A MODEST PROPOSAL

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In the nineteenth century, Ireland was marked by extensive personal suffering. Civilians, predominantly the catholic lower and middle-classes, were having a hard time finding jobs, paying rent, feeding their children, as well as putting up with overpopulation which contributed to the overall growing problem of poverty. During this time of suffering, many began to question whether Britain acted as hastily and as effectively as they could have, as well as believing that centuries of British rule and/or political oppression was a fundamental cause of the famine (which originated from a potato crop failure). Jonathan Swift, a poor-boy who found his niche as a social critic/spokesman for Irish rights, after analyzing the possible causes, he concludes that England should not be the sole one to blame and therefore proposes a rather straightforward solution to Ireland’s evident predicament by insisting that the abundance of children of the poor to be used as a food supply. Jonathan Swift blames the English Protestants for their cruel and inhumane treatment of the papists, or poor Irish Catholics, through both political and economic oppression. This is seen when the author’s “persona” believes that England would be more than willing to eat the Irish poor even if such a proposal had never been suggested, saying that, “…I could name a country which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it.” Being a son of pauper parents, as well as having spent years in Ireland, he first han...

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