Modest Proposal Notebook Assignment

Please write good, AP sentences in your notebooks that answer these questions. Use your satire handout for help with vocabulary.  :)

1. Discuss diction.  Discuss tone.  Discuss attitude.  Can you articulate the difference between these three elements of rhetoric?
2. What is Swift’s attitude toward the social ills of his day?  Make the distinction between Swift and his persona.  Locate places in the essay where Swift’s voice comes through.
3. Jot down examples of quantification and dehumanization, paragraphs 1-7.
4. What rhetorical purpose is achieved by starting with anticipated results of his proposal before he gets to specifics?
5. Paragraph 9:  why doesn’t Swift end his sentence with the word “food”?
6. Identify classic appeals of ethos, pathos, logos.
7. Identify appeals to thrift, economy, and patriotism.
8. What is the additional proposal in paragraph 17?  What is the rhetorical strategy at work here?
9. List the assumptions behind Swift’s claims in paragraphs 21-26.