Contained within Johnathan Swift’s Modest Proposal, is his twisted and often backwards comedy relief that explains how the inability for Ireland to maintain its economy, balance the wealthy bad attitudes, and the poor living situations of the common folk and less fortunate are surviving . He then offers a satirical solution in the form of a preposterous idea to consume, sell, or get rid of the children of the poorest community members. He offers this solution in an effort to relieve Ireland of its largest problems. Swift complains that Ireland is subjected to England’s whims and exploitations.
He despairingly describes his exasperation at Ireland’s inability to solve its own political and social problems. A Modest Proposal exposes everyone from the wealthy to the poor, to a set of suggestions that ridicule the country about the lack of personal responsibility and an ethical code that could most certainly pull them out of the hole they dug. A Modest Proposal was written in the early 18th century when political pamphlets were commonly distributed in an effort to share an opinion and gain public support for that opinion, no matter how outrageous that idea was. (Swift and Fabricant, 2011)
In this essay by Johnathan Swift, his method of delivering his message was intended to be a backhanded slap to wealthy residents that did nothing but complain about the poor and the poor who did nothing to improve their situation. His suggestion of how to utilize the excess children as labor, food, and items to be sold, seemed to be a surprise suggestion. His message seemed to say that ‘Sometimes it is best to just sit back and laugh at the irony of life, than to spend too much time complaining about what cannot be changed individually.’ (Swift and Fabricant, 2011)
References
Swift, J. & Fabricant, C. (2011). A Modest Proposal (1729) [in, A Modest Proposal and Other Writings: Edited with an Introduction by Carole Fabricant] (Penguin Classics). Cambridge [England]: Proquest LLC.
