The Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift

Improved Essays
Jonathan Swift's anonymously wrote the modest proposal was to end the food shortage in Ireland and feel the hunger crisis within stimulating the exchange and regulating the overpopulation of the poor. Swift proposes the idea by telling them that his friend in America said how tasty infant’s meat was delicious and tender meat that the chef basted, stewed, baked, boiled and roasted. Therefore, the baby skin turned into beautiful fine leather gloves for women and shoes for men. Swift proposes that the sale of infants would improve the economy by giving an income to the lower class that could not afford their children.

Nevertheless, the author was an Irishman preserving the welfare of his homeland as an Irishman. Swift puts a spin at the ending that reading would be outraged that Swift was the just concern for his country and not for the children living in the streets with no more than rags to cover themselves. Therefore, Swift proposed to sacrifice Irish babies as a delicacy for the wealthy. However, Swift remained driven by the desperate dilemma of his country, as well as the significant advantages rich and the author as confidence that the proposal would benefit the country. However, he tells the reader that he would not include for his children would not bring one shilling since they already past the age and his wife no longer have children.
…show more content…
The modest proposal by Jonathan Swift that the motive was to the public's right of the country and submitted his proposal. Jonathan Swift purpose as to gather people's reaction as they are shocked and outrage the reader of extreme poverty and unfair trade with Great Britain. Swift effectively uses irony to get his point across to make people stand up and take notice of the problem of poverty in their

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    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..…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” offers a very interesting proposal to the problems that Ireland was having with poverty and overpopulation. He offers several unrealistic and crazy solution that basically puts poor children into harsh treatment, child labor and offering them as a form of meat for the wealthy people to eat. Swift effectively uses insincerity, sarcasm, and rhetorical exaggeration to reveal his annoyance on how nobody is doing nothing about poverty and overpopulation in Ireland. Swifts main purpose of “A Modest Proposal” was to get the attention of everybody in Ireland that they have a big issue about poverty and over population.…

