A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift

During the early 1700s in Ireland, there were countless people that lived in poverty. Families that had many children at that time were usually the families that lived in poverty. If they chose to sell those children instead of keeping them, at the end of every year they would make 8 shillings for every kid they did not keep. In time, it would have been more beneficial for the poor families to sell their children because they would be making money on them (Baker). In 1729, a man named Jonathan Swift believed that he found a way to eliminate some of that poverty and feed the rich with the same solution. To propose his theory, he wrote “A Modest Proposal.” He wanted the poor people to give up their children as necessary evil. In the essay, Jonathan Swift challenges the status quo of the time and place in which it was written by saying people should sell and eat children and believing that women should be breeders (Swift).

During the late seventeenth century the English controlled-parliament had legislated several ideas and laws that restricted the rights of the Ireland Catholics. This caused the Ireland economy to slowly fall apart as many people discarded the issues. However, Jonathan Swift took advantage of the overlooked laws and went on to write the essay, A Modest Proposal. In this writing piece Swift lodged a ridiculous proposal. In doing so he manifested a clear cut image of how backwards and corrupted the state of Ireland really was in the hands of the English. Swift’s essay employed his insincerity, sarcasm, verbal irony, and rhetorics that depicted the conditions of Ireland and its people. However his tone of the whole essay along with his insincerity illustrated the comical effect of the proposal to make his argument seem unserious.

In his modest proposal, Jonathan Swift uses logical fallacies, repetition, metaphors, humor, parallelism, sarcasm and satire. The devices are effectively used to examine the attitude of the rich people towards the poor in the society. Jonathan starts by mocking the mothers for strolling in the streets begging for alms instead of looking for jobs and putting something on the tables for children to eat. Jonathan predicts that when the kids grow, they might turn out to be thieves as nobody taught these kids to earn an honest living. He uses logical fallacies to try and make the proposal modest though his line of thinking is not correct. He points out that a year-old child is nourishing and wholesome food. That a healthy child is delicious food to be prepared using any method of food preparation is outrageous. He proposes that 20,000 children preserved for bleeding purposes. This is dehumanizing children and comparing them to animals. He outlines how slaughterhouses should be build and butchers be employed to do the slaughtering of children. In his exaggeration, he goes to the point of saying that the kids will be roasted like pigs. ( ) Swift also uses irony when he says that there are about 200,000 couples whose wives are just breeders. ( ) He proposes that an arrangement is made to the rear and provide for these children. Here he compares women to animals because human beings are not bred for commercial purposes. Here he dehumanizes human beings by use of satire. He gives reasons as to why this is a good idea. First, he says that the method will decrease the number of useless Catholics in Ireland. Secondly, he claims that the government will earn from exports of the meat from Ireland. The mothers will also earn something from this breeding and a burden will be lifted off their shoulders. He also foresees that the new delicacy will be welcomed in the taverns. The marriage institution will also be enhanced because mothers will put in more effort in raising the best kids because they would fetch good prices in the markets. To support his argument, Swift is sarcastic that some parts of children's body are good for eating. He further notes that these

A Modest Proposal is an audacious piece of writing aimed for more than just the country of Ireland.  Jonathan Swift develops an objective plan of suggestions that would ironically do the complete opposite of what he wanted to achieve. His primary goal, along with many others, was to improve the country’s economy. This in turn led to an exaggerated piece in which the author recommends his country to eat the less valuable of the bunch; hoping to decrease hunger, overpopulation, and increase market income.

When one thinks of the phrase “A Modest Proposal,” does one come to think of fattening babies so they can sell as meat. In Jonathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal,” Swift uses satirical writing to communicate with the reader to expose the critical situation of the poor people of Ireland. Whom besides going through a tough period of famine have to endure the overwhelming taxation rates of the English empire. The author’s proposal intends to convince the public of the incompetence of Ireland’s politicians, the lack empathy of the wealthy, the English oppression, and the inability of the Irish to mobilize themselves against this situation. Johnathan proposed an outrageous solution that the Irish folks eat their children at the age of one or sell them in the market as meet. Finally, he manifests to be open to other suggestions to help overcome the country’s crisis. The proposal was made strategically using several different parts: the text, author, audience, purpose, and setting to persuade the tax to go lower.

In Jonathan Swift’s essay, A Modest Proposal (1729), Swift puts forth a proposal that would over “fix” Ireland’s issue of poor children and women at the time. His proposal was to start eating kids when they were born, so they would not wind up on the streets. Throughout his essay, he uses statistical data, appeal to marriage, and use of repetition to persuade his audience that his proposal will be a good idea.

