A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

As a writer, Jonathan Swift used a wide array of methods in order to voice his opinion on issues taking place, during his lifetime. His most notable works, were satires, that made light of current events and showed a humorous, yet interesting prospective on the matter at hand. Perhaps his most highly acclaimed piece of writing was A Modest Proposal, which he wrote in the year, 1729. Swift was a well-regarded writer during his lifetime, and this piece in particular was aimed at the wealthy readers in the country.
Overall, Swift’s use of irony cannot be mistaken for ineptitude or taken in a remotely serious tone, for his proposal the definition of hyperbole. In his proposal, Swift delves into the issue of starvation and hunger among the Irish

community, and merely ponders the idea of having families murder their young children and eat them to avoid the pangs of hunger. The story continues onward, as the writer contemplates the merits of the poor and reflecting on his own inconveniences while stumbling upon beggars all over the town. In the proposal, Swift’s regards the needy in an unwavering sense of discontentment. His resentment toward them, and his characterization on the sick and dying as rotting, and possibly “vermin” like, illustrates the overwhelming opinion the majority of the upper-class felt towards the poor.
While reading Swift’s proposal, one can realize that his ironic opinion is trying to cover two facets of the problem.

For one, he claims eating the children would end the starvation for those in the town, but his main goal is to kill of the future beggars and systematically lower the overall total of the lower class. Furthermore, he illustrates the upper-class as materialistic and mostly apathetic toward the epidemic stemming outside their comfortable confines. Swift’s description of the wealthy and how they could use the leftovers to make clothes, or painting the picture of a Walmart for carcasses illustrates a society that cares for little else but tangible possessions. Swift’s proposal concretely states that the only use poor children have in their country, is to be turned into shoes or eaten, while the real prospective Irish men, help turn the country’s fortunes

around.
A question the reader can himself however, is that if Swift did not exactly mean what he wrote in A Modest Proposal, what exactly did Swift want to happen with the poor in his country? How much exactly, did the narrator’s opinion differ from the source of the proposal? Was the proposal aimed to show the terrible conditions of the poor, and how their behavior and lack of initiative was responsible for them to be considered comparable to livestock? Or was Swift’s proposal intended for the wealthy, for them to examine the situation at hand, and see exactly how the world around lived in a different light?
Swift’s use of irony is most notable during the sequence where, he details the different ways to cook the children and the potential ingredients used in preparing a high quality meal.

Swift states, “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 Boyled, and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a Fricasie, or Ragoust.” ( http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/modest.html ) The idea that children could be prepared like any sort of cattle, is a rather morbid method of thinking, but the dark humor that Swift exemplifies in this story further illustrates the absurdity of his proposal, if taken seriously by a

reader.
No matter the seriousness of A Modest Proposal, the question remains whether or not Swift wrote this as a cry for help in order to bring awareness for the homeless, or whether or not he was making light of a dark situation and using their misfortunes against them. The fact remains, that Swift’s intended audience was directed towards the upper class, as the poor had no use for books and low literacy skills. Though the idea of whether or not Swift was among the smug, mocking the less fortunate is a disappointing idea to ponder. No matter his actual intention, the end result of his proposal illustrates a society that was self indulgent and cared little about the epidemic among the lower class of their very own.