A Modest Proposal

fascinating proposal for the british economy to include the sale and consumption of babies and infants. if for nothing else read it for the lulz

This was my first exposure to sarcasm in literature. I remember reading it and being ex-Catholic, found it especially funny. It still delivers.

Wonderful/ While this could apply to the current state of affairs some people might find it hard to read/ Like my current congressman

The full name of Jonathan Swift’s pamphlet is 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. This work is a Juvenalian satire which is a type of satirical writing that uses extreme hyperbole to mock or criticize some aspect of human behaviour, society, or government. A Modest Proposal mocks heartless attitudes towards the poor, as well as British policy towards the Irish in general. The title is itself ironic because Swift’s proposal is not at all modest but is disgusting and absurd. The essay starts by lamenting the sad fate of the children of the poverty-stricken Irish who live in squalor because their parents are too poor to keep them fed and clothed. Swift argues that the problem of too many children could be turned into a boon if the children of the poor were fattened up and sold into a meat market at the age of one year old. He uses hard-edged economic reasoning to support his proposal and lists six advantages to selling Irish babies as food, namely, reducing the number of Catholics, allowing the poor to pay rent, improving the menus at eating establishments, relieving poor parents of the financial burden of raising children, improving marriage and family life for the Irish by making the children assets of value and the mothers’ contributors to the financial wealth of the family, and enriching the Irish nation. Swift goes on to cite statistics in support of his argument in the form of specific data about the number of children to be sold, their weight and price, and the projected consumption patterns of the purchasers. He also suggests recipes for the preparation and cooking of the children. His essay concludes that his proposal would solve Ireland’s complex social, political, and economic problems. The purpose of A Modest Proposal is to comment on England’s legal and economic exploitation of Ireland. While the essay sometimes argues that the Irish themselves are partially to blame for their country’s problems, his main viewpoint is that the English were responsible for destroying Ireland’s economy and culture. A Modest Proposal is a shocking but excellent piece of writing that highlights political and social injustices by using logical extremes to make a ridiculous argument for solving the problem of poverty in Ireland in 1729 when the piece was published. A Modest Proposal is still relevant because extreme poverty still plagues many countries in the world. Quotes from A Modest Proposal “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.” “I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar’s child ... to be about two shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, as I have said, will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat. Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flay the carcass; the skin of which artificially dressed will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen.” “whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the common-wealth, would deserve so well of the public, as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.”

The solution of too-many green eyed children. Although the true irony lies in Britains use of the Irish as one of several slave classes for hundreds of years. They should have realized we would out breed them at some point.

Swifts treatise lives up to its reputation, hilarious and somewhat offensive. His serious delivery of the prescription of eating Irish children still shocks and amuses, especially in its self-conscious spearing of prescriptive theorists. Change the name of the country and alter the situation a bit and the satire could be a contemporary work, if only we still had talented satirists. It was fun to finally read the essay in its entirety. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys jokes about eating people or who enjoy satire.

I do believe that if Jonathan Swift were alive today, he would be writing for The Onion. Which, coming from me, is highest praise.

Intriguing. Some of the references were completely lost due to the time difference, but the overall ideas it presents were very interesting. I would highly recommend this to anyone.

Used for AP Lit class!

Johnathan Swift crafts a brilliant satire about serious issues of his day such as the widening wealth gap, growing poverty, lack of altruistic empathy, which are even more relevant today than they were in the authors time. A must read for the modern person.