In Jonathan Swift's essay, "A Modest Proposal", (1729) is a unique imagery solution concerning the lives of poor and rich people in Ireland. The paper was written not to make the reader believe the solution to overpopulation and poverty in Ireland was to consume young babies, but to visualize that a practical solution was needed. Jonathan Swift's words figuratively compares the Irish to farm animals, which indicates the way the Irish are being treated and looked upon. Even though something seems one way, Jonathan Swift makes the reader see things in a different perspective. .
First of all, the author's proposal begins with describing the dreadful conditions of how the Irish peasants are living, demonstrating a serious problem that requires an immediate solution. He then suggests a solution and then lists some advantages. The solution suggested was the consumption of the Irish infants, followed by advantages such as "by the sale of their children, [the parents would] be rid of the charge of maintaining them after the first year"(Swift, 27). Another advantage the author informs the reader of "the poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own" (Swift, 24). This implies that the poorer tenants have very little or nothing of value and would have to resort to selling their own flesh and blood in order to survive. A decrease in the consumption of meat will be an advantage to Ireland because the addition of some thousand carcasses in our exportation of barrelled beef"(Swift, 30). By reducing the amount of meat consumed, this makes the cannibalism offer more attractive and can therefore increase the exportation of beef. All of Jonathan Swift's advantages he suggests are true and if his proposals were done, they would be benefits, at the cost of asking the parents to sell their children for consumption. .
Metaphors are used continuously throughout this essay to parallel the Irish peasants to animals.