ANALYSIS OF
JONATHAN SWIFT’S “A MODEST PROPOSAL”
During the late
seventeenth century, political pamphlets were distributed throughout Ireland to
promote the ideas of various intellectuals and laymen. However, many discarded
them and did not pay attention to them. Jonathan Swift, author of “A Modest
Proposal,” takes advantage of the overlooked pamphlets, and constructs a
ridiculous proposal. He does this to illustrate how backwards and bad the state
of Ireland is and the social classes. Swift proposes that the babies of all the
poor and desolate will “contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing,
of many thousands” to improve Ireland’s economy and standard of living (Swift
868). He says this because many women kept having children but were unable to
provide for them. He also states that his proposal would make the babies
“beneficial to the public” (866).
