A Modest Proposal

Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’ begins by detailing the extent of poverty in Ireland. He estimates a figure of the levels of poverty and divides it out detailing the surplus of children who can’t be fed.

The piece then becomes satirical suggesting that the solution to Ireland’s problem is to eat children continuing to claim that there are so many ways that they can be prepared as a meal. Slavery would not be a viable alternative for said children for the ones young enough to be consumed would be too young for labour and those old enough for labour would be better used breeding more children for consumption and sale. 

He goes on to say that by treating children as livestock will have many benefits not only the obvious economic benefits that would be derived from such a sustainable product source it would also for example reduce the amount of domestic abuse. For example because unborn children have value then they are a product that needs to be protected to ensure profit can be gained, therefore husbands would beat their wives far less or not at all through fear of miscarriage and losing said profit.

The entire piece is an obvious piece of satire written in response to and to mock the impractical solutions being discussed and considered at the time which treated the Irish as commodities figures and percentages to be calculated.