A Modest Proposal

When looking at A Modest Proposal, one cannot help but agree with A Handbook to Literature’s assessment of the text: “the most savagely sustained ironic writing in literature” (Harmon 282). Even looking at the title, one realizes the irony of the piece. To suggest that fattening, harvesting, and eating one’s children, with the aim of preventing them from having a life of thieving and poverty, the word “modest” would be one of the last words to come to mind when contemplating such a proposal – this, of course, allows his use of irony to shine through brilliantly. It is also through this that Swift is able to get his point across well. With his frustrations of the state of Ireland and the lack of action taken, he worked diligently to have the reader undergo emotions such as shock, disgust, etc. in order to have the reader take pause. In this, one is able to realize Swift’s purpose for writing such a “modest” proposal, and would have caused them to think of policies and morals in a more serious – and perhaps, with irony as well – manner, which would have made his remarks on society quite the accomplishment.

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a
young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome
food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally
serve in a fricassee or a ragout. (2464)