A not so Modest Proposal

Olivia Small
Ms. Wilson
Brit Lit B.
May 17 2013
A Modest Proposal
                  Jonathan Swift wastes no time to make his point before the piece even begins. “For Preventing The Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being A burden to Their Parents or Country, and For Making Them Beneficial to The Public.” So instead of kids being a problem, we could make them a solution. In “”A Modest Proposal” Jonathon Swift takes the point of view of an economist. To criticize the current economy, he uses juvenalian satire, irony, and allusion to humans being animalistic to satirize the stingy British approach to dealing with their Irish subjects. And in reality, his proposal is far from modest.
                   Swift references animals a lot, and he does so by comparing them to children. “I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand children already computed twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one fourth part to be males, which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle, or swine. “(Swift 11) He’s saying 100,000 children should be put aside for consumption and only 20,000 should be kept alive for reproducing, and only a fourth of those will be males. Compared to animals, those are some really good odds! Again he compares children to animals when saying “although I rather recommend buying the children alive and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.”(Swift 18) just casually offering his opinion on how the children would be best served. But he doesn’t treat them like children; they are simply just as good as swine. Instead of children running around and playing, swift rips their innocence and childhood right from them, and the end they have no real chance to live.
                    There is lots of emotion and sympathy in swifts tone in the beginning, “It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in this country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms.”(Swift 1) He feels bad for these mothers, dragging around all these kids, who let’s be honest, probably weren’t behaving. Swift then “Humbly” proposes his thoughts on cannibalism as if they're perfectly legitimate and ordinary. So the whole piece is already pretty ironic, from going from sympathetic to basically emotionally vacant. “I can think of no one objection that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it be urged that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom.” (Swift 28) He can’t find anything wrong with the proposal! He thinks it’s basically perfect, unless people then stop having kids, then that creates a problem. “…And that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, alas! Too frequent among us! Sacrificing the poor innocent babes…” (Swift 5) apparently to swift abortion is a horrid, unimaginably awful thing, killing a “poor, innocent babe” but what is the difference between that and killing a small child? In my opinion what Swift is proposing is worse!! The funniest part is, Swift wouldn’t take his own advice, and after all, he only has one kid to worry about.” I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing.” (Swift 33)
                     So if you’re poor, have kids and sell them! In Swifts eyes, this is the perfect solution. families wouldnt be struggling to support so many children, people would have more money, no one would be hungry. Swift uses juvenalian satire in order to show how truley bad the conditions that these people are living in.