Analysis Of The Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift

Eat a Baby to Save Ireland The Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift is one of the most famous examples of satirical writing in the english language; because of its instructions for the poor people of Ireland to sell their babies to be butchered and eaten by the upper class. Swift was a well respected minister, and dean of the Anglican Church and a member of the English ruling class in Ireland. The Modest Proposal was published anonymously to protect Swift’s identity and his position in the church. Swift was concerned with how the Irish society was operating, he disliked how the distribution of wealth was so lopsided and people of the upper class had no worries about those of the lower class, and that the number of people in the lower class was growing exponentially each day. At the time of the essay’s publication, the potato famine was hitting Ireland the hardest yet; so the streets of Ireland were filled with beggars and criminals searching for food and money. Looking at his essay from afar, it may seem that he is supporting the sale and consumption of babies. But in reality, his writing was supposed to scare the Irish population into changing the way they ran the country or else his essay may become a reality.
Not only does he keep his tone consistent for the majority of the story, he lists reasons that make the horrible act seem not so horrible; from creating new jobs to invigorate the economy, the sale of babies will create a new delicacy for the upper class therefore more demand for the “exotic meat”, and it will create so much more money for those who are destitute and decide to sell their offspring. Also Swift says that if the number of poor children decreases, the number of thieves, crime, and beggars will decrease as