A Modest Proposal

A Modest Proposal, written by Jonathan Swift in 1729, is a sustaining satirical essay in the history of the English language, in which the author puts forth an appalling proposal that young children born into poor families be sold to rich people as a “most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food (Swift).” He rationalizes this proposal by enumerating all the benefits it would bring to the society in a mathematical and detached manner. The reader must feel morally insulted and develop an irresistible disgust towards the author after finishing the first few paragraphs, but he is nevertheless enticed to find out why the author would come up with such an outrageous idea. Only after one reads through the whole essay will he finally come to realize that with this essay, the author in fact intends to show pity towards poor people, expose social plights of
As a matter of fact, the quasi-logicality of Swift’s argumentation only adds to the absurdity of his claim. The reader is startled as well as amused seeing Swift elaborate on a preposterous argument in dead earnest but yet is compelled to consider what engenders such a monstrous proposal and what the author is up to. The more absurdity the reader is led to feel at this point, the more credibility Swift is going to get when he unveils his real intentions. It is interesting to see how the function of logic in this context is turned upside down to support its opposite. Swift’s reasoning follows the pattern of a typical scientific article: First, present problems; second, cite references; third, offer solutions; fourth, provide arguments; and fifth, point out future development. The logic is impeccable except that the standpoint of the whole reasoning is absurd. To sum up, logos here serves as a device for satire instead of