Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a classic example of a satire. Britannica Encyclopedia defines a satire as a “artistic form, chiefly literary and dramatic, in which human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, parody, caricature, or other methods, sometimes with an intent to inspire social reform.” In true satire form, Swift uses irony to show the shortcomings of the Irish landlords and how they are not helping the issue of overcrowding of the starving poor. This can be seen when he is talking about how selling the poor’s children to be eaten would help them to “Pay their landlords' rent, their corn and cattle being already seized, and money a thing unknown". The narrative arc of this piece occurs when Swift explains how he plans to fix the problems he discussed such as the overcrowding of the beggars in Ireland. He plans to do this by having families sell their kids to be eaten. “Kids are tasty and cost a lot when they hit the terrible twos. If you fatten them up and sell them for shillings, the famine and overpopulation crisis will be averted.” Clearly this is an over exaggerated statement as to how to fix the overcrowding issue. People would not actually fatten up their two year olds to sell. In this piece, as in most traditional satires, the protagonist would be the narrator who uses irony to point out the vices at hand. 

“I Am Sorry That I Didn’t Write a Comedy Piece” is a much more modern version of a satire than “A Modest Proposal”. This piece has the same goal of using irony to point out the follies of Christopher Hitchens’ essay stating that women are not funny. Wendy Molyneux starts by saying that she will write her own comedy piece but then gets distracted by stereotypical things people think women do. “But as I sat down in my bay window (filled with pillows that I knitted myself while waiting by the phone for potential husbands to call) and opened by pink Mac laptop, I happened to see a lady walking down the street with a baby of her very own. So then I started crying again because I don’t have a baby.” This is clearly an exaggeration of why a woman may get distracted however it is in keeping with traditional satire form. Swift also used exaggeration, although harsher than Molyneux’s, recommending people eat children. It is easier to tell her essay is a comedy because of its more obvious humor while Swift’s darker use of irony makes it harder to recognize. Statements like “My cats love to be symbols of my loneliness. Sometimes I have to be like, stop signifying so loudly guys, I’m watching Grey’s Anatomy,” make it easier to identify this as a comedy. A cat lady is a stereotypical example of lonely women and women primarily watch Grey’s Anatomy. Most people would know this so it is easy to make the connection and get the joke. This humor is also an example of a typical satire. This piece is evidence that a satire is not just something that is written in Old English that makes a political statement and comic references that a modern day person would not understand. It shows it can be something more fun and light hearted that people may actually find funny but are still able to see why the issues need to be addressed.
