social
commentary,
Rhetorical,
Argumentative
Poor/Rich people in
he 18th century and
government/polititions
Draws attention to
the pronlem in
Ireland through the
use of dark humour
Irish are
generally roman
catholics,
meaning they
have a lot of
children
Form and Stucture
Prose essay form, full
of unsound evidence
to convince people of
the merits of using
children as food
Argument begins by calculating the number
of children born each year in ireland, and
points out that they are unfit for employment,
therefore the population is a burdern to the
state.
Moves onto the
acutual proposal,
concludes that
children should
be eaten
Writen from first person
perspective, use of 'we'
includes the reader,
suggesting them to be a
part of the government,
persuding them to make a
change.
Word Choice
and grammar
Words from the lexical
field of economics have
been used, making the
text seem legitimate and
a political proposal
The statistics back
up his arguement
and he employs a
rational tone
Text is written as though a political peice
of writing, highlighted by the complex
sentences are use of paragraphing. The
syntax makes the text formal, as does the
structuing.
No colloquial
language is
used, however
shorter
sentences are
often used as a
form of
emphasis
'Humbly Propose'
juxtaposes against
actual idea
'male' and
'females'-
back to
savages
Lengthy complex
sentences-
intended to shock
the audience as
they are filled with
detail
The food will be expensive-
will suit landlords as they are
the cause of the problem
'Devoured most of
the parents'
metaphorical
reference
Archaic
Language-
'hitherto'
'Repine'
Solution to the
problem is extreme-
intended to shock
the audience into
realising the
seriousness of the
problems in Ireland
Figurative Language
Dehumanisation-
people often referred
to as stock at the
beinning of the text.
Women are reffered
to as breeders
Men and women from
upper class can wear
the chidlren- he blames
them for the famine