His apparent rationality is asserted when he diplomatically states, "After all, I am not so violently bent upon my own opinion as to reject any offer proposed by wise men, which shall be found equally innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual" (2479). The projection illustrated by such statements is one of a logical, compassionate, and benevolent man, all as an attempt by Swift to parody the ridiculousness he witnesses in his own time. .
Swift's master use of diction in A Modest Proposal certainly aides in the development of his satire and social statement. An abundance of irony may be found in the text from the title onward, that by using in the title a word which, by its conveying the opposite message of what Swift truly means, defines irony, establishes in a subtle manner that the pamphlet will have an ironic overtone. The incessant references to the children as burdensome to their parents clearly evoke irony when it is in fact the English oppression of the Irish that Swift sees as the true injustice. As one would refer to a pesky rodent or an increase in taxes, the child born to a poor Irishman is named an "additional grievance" in the lives of those who are already facing immense troubles (2474). Furthermore, the constant comparison of the children to animals reveals a greater irony at hand. Disregarding the humanity involved in the relationship between a parent and child, the birth of an infant to a poor mother is referred to as being "dropped from its dam" (2474). Additionally, like cattle raised simply for food production, mothers are commonly called "breeders" in the literature (2474). The children are spoken of in terms of what their production will be, what economic gains and relief they will bring, and, in acts of sheer cannibalism, how tasty they will be served at the finest tables. As to their production, Swift states with a great deal of irony and parody, "( ) of the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one forth part to be males, which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle, or swine" (2475).
