A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

In the satirical piece “A Modest Proposal” (1729), Jonathan Swift addresses the troubling economic and social conditions in Ireland. He adopts a persona, known by scholars as the Proposer, who suggests a “fair, cheap, and easy Method” to rid Ireland of poverty (Swift 230). Instead of proposing a logical and practical solution, however, the Proposer offers a horrifying plan: selling the babies of poverty-stricken families into the food market to lessen the number of beggars on the street. With the majority of Irish children being used for food consumption and a small percentage retained for breed, overpopulation would no longer be an issue and the upper-class would have a constant food source. The Proposer goes on to list even more advantages of this solution: the “nation’s stock will be thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per annum,” parents would be more nurturing to their children and employment …show more content…
He uses the Proposer in the beginning of the pamphlet in order to create a distant perspective, one that the upper-class can ultimately identify with; in doing so, Swift is able to expose the societal issues taking place in Ireland. As the essay develops, Swift has the Proposer introduce a cannibalistic solution, one that, he thinks, no one will object to. By suggesting that the audience would agree to such a violent idea, Swift indirectly criticizes the upper-class, implying that they are just as immoral as the Proposer himself. He goes on to use this idea as a means of presenting his own practical solutions, revealing how reasonable and doable they are. Therefore, it is clear that using the Proposer helps Swift introduce the problem of poverty, criticize the upper-class for not preventing or helping the problem, and offer his own solutions that could inevitably better the societal and economic conditions in