1. “A Modest Proposal” is an ironic essay: the author deliberately writes what he does not mean.  What is the real thesis?  Is there more than one?

The real thesis is the people saying to England and the kingdom that you oppress us so much that we might as well eat our children

  

  

2. Look closely at paragraphs 4, 6, and 7, and study how the appeals to logic are put in mathematical and economic terms.  Underline those words and phrases.

 am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is no salable commodity; and even when they come to this age they will not yield above three pounds, or three pounds and half-a-crown at most on the exchange; which cannot turn to account either to the parents or kingdom, the charge of nutriment and rags having been at least four times that value.

3. When does the reader begin to realize that the essay is ironic?  Before or after the actual proposal is made in paragraph 10?

Before.  When the author talks about the children in paragraph 4
   

4. Which groups of people are singled out as special targets for Swifts’ attack?  Are the Irish presented completely as victims, or are they also to blame?

I believe that the rulers are to blame and the Irish people are not to blame.

 5. Does the essay merely function as a satirical attack?  Does Swift ever present any serious proposals for improving conditions?  If so, where?

No i didn't find any improving conditions

 6. What is the purpose of the last paragraph?

To show that he isn't doing this for himself but for others.

7. The character proposing the measure uses various techniques to convince. These include statistics and appeals to the authority of prominent figures. Can you spot any others? Have you done any sort of "labor" job? Did you resist your employer and, if you did, what forms did your resistance take?  Is there a strong link between humor, anger, or other emotional states and resistance? Can you give examples of things you did to vent frustration (particularly if they were funny?)

In paragraph six the author is giving facts about children and how much they weigh and how great of a meal they would make.  Yes I have done a labor job.  I never resisted my employer because I didn't want to lose my job.  there is a strong link to all of these emotions and resistance.  You can resist your employer by making jokes about how you really feel just to lighten the mood but also have a real message to tell him.

8. If you were, conversely, given the job of marketing babies, do you think it could be done, and how? We have a tradition, in English, of keeping the French names for the meats of animals eaten primarily by the rich. Would the first step be calling baby meat something French? Would it be by processing the baby to the point of non-recognition?

 

Ew.  No we could never ever sell children.