"A Modest Proposal" is a satirical essay written by Jonathan Swift to mock and criticize the degradation of Ireland's society during a period of economic decline. In the essay, Swift proposes a solution to the current problems of starvation and poverty in Ireland. Swift argues, through economic reasoning and self-righteous moral, that the malnourished children of Ireland be fed to the country's wealthy landlords. Swift argues that, in doing so, Ireland will be able to combat its problems of overpopulation and unemployment, thereby decreasing poverty and starvation in the country. Swift offers statistical data throughout his essay to further support the effectiveness of his proposal, providing the audience with specific detail about the number of children to be sold, their weight and price, and projected consumption patterns. .
Analysis.
During the late seventeenth century, Ireland was placed into a state of economic and social decline. Struck by an increase in poverty and starvation, the welfare for the poor in Ireland began to rapidly decline, while the wealthy land-owning aristocrats of the country continued to live lavish lifestyles. Disgusted by the backwards state of Ireland and its social classes, author Jonathan Swift constructs a ridiculous proposal in his satirical essay "A Modest Proposal". In his essay, Swift utilizes juxtaposition, irony, and pathos to cleverly ridicule the declining Irish society with an appalling proposal to feed the malnourished children of the country to the wealthy.
Swift's mocking of Ireland's state of decline can be seen through his juxtaposition of a moral solution to the country's problems with his shocking proposal of consuming children. Swift begins his essay with a reasonable statement on improving the role of children in the backwards state of Ireland, stating, "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.