In the story “A Modest Proposal”, by Jonathan Swift, the author suggests a method for reducing the number of starving children in Ireland and calls for a change in poverty levels. Swift uses irony to conduct his proposal and argues that the nation of Ireland should feed the malnourished and underfed children until they are fat. Once this is complete they should take all the children and sell them to the wealthy English landowners as product to be used for butcher meat. He believes this will help statistically reduce over population and help economic issues. Swift’s whole proposal is very dark and twisted, but it is purposely done because the story is written as a satire. A satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. The author writes a satire to provide a different outlook on the issues at hand in Ireland. Although the author provides a complete and utter ridiculous proposition, he does so to expose the lack of attention that these starving children received. He clearly doesn’t want Ireland to implement this plan and begin to sell children as butcher meat, but this essay serves as a cry to all the “modest” pamphlets circulating around the country. Also he does so to ridicule the Irish for not executing a plan to reduce this serious matter. Swift truly captures all aspects of a good satire. He uses an abundance of humor and exaggeration in his proposal of an absolutely absurd idea to lower the amount of underfed children. An example of this humorous exaggeration is when Swift states, “I can think of no one objection, that will possibly be raised against this proposal” (Swift). This quote shows the author describing how he doesn’t see any objection to his proposal. He completely overlooks the fact that he is proposing that infants and children are sold to the wealthy as FOOD as a way of reducing population. This exaggeration is very humorous and helps further the authors point to write a satirical essay. The whole point of this text is to ridicule the English for their lack of support on the cause, especially considering their friendly United Kingdom relationship. Finally Swift writes this proposal to also ridicule the Irish government for their lack of motivation and action on such a serious matter. The author narrates as a protagonist and uses satire to ridicule the antagonist (unmotivated political institutions). All of these elements together make for a spot on satire and through the humor the reader is able to see the true purpose of the text.

The essay “A Modest Proposal”, by Jonathan Swift, corresponds well with other literary satires and agrees with basic frameworks of that genre. The story “Animal Farm”, by George Orwell, serves as a prime example of the two texts agreement with one another. “Animal Farm” is one of the most notorious satires in literary history and helps show the strong corresponding ideas and frameworks. Aside from the main ideas that both texts share such as using humor and exaggeration to ridicule people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of politics, both texts have major body structure similarities. In both texts the issue at hand isn’t outright stated from the start. Swift does not begin by describing his proposal and explaining the situation with the governments until about midway through the essay. Similarly to Orwell, in “Animal Farm”, the issue of power between the animals doesn’t come about until midway through the story. The overall structure of a satire begins with an introduction and eventually proceeds to a proposal and the introducing of a problem at hand. There is usually a reaction to this problem/proposal and then some sort of solution to end the text. This convention of writing structure is seen in both satirical literary pieces. Although “A Modest Proposal” is only a short essay, it still conveys all of these aspects just as the lengthier “Animal Farm” does. This agreement between the two texts provides the reader with the understanding that satires function in a predictable manner. By understanding the structure, it is clear as to what will proceed throughout the text. There are clear genre conventions that follow and force the writer to fit for the satire genre. Although satires disrupt the social norms in society, they don’t disrupt the genre itself. 