A MODEST PROPOSAL
I had actually read this before in the previous AP english class I had during my junior year of high school. At first I was quite shocked that any person would propose the idea of eating children to fix an issue, but having learned why the author decided to use this thought made me think it was quite genius. Jonathan Swift was using this proposal as a way to give his true ideas, but in an a way guided by irony. Swift didn't truly desire that people eat children, but he desired that taxes, foreign affairs, caution toward the selling of a countries land, and landlords having respect for their tenants be things that are enforced, watched, and thought upon before being done. I was intrigued by the fact that Swift drew reader in to read his article and his proposals by writing about a horrible idea and the ways it could work. I did enjoy reading this and analyzing it because I learned a lot of things from it like irony, forms of diction, satire, etc. I am excited to go over it again to see what other things might be uncovered.