"'A MODEST PROPOSAL' Is An Ironical Essay."-Would It Be Possible To Read This Essay As A Serious One?

“’A MODEST PROPOSAL’ is an ironical essay.
”-would it be possible
to read this essay as a serious one?
The pamphlet by Jonathan Swift, originally titled, "A Modest 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," starts
out as an absurd attempt at solving the poverty and famine problem in Ireland.
The proposal solves the problem but is in complete conflict with our ethical
and moral values. However, his proposal is not to be taken literally and is
actually part of a much bigger plan. This is where Swift's irony comes into play.
Irony is the expression of one’s meaning by using contradicting language. One
of the voices that is present throughout the story is that of irony. The story
itself is ironic since no one can take Swifts proposal seriously. This irony is
clearly demonstrated at the end of the story; Swift makes it clear that this
proposal would not affect him since his children were grown and his wife
unable to have any more children. It would be rather absurd to think that a
rational man would want to both propose this and partake in the eating of
another human being. Therefore, before an analyzation can continue, one has
to make the assumption that this is strictly a fictional work and Swift had no
intention of pursuing his proposal any further.
One of the important elements in Swift's Proposal is related to Cannibalism,
the discourse of ethnic defamation which arose from the Norman conquest of
Ireland in the twelfth century. In order to criticize the society, he ironically
shows six benefit of the proposal: Firstly, it will reduce the total number of
Catholics, the enemy of the Protestants. Secondly, the poor parents will get
some money with which they can pay landlords rent. Thirdly, the money will
be among the Irish and increases national income. Fourthly, the mothers will
get rid of the charge of maintaining the children after the first year. Fifthly, the
empty taverns will be full with a huge number of customers and finally it will
be a great encouragement to marriage and increase the care of mother to their
children. Through successful use of irony, ambiguity and symbolism he makes
comments addressing such specific topics as universal concerns and the moral
degeneration of man.
So this proposal was intended to make the upper class examine the conditions
under which the lower class lived. In fact it was intended to help the lower
class to gain more recognition from the upper class. If a reader does take the
proposal seriously, then the use of irony and sarcasm in Swift’s writing is
exemplified and reader will get the true point of the story; the assistance that
the lower class needs.
Another instance where Jonathan Swifts emphasizes that the essay is
not serious by any means is through the tone of the essay. He is serious
throughout the essay but constantly changing the tone of the essay. The
changing of the tone helps the reader see that “A Modest Proposal” is absurd.
At first Swift is very sympathetic toward the people of Ireland.
“It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town
or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and
cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex”
Not much later, he changes his tone to be more matter of fact. Swift changes
the tone of the essay to a state of shock by making “a modest proposal” that is
contrary to its name.
Jonathan Swift uses irony to satirize what is going on in Ireland.
For instance, Swift says to “sacrifice the poor innocent babes” to
“prevent…voluntary abortions and [the] horrid practice of women
murdering their bastard children”. He is telling the reader that women
are performing abortions because they are not financially stable to
support their children and that children are actually stealing at the age
of six, just to survive.
Swift’s proposal is for women to sell their children to benefit Ireland.
Doing so, he shocks the reader. Once the strong bond of trust has been built,
Jonathan Swift quickly gets rid of it by employing several terms and phrases
that dehumanize humans and also compare humans to animals. He says “a
child dropped from its dam” to dehumanize woman and compare women to
animal in how they give birth to many children, presumably that animals tend
to have numerous young . Another common term used throughout the text is
“breeder”. He uses breeder to make woman seem as their only purpose in life
is to produce children and in turn sell them to the market as a “delicacy”.
Not only does Swift dehumanize humans through his choice of words,
but he also makes them seem insignificant. He does so by turning them into
data. In paragraph six, He starts to make a list of all of the people in Ireland
and then, throughout his calculations, makes their numbers shrink which
makes them seem even more unimportant.
Another way Jonathan Swift uses irony to make his proposal less serious
is when, he describes infant’s meat as a sort of delicacy and that certain parts
of a child’s body is particularly good to eat, especially for special occasions.
Swift also comments that a child’s skin would make “admirable gloves for
ladies” and “summer boots for fine gentleman”, which gives them a sense of a
delicacy. The words “admirable” and “fine” can be seen used aggressively
towards the wealthy because of how they prosper from the poor.
Jonathan Swift not only uses rhetoric to dehumanize the children throughout
the proposal, but he employs his sarcastic tone, his insincerity, and idea of how
ridiculous the proposal is to make his argument not serious. Jonathan Swift
illustrates the poor living standards in Ireland as well as the corruption in the
social classes within “A Modest Proposal”.

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