food glorious food- text 22 "A modest proposal"

Ideas behind extract

• mocks rich people because of the way they eat, "two dishes at entertainment" and because of their attitudes towards the poor, "stealing until they arrive at six years old".
• about the british and irish relationship, written in time of political unrest, "present distresses of the kingdom".

Lexis

• the whole piece sounds very serious at first, nut is actually very sarcastic.
• uses knowledgeable language, aimed at the rich as they are educated, the poor wouldn't be able to understand. "I subtract", this also shows mathematical lexis, this is used a lot and makes the sentence hard to understand, which adds to the rediculousness of this text.
• the lexis can be quite matter of fact, "i again subtract fifty thousand, for those women who miscarry"
• blunt lexis, "stealing until they arrive at six years old" makes the poor seem that all they can do is steal, makes them seem worthless.
• sematic field of food, "wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled"
• metaphor that suggests exploitation, that…