Swift's a Modest Proposal

Jonathan Swift's (1729) A Modest Proposal begins as a satirical dissertation on the overwhelming issue of the plight of the Irish poor. Swift suggests a most unconventional plan for reducing the masses of starving citizens. Ultimately, however, this piece becomes a strong and profound political statement on the treatment of the Irish people by the English/Irish landholders, and those economic policies that allowed the landholders to prey on their renters, literally "renting" them into starvation (Sayre; 2008).

Swift initially proposes that the impoverished Irish people begin breeding their infant children to be sold as food to the aristocracy and landholders, rather than continuing to breed future generations of starving masses. This would ostensibly reduce both filial and national burdens associated with caring for the poorest class of people. He goes so far with the shock value of this proposal that he compares infants to herd animals. He clinically presents strong arguments with excellent cost-to-benefit ratios, while maintaining apologetic tones for advocating a structured child cannibalistic program.

I realized this proposal had a surprise ending when Swift indicated that since the landlords had already "devoured" the parents, they had the greatest claim on their renters' children. This diatribe against an economy based primarily on exploiting the poorest citizens swells with double entendre. Swift's real solutions offered for the socio-economic problems become stronger when contrasted with the absurdity of his proposal. This unexpected ending convinced me that logical solutions existed to save the Irish poor, but they were clearly ignored by society.

References

Sayre, H. (2008). The Humanities: Culture, Continuity & Change (pp. 925-928). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Swift, J. (1729). A Modest Proposal For Preventing the Children of the Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to their Parents or the Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick. Retrieved from http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/swift/modest.html