<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/modest.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-3441 aligncenter" alt="modest" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/modest-167x300.jpg" width="167" height="300" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">A Modest Proposal</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">(For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being a Burden to Their Parents of Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Jonathan swift</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">1729</p>
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Swift’s A Modest Proposal is in short his satirical suggested solution to the famine that weighed heavily on the people of Ireland. However, it is much more than that. With Swift’s proposal it is clear that his solution that "…children should be bred and butchered for the English dining table, thus providing income for the poor and alleviating the miseries of all…" was not the correct way to go. (Fiero) Swift opens with a heart wrenching description of the destitute women and children on the streets. He explains that as the children grow older they are a continuous burden on the parents and society because they become thieves. He suggests that his proposal will be great for the entire population. He identifies a year old is a proper age to be sold and "will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat" (Swift). He admits that predominately the boys will be sold because the females are able to breed and feed the babies they birth and to sell them would be "bordering upon cruelty" (Swift). He claims that he doesn't have any personal motives in offering his idea besides "the public good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich" (Swift). Ironically, he ends his proposal by informing the reader that none of his kids are young enough to be a part of his solution and his wife is too old to have any more kids. This inevitably solidifies the satirical irony this proposal is founded on. A Modest Proposal should be preserved because it teaches the complete tragedy of the times and its effects on society historically, in both an informational and entertaining style.<a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/modest.jpg"><!--more--></a>

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At the time A Modest Proposal was written at a time when the British government was severely oppressing the Irish people. They had limited the Irish folks' ability to export nearly everything that was worth exporting as well as forcing them to make all their purchases from foreign sellers because the imports were so few. Many of the families were unable to feed their own children because of how little income they were able to gain, this is something that Swift reviews as the "cruel and enduring realities of Ireland's social misery" (Briggs). They were in a terrible condition because "the Irish that had legitimated the English colonization of Ireland for centuries" (Splenetic). There was a great upset in the religious world as well. Although Catholicism was the major religion the Protestant minorities had immigrated to England and for the idea of safety in numbers they unity with the English. This unity brought a force that created "a series of discriminatory inheritance laws which effectively broke up large Catholic estates" (Baker). This left the "Anglo-Irish" as the prime owners of the country so to speak. However, as the redheaded step children they had no unity driving force, their people constantly split between two powers, Tory Lordship and Whiggish House of Commons, vying for the overall rule, leaving those with very little caught in the middle with no one fighting on their behalf. The lack of powerful leadership left them vulnerable to the strong hand of the English who desired no competition in the economy for farms and businesses. Thus, they created laws that at the root destroyed the Irish economy and brought the famine and destitution of the Irish people.

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He copied a popular style of the time and used pamphlets that could be easily passed out in mass quantities for not very much money. He used this humorous approach because often times the solutions of his peers had such disregard for the tragic implication on the people whom they were supposed to be helping for the sake of economic efficiency. The suggestion of cannibalism was a theme that ran among the pamphleteers. It suggested that the Irish were so below humanity they were "given to dietary practices" (Splenetic). The many authors may have had some sympathy because this was the way the Irish were viewed they also had "disgust and contempt for the objects of the slur" (Splenetic). Swift was able to pull ideas from the writings of others over the previous seventy years. Swift's foundation for his writings is in the "methods and implicit values" of the pioneers in this type of influential writing, that create "the confident social and financial projections of Swift's proposers" (Briggs).

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The satirical stand point from which Swift wrote this pamphlet marks it a part from others of it's kind. He was quite negative with his outlook of humanity and once even wrote a letter to Alexander Pope "that he hated the human race, whose misuse of reason produced, in his view, an irredeemably corrupt society" (Fiero). This ability to see the works of his predecessors and identify what made them ridiculous, in their disregard for the effect of their proposals, actually made him a better writer. He was able to "extend the life of the original[s], even while drawing critical attention to [them]" (Briggs). Other pieces allowed "formal values to take precedence over feeling and human ones" so Swift flipped the script and showed the true colors of those writings with a "man's overconfident and unfeeling slavery to the same methods" (Briggs).

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The pamphlet was not well received in it's time. Many took the pamphlet too literally, which lead them to believe that swift's intentions were to actually beginning eating their children. This for any mother is an absolute abomination to her family and of course no one thought this was a good idea. For those who were able to understand and catch on to his satirical stand point they did. To want any more of the pamphlets to be printed as it so clearly was pointing the laughing finger in the face of such a serious matter and "expressing contempt for the community under scrutiny," (Chowdhury).

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Barbara Bengels wrote a short piece on A modest proposal and focused on Swift's usage of clothes. She read into why he would have used the symbolism if clothes and identified it as it being something mothers are able to take pride in and how the "physical revulsion" comes from the comparison dressing a child in clothes and dressing a child with gravy. She thinks Swift is revealing the moral depravity of the times. She believes that Swift may be chastising the reader and their ability to pick up these comparisons he was making because he so cleverly covers up his true intentions. She claims he is hiding the meaning "behind a mask of feigned sincerity" (Bengels). I think this very deep reflection on the pamphlet can be credited to hindsight being 20/20.  She is able to see from a deep perspective exactly what he was implying and assign a greater meaning to it.

