English 111: Analysis of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal Essay

This essay analyzes Jonathan Swift's 'A Modest Proposal,' exploring its themes, arguments, and literary techniques. The essay begins by summarizing Swift's depiction of poverty and the plight of the Irish poor, setting the stage for his shocking proposal. It then delves into Swift's controversial idea of using children as a food source, examining his justifications and the societal commentary embedded within. The analysis highlights Swift's satirical approach, his use of irony, and the political opinions he conveys through the persona of the proposer. The essay also discusses the essay's place within literature, touching on themes of race, class, and poverty, and the importance of exploring such topics in a respectful manner. The conclusion emphasizes Swift's skill in presenting provocative ideas in a literary format, demonstrating how even controversial viewpoints can be discussed and analyzed through literature. The paper demonstrates an understanding of the text, identifying key arguments and literary devices used by Swift.

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William McCraw
Professor Dr. David Williams
English 111
12 March 2018
A Literature Based Society
A Modest Proposal begins as a proposal by Jonathan Swift on the topic of what to do to
prevent the poor children of Ireland from becoming a burden on society and a burden to their
own parents. Swift begins his proposal by describing the conditions of Ireland’s poor beggars
and the poor life they live. The proposal then takes a surprising twist when Swift proposes his
idea on how to fix the burdens of the poor people in Ireland. Swift provides his own political
opinions and views on the topic.
To begin with, Swift begins his essay by informing the reader about the conditions of
Ireland. He talks about the large number of beggars that fill the streets in Ireland and the
numerous children that these people have. He also describes how these poor people are a burden
on Ireland’s society and the children are a burden to their own parents. Not only are the beggars
a burden to Ireland’s communities but also to Ireland’s tourists. Swift begins to propose his idea
on how to help lessen the burden that is put on society and on the poor people by the poor
children. His proposal is that children at one year of age could be used as a meal. Although this
is a shocking proposal, he provides many views on why it is a solution. Among his reasons for
why this is a great idea is that women would not have as many abortions because their children
would bring about a type of income, and men would be blissfully happy when their wives are
pregnant because it provides money once the child is born. He proposed that the child should be

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fattened up in the first year of birth, and then the child would be in the best condition to provide
a meal. Not only does he talk about the certain ways the child could be prepared for a meal, but
he also speaks on how many people one infant could feed and how this meal would become a
delicacy. Swift describes this as the only logical solution because children cannot work in any
industry until they are older, and even when they become an age that they can work, they still do
not bring in a decent amount of money; however, with Swift’s proposal, the mother only has to
care for the child for one year with her own breast milk, and then the child becomes a source of
income. Swift then provides an argument to all the readers that are thinking of how cruel and
inhuman it is that Swift is suggesting that we eat infants. He tells about all the people that he has
met that grew up as children of the poor people. He states that these people would have been
better off if they would have been used as a meal when they were just an infant. All the
statements that Swift makes are his own political opinions, and he does a good job of providing
his views to show you were his opinions are rooted at. Even though his views describe the cruel
use of infants as a meal, he argues all his points with a lot of reasons he has thought about for a
long time.
Moreover, Swift using his personal opinions and views on the topic makes this piece very
interesting to read. Literature involves different topics that bring up topical issues such as race,
class, and poverty. A Literature class can explore the topical issues of race, class, and poverty in
a respectable manner. There is a fine line when exploring these topics. There is a difference in
exploring and discussing these cultural topics and bashing or being disrespectful of the cultural
topics. Literature involves a lot of topics and a lot of cultural topics. Any time topics are being
explored, issues of race, class, and poverty are going to arise. These topics just have to be
handled properly in a literature class.

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To continue, these certain types of topics make for great discussions in literature;
however, they do have to be presented in a respectable manner. Every side of every issue must
be explored, and everyone’s view must be respected. This does not mean that everyone in the
class must agree on an opinion; however, it does mean that every opinion should be heard. The
line must be drawn when someone is being very harsh or bashing someone else’s views. That is
the great thing about literature is that there are no rights or wrongs. Literature is an art of writing,
and a person can write and speak on whatever topic they want to with their own opinions.
In conclusion, Literature involves many different topics including topics of culture such
as race and wealth. Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a great example of a literary work that
discusses these issues. Although Swift’s opinions are widely disagreed with he presents them in
a literary way that makes them a topic to discuss. He provides his view and then he gives very
descriptive reasons on why he sees the topic in that way. As much as people would like to argue
against eating infants, Swift addressed the other side of the arguments and stated why he thought
it would be justified. Swift writing a full essay on a preposterous argument such as eating infants
shows that no matter how different the views are they can all be discussed in a literary manner.