18th c.: "A Modest Proposal" – Flashcards
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All of the following are problems afflicting Ireland with which Swift is concerned in this essay EXCEPT:
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The breakdown of parental authority
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What is the primary consideration of the speaker's argument?
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Economics
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According to the speaker, all of the following are advantages of his proposal EXCEPT that:
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The number of absentee landlords will fall
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Which of the following best describes the cumulative effect on the reader of the speaker's presenting the advantages of his proposal one after another?
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Horrifying
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To remove all suggestion of irony from the title of this essay, one might rename it:
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"An Outrageous Proposal"
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The overall tone of this essay could best be described as _____
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Mock-earnest
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Swift's main purpose in writing this essay was most probably to: ____
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Shock the reader into realizing the plight of Ireland's poor
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The speaker believes that the answer to Ireland's problems lies in _____
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Cannibalism
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According to the speaker's calculations, the greatest number of children born in Ireland _____
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Are born into poverty
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When the speaker argues that only one male for every four females need be reserved for breeding he is implying that _____
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Poor people are not faithful to one mate
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Which of the following best describes the values of the "experts" to whom the speaker refers?
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Materialistic
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What point does Swift make through the speaker's statement that the landlords have "already devoured most of the parents" of poor children?
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Landlords are responsible for the poverty of poor people
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Swift suggests that the main problem with absentee landlords is that they ____
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Take from, but do not add to, Ireland's economy
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What is one thing that Swift accomplishes by referring to people in this essay with such term as "dam," "breeders," and "salable commodity"?
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Treating them as animals
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Explain why "A Modest Proposal" would be classified as an example of Jevenalian satire?
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B/c it's bitter and dark
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Whose advice does Swift receive whenever he wishes to know what a child would taste like at a year old or 12 years old?
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By his American acquaintance
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Swift would "not get a single penny" from his proposal. Why?
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Bc he has no children and they are too old to sell and his wife is too old
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Name one of the things that Swift attacks or ridicules
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Landlords
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List one of Swift's advantages
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Tenants will have something valuable on their own
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Define Satire
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Writing that uses humor to ridicule human vice and folly
