Johnathan Swift Essay, Research Paper

A Modest Proposal

In Swift s A Modest Proposal he discusses how he wanted to prevent the poor children to no longer remain a burden to their parents or to the country, but instead to make them more beneficial to the public. Swift also wanted to expose the economic restrictions that the British had imposed upon them. Swift also mentions how some of the Anglo- Irish cooperated in their exploitation by their selfishness and foolishness.

The Author suggests a solution for the beggars and the people in much need of food. He says that there are too many children and one fourth are males and that is too many according to Swift. So he recommended that they should eat their kids and that they should be fed properly before eating in order to render a good taste.

In Swift s proposal the way to stop their economic troubles that they were experiencing was to boycott all goods manufactured by the Britains. Instead to use all goods made or grown by the people themselves, and utterly rejecting the material and instruments that promoted foreign luxury.

Swift uses irony and satire when he talks about eating the children. He does this by making eating children seem like a normal thing, by doing this he shows how the British government feels about the people. In that eating their children would be a fine solution to them as long as the kids were getting off the streets. He also mentions about how mothers are encouraged to get married and have kids but he is actually using satire at this moment. When he says this, he is saying how the poverty is impacted these people that even marriage and having children is a dangerous aspect in life cause it only makes less food for the family.

The satire does have some effect, but I think it would be a lot more effective if he would just tell it how it is and not having to beat around the bush so much. I think he does make it very clear on the how bad the poverty of the children is, but it is not necessary for him to continue it for so long. Although his satire was used so heavily his point is easily seen how these people struggle so hard during life but have little to show for their efforts in a world filled with tyranny.