During the 18th century England placed many restrictions and created many policies that Ireland had to abide by. Due to these restrictions, Ireland was struggling through its poverty while England was imposing rules to try to help them and their economy. However, these rules seemed to do nothing but slowly deteriorate Ireland. The majority of Ireland in the 18th century was Roman Catholic. To break apart the Catholic estates England established laws specifically targeted at Catholics: they were unable to purchase land, take out loans, own weapons, horses, or vote (Baker, 1). All of these aspects contribute to the poverty in Ireland. England attacked the Irish in a clever way by imposing many laws and concepts which lead to the downfall of Ireland and its people. Not being able to take out loans gives a huge disadvantage for the Irish and makes life a lot more difficult. Being unable to own weapons makes them defenseless and not being able to vote makes them seem irrelevant. England performed very inhumane acts by placing these restrictions. Jonathan Swift starts out by stating the purpose of his modest proposal, “For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick.” This immediately gives the reader background information on Ireland during the Restoration period and helps develop the main point the writer is trying to get out.  Jonathan Swifts use of satire throughout the story catches the reader’s attention, this is important because it allows the reader to really understand the main point that Swift is trying to embed, which is how detrimental England’s restrictions were to Ireland.

During this time, there is a lot of factors that make Ireland both weak and vulnerable. They not only suffered poverty, but also a huge overpopulation problem as well as being secluded from trade. Due to overpopulation and poverty, infants were considered helpless and only a burden. Swift elaborates by saying “These mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbados” (Swift 514). After running across this the reader begins to think that there is no use in possessing kids in this time period, and that is exactly what Swift wants you to think. Children at times can seem to be nothing but a hassle and unbeneficial. That correlates to how England thought of Ireland, a hassle and worthless. To try to preserve Ireland to the best of his abilities, the writer Jonathan Swift conducted many earnest proposals which were ignored by the Irish Parliament (Human sciences, 1).  He became very upset with England due to the many limitations given, and at Ireland for not doing anything about it. All of his time and efforts failed, so he turned to the most powerful form for a comeback… Satire. This period was not a time for jokes, which is ironic because Jonathan Swift turned to Satire in times of need. He began by saying how the children of Ireland could contribute greatly to the feeding, and partly to the cloathing of many thousands. The thought of Cannibalism, especially just directed at kids, is so unhuman and tends to completely shock everyone who reads it. The complete insanity of his satire symbolizes England and their Unfair restrictions on others. Swift uses this proposal to let England realize what they were doing and how inhumane it was. 

In the history of Ireland, we may trace with singular clearness the perverting and degrading influence of great legislative injustices, and the manner in which they affect in turn every element of national well-being (Lecky, 1). Ireland in the restoration period was treated very superficial by English historians (Lecky, 1). They believed as if their restrictions and limits would be only beneficial to the Irish, where we see that this was not the case. Jonathan Swift uses Satire to in a way mock the English. When England conducted these restrictions, they stated that it would fix all of their problems and assured improvement. Swift, being the sarcastic writer he is, also states why his insane proposal would be beneficial to the people. The basis behind his proposal is to fatten up the children of Ireland, and sell them to others to solve the hunger problems and also keep the population well balanced. This ridiculous proposal correlates with England’s cruel “Penal laws”. Englishmen established the Anglican church and wanted everyone else to practice these same beliefs. These laws were placed directly towards Catholics, and restricted them in many different ways that led to the decline in both the economy and the people’s health. Restricting individuals based on religion is very wrong just like Mr. Swifts “immodest proposal”. To let England realize what they were doing, he came up with this idea to relate the horrific concept of child cannibalism to England’s insensible acts.

Jonathan Swift’s “a modest proposal” is nothing more than a satirical solution to the many different problems Ireland had to deal with in the 18th century. By using satire, the reader can develop a much better understanding of how absurd England was to carry out these inhumane acts. The thought of “fattening up” children and eating them to improve Irelands economy and reduce the population is just sickening. He wants the reader to see exactly how detrimental and insensible these acts were. To really imbed this concept into their mind, he continues to state throughout the whole novel many different ways on how this would benefit them. He also states in the beginning “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that 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 fricasie, or a ragoust (Swift, 515). He goes into the descriptive depth of describing how the Child will be cooked to emphasize England’s detriment to Irelands society. By letting the reader imagine this it really gets out the main point. In the middle of the novel he states his calculations. These are such of how much the child will weigh throughout the “fattening up” period. This is placed in the story to show how he is making his proposal seem serious, just like England was, but it being completely a joke. Children being eaten to prevent economic instability and overpopulation is about as serious as England’s restrictions benefiting the public of Ireland.

Throughout the novel Jonathan Swift does a great job at using Satire in the text to plant the seed of how England’s power in the 18th century affected Irelands well-being. The purpose of this essay wasn’t to show the perfect solution to horrible problems Ireland was dealing with, it was to demonstrate it was to demonstrate how to Irish government was allowing all of this to happen without doing anything. Swifts use of Satire is very powerful which oddly correlates to the Power of which the Irish government possessed. It is a method that writers use to help people understand specific issues placed in our society. The use of satire throughout this story not only catches the reader’s attention, but really engages them in the story and gives them a better understanding of how detrimental England’s restrictions were to Ireland.
