Summary: “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift

“A Modest Proposal” is a satirical essay with an irrational reasoning. J. Swift suggest that Catholic poor Irish families should fatten up their children and then sell them to the Protestant rich. So, starving children and poverty in one blow are solved. In summary, in the first paragraph he calls attention to female beggars accompanied by children. The, a one years old child become the best solution to the problem. A great advantage of the plan is presented in paragraph five that is the prevention of voluntary abortions. Reducing the number of papists (i.e., Catholics) is another advantage of this proposal. Also, a gentleman should be prepared to pay ten shillings for “the carcass of a good fat child.” Increasing the care and tenders of mothers toward their children, bringing “great custom” to taverns, serving as a great inducement to marriage, and relieving “constant breeders” of the expense of raising their children beyond a certain age are some advantages to his proposal. Furthermore, because “the flesh of too tender a consistence to admit a long continuance in salt,” the meat of infants can be consumed in the taverns, in the mansions of wealthy people landlords, in the rural parts of Ireland, in Dublin; but it will not be consumed in England. Finally, he attempts to prove his lack of self-interest by making an observation that his youngest child is nine years old and his wife is beyond child-bearing age. To conclude, J. Swift presents a satirical and cruel solution to the situation in Ireland at that time.