A Critical Look at Society in 'A Modest Proposal'
In Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, a sarcastic outcry against the faults of society, Swift bemoans the tyranny of the English over Ireland and the Irish’s ineptitude at ridding themselves of their English-induced poverty. Throughout the essay, he takes jabs at politicians in both countries, the wealthy, and the Irish living in destitute conditions, blaming them all for the country’s disgraceful state. Through the use of satire, Swift is able to present a solution to Ireland’s problems in a seemingly logical but morally unfeasible way, catching the attention of a population that has shown obvious disinterest and indifference towards the situation.
Swift opens his essay with
It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads and cabin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children all in rags, and importuning every passenger for alms.
With this statement Swift presents the reader with an image of the incredibly poverty-stricken Irish nation. He continues by stating that the large amount of children that these beggars must support is a major burden and it is, in his opinion, a problem that must be logically solved.
The method suggested by Swift for solving both the problems of caring for too many children, as well as the starvation of the poor adult Irish, is simple: eat the babies. As he says, this will put unwanted children to good use, helping feed many hungry people and will prevent the over population of the nation instead of “being a charge upon their parents or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives.” The implication here is that the Irish people live in such a deplorable state that nothing can further degrade them; not even cannibalism.
Further dehumanizing the Irish, Swift provides multiple statistics, turning the children into mere numbers contributing to a larger whole. He states that his arrangement would prevent “voluntary abortions and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children” which he claims is no doubt done out of shame. By giving the percent of children born to underprivileged mothers with meager income, if any at all, and presenting his solution in such a rational voice, Swift is attacking the scientific methods that were becoming largely popular in his day. Stating the facts as if based on reason, Swift successfully proves that logic is not always a better means than emotion at solving a problem.
The arguments A Modest Proposal’s narrator makes are not necessarily the views of Jonathan Swift. Engaged in the politics of Ireland, although living in England, Swift published A Modest Proposal in the hope that the unthinkable plan he creates to solve the problem of malnourishment and poverty in Ireland will awaken the wits of the Irish and spur them into action. Throughout the essay Swift never takes sides, but rather chooses to portray both sides of the story in a sardonic light. Swift angrily sees the stereotypes placed on the Irish by the oppressive English and his narrator gives in to these stereotypes by suggesting the people behave even more like animals. The suggestion that they breed and overfeed their young in order to feed the rich plays into Swift’s feeling that the English ruling class was devouring the Irish land, both politically and culturally. Swift believed that by overemphasizing the problems of the nation and providing unreasonable answers he would catch the attention of the uninspired citizens rousing their desires to act against the English’s injustices, both commercial and political.
