A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift

What specific situations or occurrences do you find unjust or unacceptable? List at least 3. (Social, Political, Ethical, etc.)

“A satirist is a person who finds a specific situation or occurrence to be unjust an unacceptable, and will try with his satire to identify what is wrong with the situation and offer his solution” (Gunnarsdóttir 9). 

What specific situations or occurrences do you think the producers found unjust or unacceptable in the following clips?

• European Vacation clip• Christmas Vacation clip• The Daily Show/Jon Stewart clip• Will Ferrell/Global Warming clip

What specific situations or occurrences do you think the producers found unjust or unacceptable in the following clips?

• European Vacation clip• Christmas Vacation clip• The Daily Show/Jon Stewart clip• Will Ferrell/Global Warming clip

5. Based on what you have just read, what specific situations or occurrences do you think Jonathan Swift found unjust or unacceptable? Write your answer in the margins.

1. Now read and annotate the first page of our handout about Jonathan Swift.

2. Define Satire: Put the definition in your own words, hopefully without looking.

3. List the 7 Elements of Satire/Satirical Techniques we have studied.

4. Complete the Anticipate/Predict Qs:

Directions: Choose 2 words from this list that you do not know, look up the definition, write it down the word & definition on the bottom of page 8.

• Fricassee• Parsimony• Contrive• Prudent• Scrupulous

Directions: Choose 2 words from this list that you do not know, look up the definition, write it down the word & definition on the bottom of page 8.

• Ragout• Repine• Temperance• Propagation• Idolatrous

Directions: Choose 2 words from this list that you do not know, look up the definition, write it down the word & definition on the bottom of page 8.

• Subsistence• Importuning• Prodigious• Incur• Animosity

Directions: Choose 2 words from this list that you do not know, look up the definition, write it down the word & definition on the bottom of page 8.

• Expedient• Deference• Thrifty• Raiment• Deplorable

Before we start…

Define Modest:• relatively moderate, limited, or small

Define Proposal:• a plan or suggestion, especially a formal or

written one, put forward for consideration or discussion by others.

See Structure of “A Modest Proposal”

One last additional note…

When this was published in the Dublin Intelligencer, it was published in the section of the newspaper where politicians would submit their true policy suggestions. So the average reader simply saw this alongside other proposals, written in the same tone, location, and purpose as all the others. This is vital to understanding who is being satirized and how Swift assumed that persona.

Let’s begin reading!