A Modest Proposal and Other Satires

Find at least three examples of irony in AMP. What effect does this technique have on the essay? What purpose do these examples serve?

Find at least three examples of irony in AMP.

1.

2.

3.

What effect does this technique have on the essay? What purpose do these examples serve?

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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 palms.

2) 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 Boyled, and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a Fricasie, or Ragoust.

3) "I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs."

Swift's outrageous use of irony brings his point home..... he means the exact opposite of what he says, but as readers, we cannot help but feel compassion for the plight of the Irish.

Source(s)

A Modest Proposal