Part a: which two of the following statements best describe the central ideas of the text?

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In this session, we will be bringing you the updated answers for A Modest Proposal CommonLit topic.

A Modest Proposal CommonLit Answers Key

Almost all the questions have been answered below:

Q1. PART A: Which TWO of the following statements best describe the central ideas of the text?
Ans: -> In order to control population and poverty, the children of the poor should be sold as food.

-> The social situation during this time is dire, with poverty rampant throughout the kingdom, particularly in Ireland.

Q2. PART B: Which TWO of the following paragraphs best support the answers to Part A?
Ans: -> Paragraph 6

-> Paragraph 24

Q3. PART A: To what is the author referring when using words like “breeders” (Paragraph 5, Paragraph 14, Paragraph 18, and Paragraph 21) and “commodity” (Paragraph 6 and Paragraph 29) in the text?
Ans: poor child-bearing women and their children

Q4. PART B: What effect does the author’s word choice have on the tone of the text?
Ans: It makes the proposal sound even more ridiculous and over-the-top.

Q5. How does the following quote develop the narrator’s point of view?: “I desire those politicians who dislike my overture… that they will first ask the parents of these mortals, whether they would not at this day think it a great happiness to have been sold for food, at a year old in the manner I prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual scene of misfortunes as they have since gone through by the oppression of landlords, the impossibility of paying rent without money or trade, the want of common sustenance, with neither house nor clothes to cover them from the inclemencies of the weather, and the almost inevitable prospect of entailing the like or greater miseries upon their breed ever.” (Paragraph 32)
Ans: In this passage, Swift is making the point that maybe adults in poverty right now would have preferred to have been sold off for food at one year old rather than be living the life that they are. He points out the difficulties they are facing because of their landlords and the upper class and proposes that they might have been better off if they had been eaten as babies. This reinforces Swift’s point because it uses satire to point out something very, very wrong in their society that is a result of class inequality.

Q6. How does Swift’s use of hyperbole, or exaggeration, contribute to this satirical text?
Ans: By suggesting taboos such as infanticide and cannibalism to solve social issues, Swift employs hyperbole to satirize the government and upper class’s lack of concern for poverty.

Q7. Which TWO groups is Swift ultimately criticizing in “A Modest Proposal”?
Ans: -> the poor/lower class

-> the Catholics

Discussion Questions with answer

Q1. Can any proposal be justified if objectively analyzed and presented? Why or why not? Explain your answer in detail.
Ans: I thank that anything can be proposed but not everything will be accepted. I feel that if you are sure and present your ideas in a fair manner then it is more likely to be accepted than someone who is a pore in speech and cant make good points however in the theme of the text I don’t think that even the famished people of Ireland would want to eat their own children.

Q2. What is fair? Drawing upon your own experiences and outside readings, explain your answer in detail.
Ans: I don’t know if I understand the question completely but if it is asking me what is fair than I would say that eating your children is not a good start I believe that if the person is poor there should be programs to help that person get help and If there is no food there should be organizations set up to deal with that problem such as creating more farms.

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