Irony in “A Modest Proposal”: a Satirical Examination

The Role and Purpose of Satire in Literature

Satire is a way of carrying out a specific task used by writers to uncover and condemn the inanity and wrongdoing of an individual or a society by applying comedy, mockery, overstatement, or sarcasm. A person, country, or, surprisingly, the whole world could be aimed in the form of satire by a writer. Traditionally, satire is a humorous section of writing which forms the enjoyment of an individual or a society to reveal its ignorance and imperfection.

Satire's job is to mock or attack those wrongdoings in society, which the writer contemplates as a warning to sophistication. The purpose of satire is not to create laughter towards people or ideas; it aims to inform society and to change their judgment regarding the succeeding dishonesty or surroundings. The most effective form of satire is the usage of mockery, making fun of and showing contemptuous language directed at a specific person or thing.

Mockery in Various Media Formats

Mockery is applied in most elements of satire because it tends to create further enjoyment for the audience. Throughout a piece of satire, mockery is generally used to mock or make fun of something. While people read or watch a piece of satire, it is more enjoyable to view when someone is being made fun of. For example, The Simpsons 3 am parody Donald Trump, mockery is constructed in this piece by making fun of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In this video, you can see how mockery is being used because watching this will make you laugh. Mockery is intending to mock or make fun of someone, which this video does very well.

Not only is mockery used in films or videos, but it is additionally applied in cartoons. In this cartoon, there is a sign that says, “Caution children playing.” This sign declaims the opposing view of what the children are actually doing. It conveys how the kids are on their phones or electronic devices, not playing or interacting with one another. This relates to today’s society because kids nowadays are always on their phones. Kids would rather be on their phones than hanging out with friends. This is an example of mockery because it is making fun of today’s generation and how kids cannot stay off of their phones.

Religious Mockery in "Huckleberry Finn"

Mockery is also used in the novel Huckleberry Finn; the characters do not mock or make fun of this topic. Religion is being made fun of and mocked in this novel, even though the characters do not mention anything about it. The author implies that religion is being made fun of. In the first chapter of this novel, it states, “Now she had got a start, and she went on and told me all about a good place. She said all a body would have to do there was to go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn’t think much of it. But I never said so. I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that because I wanted him and me to be together.” - The Huckleberry Finn, page 3. Twain shows how he does not like the proposal of heaven and communicates how the common person would think it was boring. This also shows how judgemental people can behave.

Irony in "A Modest Proposal"

Authors often use irony as a satirical device. The irony is a literary device in which there is an incongruence in discordance between what one says or does and what one means or what is generally understood. Swift uses vast amounts of irony throughout his writing called, A Modest Proposal.  In the Modest Proposal, mockery is used to mock a person. For example, “ For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen the number of papists, with whom we are yearly overrun, being the principal breeders of the nation as well as our dangerous enemies…” The author, Swift, is writing in the voice of an extreme, bigoted English Protestant in order to mock such a person. He reveals the stereotype that the Irish make a lot of babies by calling them “principal breeders.”

References:

1. "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift.
2. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.

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