    • 135 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After reading the work of Jonathan Swift "A Modest Proposal" I could not help feeling sorry for the people who live in these conditions. The farmers who have to meditate for food and children who cannot defend themselves and only suffer from hunger and poverty. It is inevitable to think of solutions that help to hunger, anguish, and poverty. Therefore, Swift poses a solution full of satire, black humor and a bit of mockery about the depressing situation of these families and the society in general.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Modest Proposal was written by Jonathan Swift and published as a pamphlet in 1729. The proposal was submitted anonymously by Jonathan in an attempt to find a quick and simple solution to the poverty in Ireland. The author uses a number of rhetorical devise to appeal a rational and or emotional response of the audience. Right from the start of the proposal looking at the title, the author is using irony to introduce his proposal being hardly a “Modest Proposal”.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The issue that Swift sees is that the poor people and or beggars, as swift calls them, are not productive people of society and he wants to find a cheap, fast, and easy fix to this problem. The Author argues that the solution for this problem is to fatten up the poor children so that they can be sold to the Rich and eaten. This is supposed to help with overpopulation and unemployment and will spare the family the expenses of the child by being sold to the meat market at the age of 1. The Author gives specific data to uphold his argument and how this would benefit the community as a whole. The author believes that this will solve the complex social, political, and economic problems.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With regards to, A Modest Proposal it is very intriguing to read and discover the irony that is implied in the disturbing suggestion that is offered in Swift's piece. Evidently, it is human nature to be disgusted with cannibalism; so much that, Swift's callous expression was to encompass the reader to feel a sense of discomfort in what is immoral, but only to draw the attention of what is occurring in the nation. Even though, this piece of writing includes a very sardonic and ridiculing tone, it is the purpose of understanding the satire and quizzical humor that is emphasized in order to comprehend the reality and morality of the situation. In a like manner, Jonathan Swift sincerely does not desire to kill and consume babies; however, Swift's…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Also, he states that he is not bent on his real ideas alone to fix the problem. Therefore, he says if there are any better ideas, that others should do it. He did not refute the opposing claims to leave room for those who may have better ideas than Swift and therefore, he is not so bent on his ideas. The weakness in Swift’s argument is that it does not account for how the people would feel about helping the poor. They may not feel the need to do anything for the poor; such as feeding them or giving them food.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ”A Modest Proposal” is a satirical writing known by many by Dr. Jonathan Swift. This piece is about the betterment of the county on behalf of the beggars. This story, being a satirical writing, shows much humor. This story, I thought, was going to be lighthearted turned somewhat dark. In the story Swift talks about his own proposal on how to help the children of professed beggars, the beggars themselves and how to make the children beneficial to the rich in a dark and serious.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his satirical piece, A Modest Proposal, Dr. Jonathon Swift’s use of pathos demonstrates that civil neglect has debilitating effects on the poor in Ireland. Swift uses reduction to convey the degraded value of human life. Swift proposes that “the skin [of a child...] will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen” (I. 94-96). Since poor children are an eyesore to the upper class in the streets begging for food and money, Swift proposes that these children should be ridden of and killed. A poor child’s life, that would have been wasted away struggling to survive, takes on meaning by making use of its body parts to serve the upper class.…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jonathan Swift, author of “A Modest Proposal,” tries to present different ideas in order to change the situation of Ireland. Through his proposal, he is able to get his point across. He wrote this essay to show how undeveloped and bad the state of Ireland is and the social classes. Throughout the essay he tries to make the readers to accept his idea of selling kids for food, all the while mentions some facts he think it is right. The idea is trying to make children of Ireland into useful members of the community.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Modest Proposal is a satirical piece written by Jonathan Swift which uses the idea of satire to convey a message. His use of this literary device exaggerates the main message to comment on both the social and political hardships of overpopulation and poverty with Irish immigrants. There are multiple examples of irony that Swift uses, but these are about four of these pieces of evidence within the text that effective show his mastery of this literary device. The first example of Irony is within the title itself.…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1729, Jonathan Swift wrote, “A Modest Proposal”, a satirical proposition, in response to the more modest but equally ridiculous proposals that had previously been sincerely proposed by others. “A Modest Proposal” was meant to criticize the Irish people, mainly the upper class, for their logical but callous approach to the poor. While poverty appears to be the obvious reason for his motivations, it seems he is also satirizing the current attitudes and viewpoints of the wealthy Irish citizens. He is able to use a combination of a reason-based approach and set a tone of humor and slight disgust to appeal to the patriots, the religious, the rich, the commoners, and the beggars of Ireland. Swift keeps the tone of the paper formal and logical,…

    • 1113 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    A Modest Proposal, written by Jonathan Swift, is a satirical essay from 1729. In the essay, Swift describes the circumstances and the amount of Irish people throughout Great Britain living in poverty, along with the lack of assistance from the English. He writes about how the Irish’s situation could have improved if they were willing to sell their children (especially babies) as food for the people of wealth in Great Britain. Unlike in the Wizard of Oz, the Irish females in A Modest Proposal don’t experience self-realization. They have no confidence in themselves or want to improve their lifestyles whatsoever.…

    • 1440 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In his satirical essay “A Modest Proposal” Jonathan Swift uses cannibalism as a means to mock the English government. As a whole, his essay is shocking and grotesque at first, but it is also important to the direct critique of those who are in power. When Swift wrote this essay, the population of Ireland was suffering from the effects of British Colonization. Those who were in power neglected to help the disempowered, which included the vast majority of Ireland population (Professor Makdisi). Throughout his essay, Swift represents the negativity that is associated with the imposition of England men in power.…

    • 1650 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    2016 A Modest Proposal in Neoclassical Literature A Modest Proposal is a satirical essay which was written by an author, Jonathan Swift in 1729. The essay criticizes the economy and culture of English and Irish in the eighteenth century. The purpose of the essay is to address the seriousness of the social concern and problems in Irish. The author Swift uses literary techniques, irony and satire, to maximize the seriousness in Irish.…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays