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Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Women as Livestock:
While the primary targets of the Proposer's dehumanizing language are Irish children, the impoverished mothers of those children are treated with the same indignity. Throughout "A Modest Proposal," the Proposer refers to women as livestock, using the term "breeding" to describe human reproduction. This motif often coincides with the use of statistics:
The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about 200,000 couple whose wives are breeders.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Abortion and Cannibalism:
Before he outlines in explicit terms the violent nature of his solution, the Proposer describes the types of violence he wishes to circumvent: namely, women aborting the unborn and murdering their bastard children. The Proposer clearly describes this violence in an attempt to generate pathos and make readers sympathetic to his cause and proposed solution:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, alas, too frequent among us! sacrificing the poor innocent babes I doubt more to avoid the expense than the shame, which would move tears and pity in the most savage and inhuman breast.
Related Themes:
