Strongest responses-Precis
In his essay “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift (1729) suggests an outrageous solution
to Ireland’s dire economic issues. His proposal to fatten, and later consume, Irish
children seems to be satirical, but the true intention of his “modest” proposal is to
simply catch the Irish people’s attention. With his audience’s attention, he can finally
address his real proposal: to bring the Irish together to fight the common enemy of the
British aristocrats who are destroying the Irish economy and bringing poverty to Swift’s
nation. Jonathan Swift’s writing can be described as deeply ironic and his writing
ultimately addresses a solution to Ireland’s economic issues.
Jonathan Swift’s insightful essay regarding positive change in Ireland during the 1720s
and 1730s, “A Modest Proposal,” ludicrously suggests that the radical act of eating one’s
children is the only possible way to end Ireland’s economic depression and hardships.
Swift supports his position first by identifying the woes of the Irish people and then
describing, in detail, the ways in which the eating of children could be used to Ireland’s
full advantage. Though this outrageous proposal does offer a lucrative solution to
alleviate Ireland’s suffering, Jonathan Swift actually used the Modest Proposal to shock
the Irish into listening to his real solutions of taxing foreign land owners, and only using
Irish-made goods. While the Irish people were startled by Swift’s Modest Proposal, in
the long run, they were, as a whole, too selfish and greedy to accept Swift’s actual
proposals and use them to their benefit.
In his essay “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift, satirist, suggests that the social state
of Ireland can only be fixed by immediate action to restore the cultural and economic
propriety of its people through the satirical presentation of a set of guidelines
promoting such extreme measures as selective cannibalism. Swift presents his argument
in two parts, using juxtaposition as a tool to make his argument more appealing; first, he
adopts the persona of a learned, well-versed supporter of cannibalism, using pseudoscientific arguments and apparently carefully calculated statistics to support the
nevertheless socially unacceptable practice of cannibalism as a solution to Ireland’s
economic problems; next he presents his real argument – which is infinitely more viable
– ironically dismissing it in the hope that people will take up this position in favor of the
other. His purpose is to make his own set of instructions seem sensible to the audience
in comparison to that of the unethical, disgusting cannibal. Swift attempts to reach the
widest possible audience with his article; humanity is almost universally against
cannibalism, and he uses this to provide the ultimate controversy, bringing his real
concern to the general public.
Weakest responses - Precis
In Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” written in 1729, the author uses the horrific
concept of eating babies to contrast what he thinks individuals should actually be doing
to help solve Ireland’s food shortage problems. These individuals, the Irish, are meant to
be shocked until the end of the proposal where Swift tells how the Irish should really be
taxes (sic) the wealthy non-Irish Europeans whose investments in Ireland was hurting
the economy.
In the work of Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal, Swift claims that all the meat markets
should provide human meat (especially young children). The author supports his opinion
first by stating that the number of Papists, free-riders who do not pay tithes, would
decrease; second by arguing that the beggars, who are mostly parents of the killed
babies, would earn money from selling their children; third by asserting that the beggars
would be able to support their remaining babies with what they have earned through
selling their babies. The writer’s purpose is to persuade his opponents with the idea of
selling babies in slaughterhouses to provide human meat is a commendable option for
the poor. The author provides logical reasons for his opinion, in an attempt to convince
the readers; however, the topic itself is not ethical so his argument fails to convince the
readers.