Freemans literiture

A Modest Proposal

Swift’s work “A Modest Proposal” attempts to highlight the problem of famine and poverty in Ireland by providing a radical solution. To remedy the problem of the poverty-stricken, oppressed and uneducated population of Catholics in Ireland, Swift calmly and rationally proposes that thousands of the children should be killed and eaten. This will help both the overpopulated poor, who apparently can’t afford to care for their children anyway, and the rich, who will get a good meal out of the whole process. Even in his introduction he explains the reason for his proposal: “for preventing the Children of poor People in Ireland, from being a Burden to their Parents or Country; and for making them beneficial to the Public”. What follows is an attempt to justify such a seemingly outrageous scheme. Yet throughout the piece, Swift never loses his cool, but proceeds to logically set out the groundwork for such a proposal. Overall I believe this technique adds to ...