A Modest Proposal Reading Check

What reaction did Swift want his readers to have?

• shock
• hunger
• brainstorm other ways to use carcasses
• indifference

The purpose of A Modest Proposal is to satirize...

• English policy in Ireland

• Irish bankers

• Tenants who don't pay rent

• Overpopulation concerns

In the beginning, what image does the narrator describe that represents the problem(s) he plans to resolve?

• A horse with 3 legs that is killed and its meat sold in market.
• A poor woman begging with a string of her children behind her.
• A poor man with a thick beard begging for food, then dying on the street.
• A thin, malnourished child eating crumbs from the dumpster behind a diner.

For how long is a mother able to breastfeed her child without additoinal expense?

• 6 months
• 9 months
• 12 months
• 15 months

What large scale societal problem does Swift plan to resolve?

• Overpopulation of Ireland
• Spreading religion to Ireland
• Mistreatment of Irish poor
• Uplifting the English poor

What is Swift's claim?

• The English need to be treated better or they will start to eat children.

• The Irish need to handle their money better or they will have to sell children.

• The English should sell their children into Irish slavery to help their economy.

• The Irish should sell their babies to English butchers as a delicacy.

What does Swift mean when he says, "The English landlords have already devoured most of the Irish parents?

• Cannibalism has been part of English culture.
• The landlords have financially devoured the Irish tenants.
• Landlords will eat tenants who cannot pay rent.
• Irish parents will not sell their children.

What 2 questions does Swift suggest to anyone with other ideas that resolve the problem he identified?

• How will you decrease Catholics and support them without debt?
• How will you feed and clothe 100,000 people and support them without debt?
• How will you decrease the Protestants?  How will you then buy stock?
• How will you feed Irish babies and decrease the population?

The narrator claims to have no personal motive behind his proposal because...

• He is English and could not benefit from his proposal
• His wife is past childbearing age
• He lives in the country and doesn't own a farm
• He is not a landlord and does not wish to be rich

Who does Swift feel bad for and why does he feel bad for them?

• Irish. Because they are pitiful and complacent

• English. Because they are pitiful and complacent

• Irish. Because they are poor and hopeless

• English. Because they are poor and hopeless