Read this excerpt from Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal.
“I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand children already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one-fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle or swine."
Swift’s use of rational argument
Swift’s meticulous research into the topic
Swift’s disregard for the welfare of poor children
Swift’s use of verbal irony