Question

\a modest proposal\
by jonathan swift
it is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or
travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads and cabbin-
doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or
six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms.
these mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are
forced to employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their
helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work,
or leave their dear native country, to fight for the pretender in spain, or sell
themselves to the barbadoes.
i think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number of children in
the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently
of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom, a very
great additional grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair,
cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful
members of the common-wealth, would deserve so well of the publick, as
to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.
but my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the
children of professed beggars: it is of a much greater extent, and shall take
in the whole number of infants at a certain age, who are born of parents in
effect as little able to support them, as those who demand our charity in
the streets.
as to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years, upon this
and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.
which statement best describes swift’s use of understatement in this
excerpt?
he states that butchers would have a problem
roasting a child \as we do roasting pigs.\
he states that
oasting pigs\ is more difficult than
roasting children.
he states that butchers are always \wanting\ for

oasting pigs.\
he states that sending children to the butcher
would be as simple as
oasting pigs.\

Explanation:

In "A Modest Proposal", Swift uses understatement to downplay the horrifying idea of using children as food. The excerpt "and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs" compares preparing children for eating to roasting pigs, making a grotesque act seem ordinary. Option D captures this understatement by showing how Swift presents sending children to the butcher (for eating) as simple as roasting pigs, minimizing the moral and ethical horror of the act. Other options misinterpret the understatement: A focuses on butchers' problem (not the understatement of the act), B compares difficulty (not understatement), C is about butchers wanting pigs (irrelevant to the understatement of child - eating).

Answer:

D. He states that sending children to the butcher would be as simple as "roasting pigs."