In his “A Modest Proposal”, Johnathon Swift employs no shortage of phrases that dehumanize the Irish people. He likens women and the poor to “breeders,” implying that the only thing they are good for in life is to procreate and profit from their offspring. He goes on to reference, “child dropped from its dam,” as if making a comparison between women and animals. Swift furthers that with talk of allowing a number of women for breeding reserves, and it being more than the allotted number to that of livestock. Swift continues his dehumanization by making the people and children themselves seem inconsequential. He reduces them to mere numbers—statistics. By dividing and lessening their numbers (poor people who cannot sustain their children vs women who lose their babies), Swift makes the Irish people seem even more inconsequential. His proposal is revolting and ultimately ironic. There were vast numbers of people dying—and yet no one seemed to care. I think Swift chose his method of dehumanization because it just further made his point and it compels the person reading to think on whether they could view fellow human beings in such a cold manner.

The presence of commerce in Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is anything but modest, but nonetheless it is there and it does take a certain side on finding a solution for society’s main problems at that specific time. In the early 1700’s, conditions in Ireland slowly began to worsen, hence his satirical, scathing response to the lack of solving the ever so present economic crisis the people of Ireland were experiencing. As he mentions in his proposal, poor children, predominantly Catholic, are seen all across the country, and in his point of view they are seen as burdens to their families and not so much of good use to the commonwealth.

A Modest Proposal ,by Jonathan Swift, is a rather strange piece of work that encompases a proposal of eating babies. Swift did not intend to for people to actually follow his proposal and eat babies, but to showcase the abuse Irish Catholic’s encounter from Protestants in society. Swift oddly uses the proposal of eating Irish babies in his work to showcase how the Irish Catholics are treated. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift is an obsolete work filled with modern day humour and irony in various ways to compose an essence of satire.

Jonathan Swift’s satirical pamphlet, A Modest Proposal, as a way to ironically find a way For the CommonWealth of Ireland to benefit from the starving children. He proposes the idea that an unwanted child should be fattened up then feed to landlords or have their meat sold in the market. In turn curing the nation’s problem of overpopulation and contribute to the economic well-being of the nation. Swift’s satire exploits the fundamental human function of eating. The need to eat is a driving human force, for a population to survive they need to eat. To propose the idea that we should eat our offspring is vile. Through Swift’s ingenious writing, start off entirely opposed to his idea, but towards the end of his piece you begin to find yourself uncomfortably agreeing. By offering statistical support, his assertions, and recipes he concludes that this measure will be the only way to solve the complex issues suffered by Ireland. Any other method, will just only fall short in comparison.

Johnathan Swift’s book A Modest Proposal is about the poor conditions of the Irish families in 1729. All the families are really poor and have way to many kids, so Swift suggests that these poor Irish families should fatten up their children and sell them to the rich English land owners. He makes the argument that the children should be sold into meat markets as early as 1 year old, as long as they are fed a lot in that first year.

In this statement he is estimating the amount of children in Ireland, and how many would be given up for consumption. He also includes an estimated price for the charge of nursing a poor child to be about two shillings and ten for the child after it has been plumped and sold. Swift follows by describing how many servings it would fulfill as well as how many people it could nourish. By presenting this information he makes the proposal seem possible, well thought out, and easily put into action.

At the point when a great many people have an issue with the way something is being done they come ideal out and say it clearly. Jonathan Swift tries an alternate approach keeping in mind the end goal to demonstrate his dismay with how Ireland is being run and the nation’s absence of thoughts on the best way to illuminate the social issues that are influencing it. Jonathan Swift, an eighteenth century comedian and writer, composed the exposition "A Modest Proposal" as a mocking approach to indicate individuals that they have not concocted pertinent or working plans to understand social issues, for example, fetus removal, overpopulation, and neediness. Through his terribly wry thought of savagery to take care of the issues of Ireland he can

Renowned author, Jonathan Swift, in a modest proposal, shares the answer to solving all of our economic troubles. He suggests that we fatten our infants for a year or so, making them nice and plump, then, sell them as livestock to the rich to devour as an exquisite cuisine. Now, I’m not sure how “modest” this proposal is, but I’m all for it! A human arm, fried with salt and pepper sprinkled on top is not the typical meal you will see at the dinner table in the average American household; although, it would be a nice way to spice it up a bit.

In his biting political satire called ?A Modest Proposal,? Jonathan Swift seeks to create empathy for the poor through his ironic portrayal of the children of Irish beggars as commodities that can be regulated and even eaten. He is able to poke fun at the dehumanization of the multitudes of poor people in Ireland by ironically commenting on what he sees as an extension of the current situation. Swift?s essay seeks to comment on the terrible condition of starvation that a huge portion of Ireland has been forced into, and the inane rationalizations that the rich are quick to submit in order to justify the economic inequality. He is able to highlight the absurdity of these attempted