In English writing, the phrase 'a modest proposal' is now conventionally an allusion to this style of straight-faced satire. This satirical hyperbole mocked heartless attitudes towards the poor, predominantly Irish Catholic (i.e., 'Papists') as well as British policy towards the Irish in general. The essay suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food to rich gentlemen and ladies. Certainly, it allowed me to perceive his proposal as something more complex than what was given.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, commonly referred to as A Modest Proposal, is a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift in 1729. What is great about this work is that Swift completely backs up his idea with a logical and coherent manner (albeit the actual solution is unsound!) which allows the reader to see how he is deliberately trying to bring forth such thoughts from the reader. Swift’s comment on how “whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth” completely satisfied my justification on this essay being satirical. I believe that Swift wanted to use such an unheard and inhumane idea to show how some view the poor community and to what extremes these people would go to remove this ill-favored part of a society. However, even though these thoughts ran through my mind, Swift’s ideas were supported with a strong rationale which made me believe that they did in fact hold some truth.Īfter completing the reading I determined that this was a certainly a satirical work, as I originally thought it could possibly be.

I could not possibly believe that any human being would suggest others to eat children in the effort to reduce poverty which, as Swift described, would improve the economic (as well as other) conditions in Ireland. As soon as I saw what Swift declared as a solution to improve the poor conditions that the destitute experienced in Ireland, I thought that the man was either unethical and immoral or he was simply being sarcastic.

I began reading Swift’s so called proposal with a serious and attentive approach.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift