Jon stared for a moment, then took another moment to breathe. "The use of exposure and exaggeration to criticise people's stupidity. Often political. In this case, it means that Swift knows that the people he's addressing - largely the rich and the English," sorry, Jo, "have a history of thinking of the poor Irish as animals, and he's going to take that to its insane conclusion and treat it as if that insane conclusion were logical. He's not actually suggesting eating children as a viable solution; he's saying, 'well, if you don't think these people deserve being treated right, then why not?' I hope that makes sense."
Re: Class activity
Jon stared for a moment, then took another moment to breathe. "The use of exposure and exaggeration to criticise people's stupidity. Often political. In this case, it means that Swift knows that the people he's addressing - largely the rich and the English," sorry, Jo, "have a history of thinking of the poor Irish as animals, and he's going to take that to its insane conclusion and treat it as if that insane conclusion were logical. He's not actually suggesting eating children as a viable solution; he's saying, 'well, if you don't think these people deserve being treated right, then why not?' I hope that makes sense."
Please let it make sense.