“A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People From Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick,” written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift in 1729, is a Juvenalian satirical essay where the proposer gives an extremely sarcastic and ironic solution to the difficulties that Ireland faced in the early 1700s. In order to fully comprehend Swift’s satire-packed essay, some background information is required about the historical and political background. During the 1700’s, often referred to as the “Age of Ascendancy” and “Penal Era,” eighty percent of Ireland’s population consisted of Irish Catholics, yet less than one-third of them owned land. During this period, Protestant English landowners rose in class, while the Irish Catholics descended due to their oppression. (Laura Leddy Turner, Demand Media) With England governing over Ireland, legislation was passed to limit the rights of the Irish. The Irish were limited from holding government office, purchasing real estate, getting an education, and
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Initially, the proposer is sympathetic and expresses a need for a solution. However, Swift is cold and rational, despite his initial sympathy. Swift believes that there is a continual cycle of poverty where the parents are poor, so their children remain poor, which makes them useless to society. The proposer suggests that the impoverished Irish can make use of these useless children and ease some of their economic issues by selling these children as food. He argues that children could be sold into the meat market at the age of one, giving the poor families income, while sparing them the expense of raising a child and having the cycle of poverty repeat.. The proposer reasons that this will help to resolve the overpopulation and unemployment in Ireland, boosting the Irish
Initially, the proposer is sympathetic and expresses a need for a solution. However, Swift is cold and rational, despite his initial sympathy. Swift believes that there is a continual cycle of poverty where the parents are poor, so their children remain poor, which makes them useless to society. The proposer suggests that the impoverished Irish can make use of these useless children and ease some of their economic issues by selling these children as food. He argues that children could be sold into the meat market at the age of one, giving the poor families income, while sparing them the expense of raising a child and having the cycle of poverty repeat.. The proposer reasons that this will help to resolve the overpopulation and unemployment in Ireland, boosting the Irish