Modest Proposal

What two aspects of Swift's writing clearly indicate Swift's purpose?

• his attention to detail and honesty

• his imagery and statistics

• his irony and understatement

• his grammar and organization

Which of the following ideas about the author’s message is best supported by the text?

• The author believes that the best solution to combat poverty and begging is to allow peasants to sell their children for profit.

• In discussing the satirical proposal to help the poor, the author critiques those who have placed Irish people in poverty.

• By examining poverty in Ireland, the author makes an argument that England should take more responsibility in helping Ireland.

• All of the above.

What literary device does the following passage mainly employ?

• Irony

• Metaphor

• Onomatopoeia

• Allusion

Which of the following inferences is best supported by this passage?

• The proposal claims that Protestants do not have enough children.

• The proposal claims that the Pope supports the proposition.

• The proposal argues that Papists would have more children.

• The proposal argues that the Papists have too many children.

Which of the following options best explains a positive outcome to the plan proposed?

• People will be less inclined to have children if they have to give them up at one year old to be eaten.

• Catholics will have more children if they can sell them for money, increasing Papal influence in Ireland.

• Ireland will be able to import less food if they have a source of food that comes directly from Irish men and women.

• Irish families will feel more invested in childcare.

The narrator of A Modest Proposal suggests that one-year-old children would provide the most satisfying ______

for those with enough money to afford the treat.

• inducement

• scrupulous

• sustenance

• rudiment

"A Modest Proposal" was published as a _______, a work that's just a few pages long. Rather than being bound with a hardcover like a book, a _____ is unbound or loosely bound. This form of publishing was very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. People used them as part of religious and political debates. They were an inexpensive way to get a single piece of writing into circulation, and many writers wrote back and forth in a kind of war of ideas.

• paradox

• understatement

• pamphlet

• extended analogy

Although, at first, Swift felt exiled when he returned to Ireland to become dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, he soon regained his interest in politics and in _______writing.

• essay

• news

• editorial

• satirical

What is Swift's claim or thesis?

• 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 eat and sell their babies as a delicacy.

Which group does Swift's proposal say will decrease in population? (HINT: one of the advantages)

• Protestants

• The English

• Catholics

• White People