A Modest Proposal
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In the satire “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, Swift explains an interesting way to fix the dismal state of the Irish people. While most would not agree with eating babies, Swift created a great way to get his point across to the people responsible for the poverty-stricken Irish state.
One may argue that Swifts satire was nothing but an outrageous rant, and that he may have done a better job in proposing his ideas. I say while possible, there is little the Irish could have done to help themselves. They were under complete control of the English, with all of their goods being exported and all of their money being funneled eventually in some way to the prosperous country of Britain. The people responsible for the poverty, the landlords and the government, would lose money if Ireland were actually to become prosperous. There was an endless chain of hard working Irish people making money, only to send it all to Irish land lords who resided in Britain.
Although, due to the nature of the writing, “A Modest Proposal” cannot be taken seriously. There is not one person alive today who would sell their one year old baby to be killed, flayed, and eaten to be served to members of the upper class, no matter how much money one would get. The entire proposal is severely offensive to anyone with any shred of moral fortitude; if one were to take it seriously, of course. Hopefully, this satire at least sparked some kind of debate into how badly the Irish economy was, and how the Irish landlords could be willing to keep the cash flow in Ireland instead of England.
While being completely ridiculous in his proposals for a better Ireland, Jonathan Swift helped to represent many of the poverty stricken Irish workers who had no hope for a better life due to the tyrannical rule of England. Eating babies is not what the Irish people had in mind, but it hopefully sparked some interest into the wealthy people of England.