Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s “a Modest Proposal”

                                                                                                     Dinh Hai Trieu

        English Composition II

Analysis Essay

March 1st 2016

Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”

During the seventeenth Ireland was ruled by England, and had a devastating economy. Swift illustrates the situation between these two countries through a satire to say the real issues where he criticises the differences between the low and high classes in society. Women had too many children and because of the poor situation, they were not able to feed and take care of them. With “A Modest Proposal” he suggests how to improve the economy by selling more than hundred thousand of these Irish children for consuming purposes, he goes in details about the possibilities of eating them, to make them “beneficial for the public.” In his satire, Swift of course does not describe the cannibalism, but effectively with his satiric tone and his absurd notion informs high classes about the real economic and social issues. Swift’s proposal is for women to sell their children to benefit Ireland. A “modest” – not the best one that should be the least one they should think about.

The author goes in extreme on explaining how children could be sold. He uses statistical support to back up the problem he outlines and gives specific data about the numbers of price which rely on age, weight and another aspects. He also lists suggestions on possibilities to cook the tenant children, what kind of dish it can make, and how many people it can serve. He come to an assumption where times of year when the infants are most plentiful, based on the purported sexual patterns of the Irish. There might also be uses for the discarded skin of the infants, such as for ladies’ gloves. He states "A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout."