The Modest Proposal

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?

"And besides, it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice, (although indeed very unjustly) as a little bordering upon cruelty, which, I confess, hath always been with me the strongest objection against any project, how well soever intended."

• 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.

In "A Modest Proposal," why did the author say that his proposal for eating kids would be good for marriages?

• A smaller family means the spouses will pay more attention to each other.

• Children ruin marriages.

• Suffering would bring the spouses closer together.

• It brings in money and makes the husband see his pregnant wife as valuable.

In "A Modest Proposal", what social problem does Swift blame for widespread thievery in Ireland?

• Lack of jobs and the people therefore having to steal to survive

• Heavy pollution caused by decaying bodies

• Men were abandoning their families, leaving them in poverty.

• A wickedness caused by reading stories about Satan

"A Modest Proposal" is actually a sharp critique of what?

• The Irish potato famine

• The lack of fertilizing practices in Irish farming

• The poor state of England's fishing fleet

• England's treatment of the Irish

Which sentence best describes the narrator's purpose in writing this proposal?

• He is proposing a solution to the problem of Irish parents who cannot financially support their children.

• He is proposing a solution to the problem of teen crime and promiscuity in Ireland.

• He is proposing a solution to the problem of English landlords' unfair treatment of Irish tenants.

• He is proposing a solution to the problem of servant shortages in wealthy English households.

What two pieces of evidence strongly support Swift's attitude toward the treatment of Ireland's poor people?

• His assurance of religious freedom & statistical prowess

• His nationality & his excitement for new income for the Irish

• His plan for "baby-skin" clothing & his wife past childbearing age

• His list of bad solutions and quote about devouring parents

How does the author justify his proposal to potential critics?

• He doesn't care whether the proposal is put into action or not, and so he doesn't need to justify it.

• He claims there are plenty of poor people that would prefer having been sold as food, instead of suffering later.

• He claims there are plenty of starving poor people that would voluntarily eat their own children.