Read the excerpt from "A Modest Proposal." I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar's child (in which list I reckon all cottagers, labourers, and four-fifths of the farmers) to be about two shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, as I have said, will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat, when he hath only some particular friend, or his own family to dine with him. One aspect of satire evident in this excerpt is
Answer
A
understatement, because the author truly believes that his plan is worthwhile.
B
understatement, because the author does not think others will agree with him.
C
verbal irony, because the author does not truly believe his own words.
D
verbal irony, because the author wants others to see his point of view.
Explanation
The speaker calmly describes selling and eating children as if it were a sensible economic plan. This is verbal irony: Swift’s words appear to endorse the proposal, but he does not truly believe it. The shocking suggestion exposes the cruelty and indifference of those who treat poor people as a problem to be managed.
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