11.2 Persuasion and satire
What is satire and what is its purpose? What are the elements of satire?
Satire uses figurative language to comment on someone's weaknesses or idiocy. Satire is used to create a quick funny situation, and could be used to hurt someone's feelings. The elements of satire are Irony, exaggeration, humor, ridicule.
Explain why/how A Modest Proposal is or is not a satire.
A Modest Proposal Is not a satire because it is a persuasive essay, and it does not make fun of any weaknesses or idiocy in it, any hyperbole or exaggeration in it is not funny and meant to be took seriously.
Persuasive writing is designed to convince the reader to agree with the writer's position on an issue. What is the issue in "A Modest Proposal"? What is the writer's position on the issue?
The issue in "A Modest Proposal" is how the infants are starving to death, how people are under fed, how people are begging for money and don't have nice clothes, how infants grow up to be thieves, or sell themselves to other countries. Mr. swift wants to turn create more jobs for the irish public, so they no longer starve, so the infants don't starve to death, so the infants don't become thieves, so they don't sell themselves to other countries.
In persuasive writing, the author must support any position with evidence, and this evidence must be presented in an organized way. What evidence does Swift supply? How is the evidence organized?
Mr. Swift supplies the evidence of children with rags, beggars off the street followed by a number of children. It all kind of coagulates in the beginning, but, it also spreads throughout the essay/speech, with saying some of the poor can be great craftsmen, butchers, etc.
Persuasive writing often aims to move the reader to action by appealing to the emotions or to the intellect. Does Swift appeal to the emotions? the intellect? Explain.
Mr. Swift appeals to emotion because of how he keeps mentioning back to the starving children and the poor mothers who struggle to feed them.
Writers who wish to persuade must establish their own credibility. How does Swift make himself credible to the reader?
Mr. Swift makes himself credible because of how he talks about his sources, his knowledge of Dublin and what goes on in the street
Persuasive writing uses transitions between and among sentences and paragraphs to signal logical connections. What are some examples of transitions in this essay? Are they logically connected?
Some examples of transitions in this essay are time (first, second, third, etc.), space (there, outside, nearby, etc.), Compare/contrast, (however, moreover, similarly, etc.) Yes, some of them are logically connected because of how they tie in the information too each other.
At times, authors use humor as a persuasive device. A common form of humor used for persuasive purposes is hyperbole, or exaggeration. Locate examples of hyperbole in "A Modest Proposal" and explain how these examples support the author's position.
or six children, great a number, greatly lessen, one-million and a half, By greatly expressing a number or being vague it creates a sense of compassion towards those people, along with a feeling of sympathy.