Question

Give an example of an invective in a modest proposal.

Answer 1

Swift's "A Modest Proposal" was a satire recommending Irish babies be consumed as nourishing food. Invective is a curse or cursing.

In A Modest Proposal, Swift makes multiple attacks directed towards Catholics, landlords, and the English. Not angry, but personal.

Answer 2

One example of an invective in ' A Modest Proposal ' is the reference that reformers 'regard people as commodities'.

'A Modest Proposal' by Jonathan Swift, published in 1729, is a response to worsening conditions in Ireland. It is a satirical essay in which the author suggests eating  babies as the way to solve the problem of famine in Ireland.

The essay mocks the heartless attitude of the Catholic Church and the ruling class towards the poor. Swift is criticizing the British treatment of their Irish subjects during a time of overpopulation and famine. The wealthy English owned over 90% of land in Ireland, they raised the rents on the Irish who worked for them, making it impossible for them to pay their duties to the lord and to support their large families.

Swifts suggests that if England is going to 'devour' the Irish, it may do it literally by eating the poor Irish children, thus saving them from a life of poverty and misery.