Jonathan Swift’s addressing a serious issue that is affecting hundreds of thousand of children in Ireland. Due to increase in taxes and the Potato Famine a great number of children are starving, along with all the people who are living in poverty. Jonathan Swift wanted to bring attention to this important topic, and he decided that instead of writing seriously about this problem, he would use satire and black humor. It most have been very risky for Swift to write an essay such as this one, however it is effective at being thought provoking, The problem Swift addresses in this essay, poverty and starvation, is still, in today’s society, a real problem that affects millions of people, and we have yet not found a solution to this complex problem. The genius of Swift in this essay is to propose the most radical proposal possible (Ironically the essay is titled as “Modest”), to eat these unwanted children.
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He goes on about how this will benefit the economy, bring a pleasure to the rich, dramatically decrease poverty, and paradoxically, it could be argued that his proposal is, in a way, humane. He speaks about selling this children as livestock at the age of 1, when they are unaware about the world around them, in order to spare them from a life of suffering. These unwanted children, both in Ireland, and in the current world, will grow up to have miserable lives of suffering, where they will have to go through hunger, and being treated by society as unwanted. Swift’s proposal also solves this problem, as the children will be killed off before they are able to experiencing suffering. This is what makes his essay so effective is that all that is stated in his essay is true: It is true the economy might be benefited, it is true that this will reduce poverty, and it’s true this will spare the children
He goes on about how this will benefit the economy, bring a pleasure to the rich, dramatically decrease poverty, and paradoxically, it could be argued that his proposal is, in a way, humane. He speaks about selling this children as livestock at the age of 1, when they are unaware about the world around them, in order to spare them from a life of suffering. These unwanted children, both in Ireland, and in the current world, will grow up to have miserable lives of suffering, where they will have to go through hunger, and being treated by society as unwanted. Swift’s proposal also solves this problem, as the children will be killed off before they are able to experiencing suffering. This is what makes his essay so effective is that all that is stated in his essay is true: It is true the economy might be benefited, it is true that this will reduce poverty, and it’s true this will spare the children