A Modest Proposal Response

“A Modest Proposal” Jonathon Swift wrote and published “A Modest Proposal” anonymously in 1729. During this time Swift’s country of Ireland was being controlled by England. Under England’s control Ireland’s conditions were very poor during the 1720’s. Ireland was overpopulated, poor, and heavily dependent on England during this time. “A Modest Proposal” is an argumentative essay that uses both satire and irony to entertain the reader. At first, the reader may believe that Swift’s purpose in writing this essay is to convince the reader that overfeeding newborn children, killing them, and then selling the meat to the rich will improve Ireland’s economic problems. He backs up this argument with facts and reasons as to why this solution will put an end to poverty in Ireland. For example, Swift lists six reasons why overfeeding newborns will benefit the country. First, the number of dangerous Catholics will decrease. Second, the poor will get more property. Third, the wealth of the nation will increase. Fourth, mothers will not have to worry about raising children. Fifth, this new food will be welcomed in taverns. Sixth, marriage will be better because women will take better care of newborns so they can be sold and men will take better care of their wife’s so that she can make more babies and sell them. Swift presents these arguments in a satirical way. Even though the audience is able to see the positive outcomes of this solution however; they also know that this solution of killing newborns is extremely inhumane. Although, Swift presents his arguments in this essay his overall purpose is to not persuade the reader into agreeing with him, instead his purpose is to entertain his audience through the use of satire. His proposal to kill and eat newborn children sounds so incredibly morbid and wrong that the reader will not be able to take Swift’s arguments seriously. For example, at the beginning of this essay he talks about a beggar’s lifestyle