Jonathan Swift Satire

Swift had the seemingly ultimate solution to dissolve poverty, hardship, and financial burdens for the people of Ireland. His plan was quite simple. Fatten, sell, and devour the young. Although Jonathan Swift’s writings were misinterpreted and found controversial “I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration…that the remaining hundred thousand may at a year old be offered in sale… (233), it was this type of irony or indirect contradiction that he obviously felt was needed to capture his reader’s attention. The grimness of the condition Ireland had allowed themselves to get in, was one very troubling to Swift. He was clear and direct when mentioning the reprehensible and the woeful state of his people “when they see the streets, the roads, and the cabin doors, crowded with beggars of …show more content…
Throughout the remainder of his essay however, Swift appears to be a callused, almost cruel character blind and deaf to any other suggestions “Therefore, I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the likes expedients, till he hath at least some glimpse of hope…(238). In his unhinged tactics, Swift wanted to make the political leaders of both Ireland and Britain acknowledge their responsibility in the failure to do anything to eradicate the famine and anguish of the people. By offering this insane, and unfathomable proposal of cannibalism was in actuality, announcing to the world and all his readers that his proposal was as immoral and unjustifiable as the poverty, famine, and over population their leaders did nothing to remedy. This gained their attention whether they understood the calculated reasoning behind it or not. His ability to use such a cynical and outrageous thesis was a brilliant though unlikely approach to effect