Jonathan Swift is widely known in the literature world for using irony and satires to get a point across to his audience. Ireland during the 1700s were controlled by English as were dozens of other countries around the world. During this time, Ireland was filled with poverty and massive starvation throughout the entire country. This was mainly caused by England’s control over the country and the wars that previously consumed the Ireland countryside leaving it devastated. One of the many ways of news during this time in Ireland was the use of pamphlets to promote the views of the intelligent and otherwise rich people. They were widely discarded and nobody paid much attention to them as their writings did not affect the common people. Jonathan Swift saw these pamphlets as a great opportunity to construct an absurd proposal to end the poverty and starvation of the country. He illustrates this mad idea to show how backwards and corrupted the country of Ireland and its social classes were. He begins with describing these poor children and the horrid conditions they live in with their rags for clothes and how they are the cause of the poverty because their parents cannot afford to support the large families. He brings forth the idea of fattening up children and selling them to the rich as a way of freeing their parents from the burden of children who have caused their poverty. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift uses the idea of children to address the corruption of the government and social classes which most readers can’t visualize; this is important it allows the reader to better grasp the issues and fraud going on in their country and lives. (Turner)

“A Modest Proposal” takes place in the mid-1700s otherwise known as the Restoration Period. It is a time of massive poverty and starvation as the ill country tries to recover from a catastrophic war in the previous century that let the countryside in ruins. This war was started when the Irish people rebelled against their English rulers. Cromwell, the English king, went beyond capturing Ireland as he sent his massive armies to burn land, crops, and food stores.  This left the Irish people in worse shape as Ireland had always been open to crop loses and times of starvation. After this war ended, Ireland was put back under English rule, whose empire covered the whole known world. Church was a prominent force during this time and two mains churches were the Catholics who resided in Ireland and the Protestants who resided in England. Laws were often put in place to penalize the Catholics and strengthen the control of the Protestant Church. During this time, land was owned and controlled by large English landlords and most the Irish worked on these lands as tenant farmers. The farmers had to sell off almost all their crops to pay rent. The average family during the time lived in terrible conditions and lived off potatoes as their main source of food. The potatoes were frequently of poor quality because the land they worked on was overworked. All of these different things in turn created a life full of poverty and sorrow.  Swift lived through these terrible times and saw the devastation that happened from the cruelty of English rule and it is expedited in his writings. (Turner)

Swift addresses the issue of corruption and poverty in one broad argument. He brings forth the problems with the English rule and how their laws and taxes are the main reason for the poverty that has engulfed the entire country. In turn, Swift creates the proposal to end the poverty in the country and a way of making the many babies of the poor “beneficial to the public” (Swift, line 2 514). Swift also states that if these poverty-stricken children make it to adult-hood, they would “leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain” or “they would sell themselves to the Barbados,” as workers (Swift, line 9-10 514). He states that because he wants to get the point across that there is nothing for these children to accomplish in Ireland so they seek other places to work and make a living. This proposal that Swift creates says to take all the children from the poor families, fatten them up in a year’s span, and lastly sell them to the rich as a food source. He says he will get the best English chefs and get them to figure out the best ways to cook and eat the children. This idea goes in-depth as it included the weights of the children and the number breakdown of how many children would be suitable to accomplish this. The text also exhibits an irritation for the Roman Catholics otherwise known as “papists” throughout the story (Turner). As said before the English people were Protestant while the Irish were Catholics and widely looked down upon. Swift says these Catholics produce way too many children and his plan will decrease the amount of amount of their children in-turn lowering the number of Catholics. He states this saying his proposal “will have one other collateral advantage, by lessoning the number of papists among us” (Swift, line 24-25 516). Through Swifts scheme for bettering Ireland, we can see the connection between the text and the actual time on which the text takes place.

This story and proposal takes place during a time of darkness and turmoil. There was mass starvation and struggling people in the country of Ireland while England was flourishing. Under England rule, many countries struggled as they were put under heavy taxes and control. Swift points out the awful rule of the English through his plan for children for food. He calls for this plan to solve the issue of starvation in his country to show how corrupt the English and how they downgrade people not the same as them. He brings up Catholics or papists as they were often referred to and how his idea can reduce the population. The Irish population were almost all Catholic during this time. This is in the deal as the English are Protestant and have a hatred for the Catholics so reducing their numbers would be likened by the English. Each and every point he references to in his grand plan benefits those of the rich and powerful which he uses to show how they are inconsiderate towards those starving and struggling to provide for their loved ones. He uses children as his focus point to strike in people’s emotions on how they view possibly their children or just children they randomly see. Whether it is present day or during the mid-1700s, eating children would be act looked upon as some of the devil’s work. (Turner)

With Swift’s use of children as his focus point in his proposal, he addresses the issue of starvation in Ireland as well as the unscrupulousness of the English people and their rule over those of Ireland. The English also otherwise the Protestants looked down upon Irish and Catholics as if they were better than them and everybody else. He suggests using children as food and having them fattened up and sold to the rich to rid the country of its famine. He specifies this plan in vast detail with numbers and how he will seek great chefs to discover the best ways to prepare this kids as meals. When speaking of this, he is secretly taking shots at the English as they are a big reason for the hardships of his country through their many misdeeds and heavy taxes. “A Modest Proposal” is known for being one of the most ironic and satirist stories in Irish history and Swift who was also known for his satire underlines how this ridiculous idea was brought upon to bring out the true injustices being done at the time.
