yellowdogsaturday

I’m not sure what jokes in were like in1729, but Jonathan Swift certainly must have made a few Anglo-Irishmen thoughtfully smirk at the common dislike for Roman Catholics, while reading “A Modest Proposal”. All prejudices aside, Swift does impose a very important statement on how people were dealing with poverty. Being considered the most prestigious prose satirists in the English language, this essay sold me to believe it. Swift reckons people’s views and solutions to care for thousands of poor families with children render ineffective and more attention could be paid towards the poor.

His proposal was to sacrifice the poverty stricken children by selling them as food to gentlemen and ladies for a decent amount of shillings resulting with less poverty. “I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts… 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.”

This is supposed to be obvious that it’s a joke, proposing an idea of babies being raised to a year old then sold as food, making money for the poor and adding to culture. He actually goes into the detail of how to sustain a solid production of these babies for food, similar to how they breed sheep and cattle. The purpose of this essay is to mock the ridiculousness and ineffectiveness of the peoples illogical plans of action of dealing with poverty and labor problems presented during that time. There are also a few attacks at the landlords because during this time because the public viewed them dealing with their product ineffectively, food was produced mostly for export rather than domestic use.

Eating babies would also contribute to the culture of upper class; it would entertain guests and finely contribute to taverns past the means of a roasted pig. It would, as he proposed: reduce the amount of Roman Catholics or Papists, the key breeders, considered to be the most dangerous enemy, and overrun the Anglo-Irish community annually. The poor would have easy access to profitable fiscal investments and release of financial burden for them because until a year old they are fed breast milk. The money spent on trying to look after the poor would actually bring substantially larger revenue to circulate around for improvement in Ireland’s growth and manufacturing. Swift also says that it would bring marriages closer together by having competitions of who could bring the fattest baby to the market, finding pride in their work.

All of these promises of profit in Swift’s proposal were unrealistic and what some might view as offensive but cannibalism was just a literary standpoint to make people feel as cheated and disgusted as he did with the ineffective political decisions on dealing with poverty. Daring anyone to step forth and give him perhaps a better proposal of how to deal with the reality that not everyone has the means of noblemen and their wives. He leaves the question out there for the public and this being one of the most remembered essays of 18th century, it definitely had its effect on people.