Satire in Swift's "A Modest Proposal" — Quiz

Question 16 • English Language Arts 12

Which sentence from "A Modest Proposal" is the best example of satire?

Answer

Some persons of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number of poor people, who are aged, diseased, or maimed.

Thus the squire will learn to be a good landlord, and grow popular among his tenants, the mother will have eight shillings neat profit, and be fit for work till she produces another child.

I have reckoned upon a medium, that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, encreaseth to 28 pounds.

It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children.

Explanation

Choice B is the clearest example of satire because it describes selling a child as if it were a sensible economic arrangement: the landlord becomes popular, the mother earns a profit, and she can return to work. The outrageous, matter-of-fact tone mocks the selfishness of landlords and the way poverty is treated as a business problem. The other choices describe poverty or present calculations without the same pointed irony.

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