Response to Swift's, "A Modest Proposal"

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In “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, Swift points out the overpopulation of the lower class (breeders) of Ireland. Swift’s proposal is a radical, and rather extreme, solution. He proposes that the children born to the professional beggars of his society be allowed to live with the parents for the first year of life, as they subsist on mother’s milk, and then to sell them for the purpose of feeding the wealthy and making gloves or boots out of the skin.

Swift is not serious in his proposal, but uses it as a way to bring to light the problem and force others to think about what should be done. In doing this, he criticizes the government’s inefficiency and critical way of looking at problems that require a humanistic approach.

If we were to view Swift’s solution as serious rather than a clever way of critiquing his government’s lack of problem solving abilities, then in its own gruesome way, the solution could be viewed as logical. Swift explains that the cost of rearing a child for the first year could be no more than two shillings and that the sale of the yearling could garner ten shillings and therefor turn a profit of eight shillings, per child, for the parents. In accordance with this, there would be less abuse on the females, while pregnant, due to not wanting to cause miscarriages and lose the product. Swift is thorough in his proposal and the results that his proposal would produce.

I found this analysis of Swift's, "A Modest Proposal" to be interesting and similar to my own views.