Write Your Own Modest Proposal
Assignment: After reading Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” write your own satirical solution to a
problem in modern American society. Follow MLA formatting guidelines (Typed, DS, Times NR, 12 pt.,
1” margins, MLA header and heading). This assignment will be worth a total of 50 points. Due
________________________.
Process:
1. Read and analyze Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” Note the structure and tone of the
essay, as well as Swift’s use of satirical techniques.
2. Brainstorm societal problems that you might want to address. It can be a serious national or
social issue or a situation that you have to deal with in everyday life. Swift wrote as he did
because he was deeply enraged by what he saw taking place. His essay captures that rage. The
best essays will focus on some issue that deeply affects you. If you don’t care, the essay will
show it.
3. Structure your essay like Swift’s. You may feel free to add additional paragraphs where
appropriate, but your essay should follow the basic model below:
a. Paragraph 1: A clear first paragraph that contains an image of your societal problem.
(Swift’s image in his first paragraph is that of the mother with six children dressed in
rags begging for alms. Try to include an image of your problem that elicits the readers’
sympathies in a similar way.)
b. Paragraph 2: A paragraph description of your shocking solution. (This is like the
paragraph in which Swift talks “delicious and nourishing” babies.) Discuss a solution that
really might work to solve the problem (Swift’s is that if we could all show some decency
towards one another, our fighting just might stop. You can find this in the paragraph
that begins “I can think of no one that will possibly be raised against this proposal” and
goes through the next paragraph) and explain why this realistic solution will never work,
given what you know. Stay in the voice of the ironic persona. While this might be a real
solution to the problem, one that normal people will see as real, the ironic persona will
find fault with a realistic solution, because the ironic persona favors “modest”
proposals.
c. Paragraph 3: A list of six clearly labeled “logical reasons” for why your solution would
work. (Label your sentences “firstly,” “secondly,” “thirdly,” as Swift does.)
d. Paragraph 4: A paragraph describing your response to the opposition’s argument.
e. Paragraph 5: Conclusion.
**Warning. Many, many examples of this type of assignment exist. Do not succumb to the temptation
to cheat. Maintain high ethical standards for yourself and for your work.