Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Jonathan Swift was known for his brutal satires that he wrote to comment on and criticize the social, political, and economic ills of his time. One such satirical work written by him is A Modest Proposal which was published in 1729. it was a year when Ireland was suffering from religious, political, and social strife as well as famine. The poor were extremely poor, often having to beg for food or money in the streets. The poorest of the lot were the Irish Catholics or Papists. Catholics were already suffering biases and discrimination throughout England. Catholic kids were not allowed to attend any school or University. Even Alexander Pope failed to get any formal education because of that. The famine further created issues for the Irish Catholics because of the irrational economic intervention of the British government in Irish matters. At such a time, many so-called economists and philosophers published papers suggesting various ideas to solve the economic problems of Ireland, most of which were unfeasible and some were ridiculous. Jonathan Swift wrote an acidic Juvenalian satire to criticize and lampoon the British government’s intervention and the various economic ideas offered by others as a solution for Irish problems while highlighting the stressful situations of Irish people. Since it was a scathing satire against the powerful bodies, Jonathan Swift published it anonymously.
The full title of this satire was “A Modest Proposal For Preventing The Children of Poor People From Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For Making Them Beneficial to the Public.”
Themes of A Modest Proposal: Jonathan Swift uses verbal irony in this satire to express the ills of British society and the way the plight of Poor Irish people was being ignored. He proposes an extremely bizarre and repulsive idea in a cool, rational, and self-righteous manner and this offers a deep sense of humor. The Bizarre idea that he proposes is to raise the infant children of Irish people as livestock that can be slaughtered after breeding and can be used as tasty food delicacies by the rich British people. The idea is so repulsive that irrespective of his political allegiance, the reader will be forced to search for the hidden meaning and message of the proposal. There is a certain irony, the discrepancy between saying and meaning. Catholic Ireland was no better than other English colonies of the past. This essay criticizes and lampoons the colonial wealthy, educated, English, Protestant ruling class. Jonathan Swit himself belonged to the same class, yet he chose to criticize the ill. The author clearly shows how greedy and inhuman the colonialist mindset can be. While Swift criticized the wealthy British rulers, he also satirized the journalists and authors who often used the Irish famine and conundrum to publish their own propaganda for making quick money. In addition, he satirizes the process of social engineering and the inhumanity behind it. Another major theme is prejudice against poor people. Swift also attacked the English cultural arrogance by satirically mentioning, Irish, Americans, and people of other colonies as savages. He satirically suggests that all people who could be classified as “other” are potentially dangerous to the English, and need to be tamed.
The term ‘Modest’ in the title of this essay is to satirize the habit of publishing pamphlets on the topic of various social issues with no meaningful message in them. The author continues to use ‘modest’ and ‘humbly
Summary of A Modest Proposal:
Jonathan Swift begins his satirical essay by giving an account of the impoverished state of the Irish people. He expresses his sympathy and suggests that there is an urgent need to find an immediate solution to this economic problem. He then mentions that because of extreme poverty, many Irish women are forced to abort their unborn children because they cannot afford them and the children are proving to be a burden on their parents. He then says that his proposal will certainly reduce the number of abortions performed by poor mothers.
Like a professional economist, the author then calculates and presents the data of how many infants are birth in Ireland in a period and then asks what should be done with them because they are not useful for society. They cannot be employed, they cannot be used as labor, furthermore, they take time off their parents and render them of their work too. These infants cannot become thieves too. Furthermore, no merchant will buy them because they have no skills. Since these infants are of no value, the author says that it would be a good idea if the Irish people start eating these infants when they reach the age of one, especially because famine has caused an acute shortage of food in Ireland. The writer then offers an account of the probable weight of a year-old infant and what food items and delicacies can be prepared by the flesh of the infant. He proposes various ways of preparing such dishes artistically. And suggests that professional chefs can then invent new ways of preparing much better dishes. The author suggests that at the age of a year, the infant will be plenty of flesh and even the discarded skin of such an infant can be used for making fancy items like a lady’s gloves or a bag. The author then says that one of his friends has already discussed this idea and suggested that children of fourteen years too can be used to produce delicious food. However, the author says that he rejected that suggestion because he says that the flesh of a fourteen-year-old boy is too lean while a fourteen-year-old girl may become a breeder of infants herself, and using her for food will break the supply chain. He then says that his friend saw such practices followed by some savages in Asia. The author then says that although the situations of those adults who are ill, disabled, too old, or starving, are no better he is not concerned about them because he cannot think of any such idea that can make them useful.
The author then supports his idea as a viable solution to the Irish problem and lists six reasons why it should be accepted. Firstly, the author says that it will decrease the population of dangerous abhorrent Catholics, secondly, by selling their infants, the poor will get some property and this will improve their conditions. Thirdly, the writer says that this proposal will increase the overall wealth of the nation as these newly found food delicacies will be a new wealth. The fourth reason is that mothers will not be expected to raise their infants to adulthood. They will be freed after a year as they will sell their infant to the right buyer. Thus, they will have time to do other work or breed again. The fifth reason that the writer offers is that the life of taverns and culinary circles is becoming tedious but these new food delicacies made of the flesh of Irish infants will bring new excitement and enthusiasm and that will increase the business. The sixth and last reason the author gives in support of his proposal is that it will help improve the overall societal structure because that proposal will strengthen the institution of marriage. Women will be more dedicated to the care and upbringing of their infants as they will have potential wealth for them. The men will also be more honest and caring towards their wives so that their wives may create more babies to sell.
The author then counters his own proposal and says that there can be a negative effect because this proposal if accepted will reduce the population of Ireland. But then he says that it will not be an issue for Britain and that not too many infants will be killed by this proposal because it is not easy to preserve the flesh of infants and hence they cannot be exported.
The author then declares that he considers his proposal as the best possible remedy to the Irish problem and he is not ready to listen to any other solutions like thrift, or virtues. In the last section, the author says that he is open to any other suggestions anyone may have on this question. He declares that he has no economical stake in this proposal as he has no infants that he can sell to be eaten, and thus, he cannot make any profit out of this proposal.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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