1. Daniel Lozano
5/14/2009
Composition 101
A Modest Proposal
In this piece we saw that Jonathan Swift talks about his “modest proposal” to the problem
in Ireland. In this essay we see Swift talk about the situation that was in Ireland and how there
were so many problems. He gives a solution that probably no one would like. He tried to make so
convincing that you can actually believe him. If you look at this from an artistic point of view you
could say that his writing is excellent due to the fact that he makes you believe that what he is
saying factual. This piece really shows the type of writer he is. If we take a look at this we can
easily tell that he is talking in a very satirical mood.
From a satirical perspective someone could also say that he is an expert at what he does.
The way that he makes fun of society and all of its flaws gives us a feeling at what he was feeling
at that time. The way that he gave us a look at society was by showing how there is constantly
problems in the world. His approach to trying to explain this issue was very clever. He made it
into a way that though it was supposed to be funny, he also made you take a look at something
very serious about it. The way he wrote this piece really made people take a look at themselves
and really how closed minded they were.
The fact that he goes to so many details just to prove a point though he is been satirical
this really shows that he is trying to prove a point. The way in which he surprises you by taking

2. such a sudden turn in the story really gives a shock factor to the story. He started off by giving a
back-story to what was going on in the present time of Ireland. He probable did not want to start
off by giving his “proposal” in the beginning. By doing this he drew his audience in by telling them
something that they might relate to and they start reading into the story more. Throughout this
whole selection he tried to convey his messages while not really giving the complete details.
I believe that Swift’s main point of the paper was show something about human nature
that we probably did not see. It seems that he tries to say that people would do what they can to
survive as long as they can justify what they did. This really shows how society is; sort of like a
survival of the fittest in the world. By telling us satirical he gave us an entertaining look at
ourselves. He probably did it this way because he did not want to offend anyone but still address
the point. His examples and strong persistent details really make this a convincing paper though
we know that none of this is real