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I found Swifts proposal hilarious and terribly sad. To think this actually was to be looked at as even a momentary solution means that it was representative of a time of such dyer  circumstances. I understand the satire he was using and how it was reflective of the times, which magnifies the horrendous lack of humanity that was being used by the leadership of the times. I found it the language he uses to set the scene at the very beginning of the pamphlet meaningful because he wrenches at the heart of the reader. He identifies exactly who is being hurt by the bad economy. Women and children appear to be taking the brunt of the situation. They are the ones that need the most help and who would be able to "benefit" from his solution. It is really quite sad that Swift identifies that the women would not have to take care of the children after they are a year old as a positive side to his suggestion. I think it is admirable how he is able to add humor to such a horrible topic. He very smartly takes the very thing that other writers had disregarded as unimportant, which is humanity and our values and morals, and showed the reader just how poor those ideas were. It is a very well thought out and crafted piece of literature, that is able to show us the history of his writings as well as reveal to us the depravity they were facing all in a light hearted manner.

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A Modest Proposal can be compared to the visual satires of William Hogarth. Hogarth had a wholly different talent of bringing a parody of attention to the human experience. While Swift uses words to ironically paint the scene of the tragedy that was sweeping a nation, Hogarth is able to make prints and paintings with humor poking at reality. Hogarth actually illustrated "Gulliver's Travels" by Swift. Hogarth's pieces were reprinted and sold without his permission, this was before the first copy write laws. Contrastingly, Swift wanted his pamphlets to be reproduced and spread out as far and wide as possible, for he claims he did not have anything to gain. The engraving Gin Lane by Hogarth contrasts with Swifts proposal because they are just that, an engraving and a proposal. Gin Lane takes place in London, while A Modest Proposal is meant for Ireland. Both focus on the situations of the poor. Both works are dramatic views into the disparity of the times with an overlaying facts of the times and an underlaying parody of extremity. Both works view woman as the focus of the hard times, however, Gin Lane recognizes men, women and children while A Modest Proposal generally focuses as children with a rippling effect on economy as a whole. Gin Lane is drawing attention to "gin addiction" as a "heroic attack on the social conditions of [the] time". A Modest Proposal is an attack on the situation and previous proposed solutions. (Fiero)

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I think the most significant thing about this work that future generations should be aware of is how close to reality these events were. Even if they have very little idea of the 1700's, the descriptive words used to identify exactly what was going on is enough of a history lesson to give them a good grasp of what was happening then. Not only is it a good history type of lesson it is also fairly enjoyable to read. I think this credits the pamphlet above the others. While the other pamphleteers may have had "good" ideas of what solutions should be (I say that in quotes because they were truly horrible ideas they cloaked with fancy words and roundabout phrases similar to politicians so readers would have a difficult time deciphering the true implications), none can hold a match to the great Swift in his ability to identify the problem and make it humorous at that. If the future desires to know about the times and get a peek into the the 1700's while being entertained (which may I dare say, is a difficult thing to find), they ought to preserve and read A Modest Proposal.

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Works Cited

Baker, Lyman A. “Conditions in Early Eighteenth Century Ireland”.  Periodical. 1999.  Kansas State University. 7 Oct 2013

This was a personal article written. I used this to better understand the historical times.

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Bengels, Barbara. "Swift's A MODEST PROPOSAL." Explicator 65.1 (2006): 13-15. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.

This was a periodical where she observed Swift’s use of clothing in his writings. that I used to see what people of current times think of the pamphlet.

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Briggs, Peter M. "John Graunt, Sir William Petty, And Swift's Modest Proposal." Eighteenth-Century Life 29.2 (2005): 3-24. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.

This was an excerpt from a book that compared the style and ideas of these three authors. I used this to better define Swift’s in comparison to other writers of the time. Also, I was able to see what made Swift’s writings satirical because I could see the true intentions of other writers.

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Chowdhury, Ahsan. "Splenetic Ogres And Heroic Cannibals In Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal (1729)." English Studies In Canada 34.2/3 (2008): 131-157. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.

This article described the comparison and usage of the idea of cannibalism within Swift’s writings. I used this to gain a better understanding of what people thought of the work then.

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Fiero, Gloria K. “Humanistic Tradition Vol 2”. Ebook. McGraw Hill. 2011.

This is our book for class. I used this to compare Hogarth’s works with Swift’s writings.

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Hozeski, Bruce W. "A Mathematical Error In Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal." American Notes &amp; Queries 15.4 (1976): 53. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.

This is an article that looks into the thought of Swift’s proposal being mathematically incorrect and the insinuations that come with that. I used this to see understand the text of Swift’s proposal better.

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Swift, Jonathan. “A Modest Proposal”. Renascence Edition. 2003. University of Oregon. 3Oct 2013.

This is the full actual work of Swift. I based my entire proposal for preserving off of this.

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