Irony In A Modest Proposal

In “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift discusses,using irony, several alternatives he believes will help the audiences situation rather than eating babies. One such alternative is “taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound”(Swift 1204). Some landowners rent out their homes and farms to the poor, have them do all the work, and then keep the profit. Swift suggests that for every pound of profit the landowners make, they should be taxed 5 shillings, so that the country will make more money to feed its people. Another solution he proposes is “of using neither clothes nor household furniture except what is of our own growth and manufacture”(Swift 1204). The best way to boost the economy is by purchasing things that were produced in their country.