Jonathan Swifts Essay, A Modest Proposal - 659 Words

Jonathan Swifts Essay, A Modest Proposal Jonathan Swift in his essay, A Modest Proposal suggests a unique solution to the problem concerning poor children in Ireland. Swift uses several analytical techniques like statistics, induction, and testimony to persuade his readers. His idea is admirable because he suggests that instead of putting money into the problem, one can make money from the problem. However, his proposal is inhumane. Swift wrote his proposal for those that were tired of looking at poor children of Ireland. He starts out explaining the situation in Ireland regarding single poor mothers that have three to six children and cannot afford to feed or clothe them. The children of the poor are a burden and a disgrace†¦show more content†¦I again subtract 50,000 for those women who miscarry, or whose children die by accident or disease within the year. There only remain 120,000 children of poor parents annually born. He would keep about 20,000 for breeding and sell the rest for food. Swift argues that this would boost the country economically by 8 shillings per child. That is at least 800,000 shillings compared to their debt of 2,000,000 pounds sterling. Swift also uses induction from a case where in Formosa (now Taiwan); anytime a young person was killed the state would sell the body for a fair price and was considered a delicacy. Also there was a young, fifteen-year-old girl that tried to kill the emperor and was sold to the Prime Minister for a good meal. He points out that there are same non-productive young people in their country who could be sold for a profit like in Formosa. He suggests that such a course may be taken to ease the nation of so grievous an encumbrance. Swift then uses the testimony of a very worthy person, a true lover of his country, and whose virtues I highly esteem. This person and many more gentlemen like himself supported Swift’s proposal due to a lack of deer meat and the need for more money. He conceived that the want of venison might be well supplied by the bodies of young lads and maidens, not exceeding fourteen years of age nor under twelve. There were also testimonies from an American who backed the tastefulnessShow MoreRelatedEssay on Jonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal1391 Words   |  6 Pages In Jonathan Swift’s essay, â€Å"A Modest Proposal†, Swift proposes that the poor should eat their own starving children during a great a famine in Ireland. What would draw Swift into writing to such lengths? When times get hard in Ireland, Swift states that the children would make great meals. The key factor to Swift’s essay that the reader must see that Swift is not literally ordering the poor to cannibalize. Swift acknowledges the fact of the scarcity of food and empathizes with the struggling andRead More Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal Essay459 Words   |  2 PagesJonathan Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Jonathan Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal,† published in 1729, Swift engages in an extraordinary amount of irony and satire. Swift states that in order to reduce famine in Ireland and to solve the problems that they are having that eating children would be a good solution. This is not the purpose of Swift’s essay. The real intent was to get the people of Britain to notice that the ideas that they were coming up with were not any better than his satiricalRead MoreAnalysis of Jonathan Swifts Essay A Modest Proposal903 Words   |  4 PagesJonathan Swifts 1729 essay A Modest Proposal deals with societal issues contemporary to him and is meant to provide harsh criticism in regard to values promoted by society at the time. The author uses this essay with the purpose of suggesting that he found the solution to financial problems experienced by the Irish during the era. By advising these people to sell their people to wealthy individuals in Englan d, he intends to satirize society by emphasizing the cruel attitudes generally expressedRead More Jonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal Essay1150 Words   |  5 PagesJonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal Swift was said to â€Å"declare at one stage in his life: ‘I am not of this vile country (Ireland), I am an Englishman’† (Hertford website). In his satire â€Å"A Modest Proposal,† he illustrates his dislike not only for the Irish, but for the English, organized religions, rich, greedy landlords, and people of power. It is obvious that Swift dislikes these people, but the reader must explore from where his loathing for the groups of people stems. I believe Swift notRead MoreThe Satirical Nature of Jonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal Essay example662 Words   |  3 Pages A Modest Proposal The satirical essay â€Å"A Modest Proposal† written and published in in 1729 by an Anglo- Irish man named Jonathan Swift, in response to the worsening conditions of Ireland, was one of his most controversial and severe writings of his time. The narrator in Swift’s essay â€Å"A Modest Proposal† argues for a drastic and radical end to poverty in Ireland. Swift’s proposal suggests that the needy, poor people of Ireland can ease their troubles simply by selling their children as food toRead MoreJonathan Swift’s Essay A Modest Proposal, and Voltaire’s Novella, Candide999 Words   |  4 Pagesdiffering works of literature that employ similar elements of satire, whether the story is long or short, essay or novella. In these two works, the authors bring light to ongoing social, political, and philosophical issues of their time and age. 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As a result, I researched Jonathan Swift’s motives and style behindRead MoreA Modest Proposal For Preventing The Children Of Poor People1458 Words   |  6 Pagesliterature is Jonathan Swift, whose hard-hitting essay â€Å"A Modest Proposal For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland, from Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick† is one of the most popular and analyzed texts within the world of satire, and truly makes one think about the art. One article that explores Swift’s use of satire within â€Å"A Modest Proposal† is Paddy Bullord’s â€Å"The Scriblerian Mock-Arts† This essay delves deeply into Swift’s works, andRead MoreA Modest Proposal1096 Words   |  5 PagesAssignment 1: Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal† Dr. Anthony McCormack Strayer University World Culture II Gladys A. Reyes July 25, 2015 In the satire â€Å"A Modest Proposal’, Jonathan Swift expresses his feelings of frustration with regard to the aggravation and political issues in Ireland. He describes being frustrated with the indifference of Ireland politicians, the wealthy, the English tyranny, and the degradation and poor conditions in which many poor, Irish women and children have been forcedRead MoreNot Many People Can Write A Proposal Consisting Of Three1396 Words   |  6 PagesNot many people can write a proposal consisting of three thousand three hundred and seventy-six words in which political and economic issues are discussed and given a solution in such a serious yet sarcastic tone, but this is exactly what Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal does. Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland to British parents and as result of this, he yearned to get as far away as he could from the Irish. After he was ordained into the Church of Ireland in 1964, he was exposed to the lives