“A MODEST PROPOSAL” JONATHAN SWIFT – 1729 – BACKGROUND & BREAKDOWN

HISTORY Anglo-Irish satirist (born in Dublin, English parents, returns to England due to political troubles) This was written during the “The Age of Reason” – the enlightenment. Concern regarding human existence led to a need to address social problems. Jonathan Swift faced such a situation in the late 1720’s when starvation was widespread in Ireland. Most people born in Ireland were Roman Catholic and employed as agricultural laborers or tenant farmers. The landlords (landowners) were paid from the produce of the land at rates which the workers could rarely afford. Irish harvests had been poor for years. Farmers couldn’t pay the rents demanded by their English landlords. Beggars and starving children filled the streets. England’s policies kept the Irish poor.

A MODEST PROPOSAL The Modest Proposal begins by using vivid imagery to describe the very real poverty of people in Ireland. Swift presents this quite sympathetically but sets out facts and details, showing that there is a “surplus” of children who cannot be fed. Satire: A literary manner that blends a critical attitude with HUMOR and WIT for the purpose of improving human institutions or humanity. True satirists are conscious of the frailty of human institutions and attempt through laughter not so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling. Irony and sarcasm are often used in satire.

BREAKDOWN “A Modest Proposal” is broken down in the following manner:  Identification of the issue  A mock solution that demonstrates even more intensely the problem  Various ridiculous reasons why the solution will work  A conclusion that brings home the message you want to send.  Humor

FURTHER BREAKING OF THE DOWN  Swift identifies the issues of economic troubles in Ireland  Swift’s mock solution -- he proposes the eating of babies to provide food and also to provide income for families  He is NOT actually suggesting that people do this  He is speaking ironically, meaning that he is saying the opposite of what he means  His real solution comes later, when he derides, or scorns, the ideas of taxation, mercy, and honesty

MOCK SOLUTION – EXAMPLE Problem: Teenagers are overweight Mock Solution: Remove all food from the cafeteria and serve only water. Have required gym classes before and after school and between classes. Use cameras to monitor food intake at home. Real solution: Teach moderation and good exercise habits. Present healthy food choices at school and encourage them at home.

RIDICULOUS REASONING This is where you explain your solution – how and why it will work Swift explains:  How a baby can be raised for a year on little money and then sold for a profit and eaten  Explains how skin can be used to make gloves and shoes  How the elderly and ill are not a problem because they are dying anyway

CONCLUSION The paragraph where you describe the ACTUAL solution you intend to be implemented. This will not be the solution you suggest in your proposal above. This is the real solution. It is realistic, not ridiculous, not ironic, not over the top. Swift says:  “Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither clothes, nor household furniture, except what is of our own growth and manufacture: Of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foreign luxury: Of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming in our women: Of introducing a vein of parsimony, prudence and temperance … Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, 'till he hath at least some glympse of hope, that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice.”