Criticism In A Modest Proposal, By Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift is an author, well-known for his satirical essays, and the effects that his writing has on his readers. He was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1667, and in 1729 wrote the famous essay “A Modest Proposal” as one of the Irish pamphlets he wrote to draw attention to social and economic crisis’ the country was facing at the time. These pamphlets were written to put blame on Ireland’s government, and encourage the Irish people of 1927 to take initiative in improving the quality of life and taking the state of their country into their own hands. “A Modest Proposal For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick.” is the most famous of these

The first line of “A Modest Proposal” is, “It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms” (Swift, 1). Swift starts off the proposal by creating a setting. He describes the scene on the street in a way that readers can picture it themselves. The description of women being followed by any number of starving children dressed in rags speaks directly to the Irish readers as they are familiar seeing these sights and can recount seeing the same. This use of imagery works as an appeal to pathos. The imagery creates different responses for different social classes within Ireland. A person who is not directly affected by the economic crisis may feel empathetic for those on the streets, or even agitated that they must live with beggars. One who is affected by the crisis may feel heavyhearted thinking about the women, or even be able to relate directly to the text as a women struggling to feed her own

In determining how the infant flesh will be allocated among the wealthy, Swift states, “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children” (3). It is very difficult for poor families to pay for the necessities of life, and one of the biggest expenditures for a family is rent. A phrase that is commonly used today referring to anything that seems to have an excessive cost is, “costs an arm and a leg.” This is an idiom very similar to the one Swift uses in his proposal when he says the parents have been “devoured.” When readers who are struggling to make enough to take care of their family see this idiom they may become outraged that they are no longer considered people. Those who are not poor, may have mixed reactions to the dehumanization of poor parents; they either fall in line and consider the poor to be no more than meat, or they believe that all people should be treated equal regardless of their income. Readers realize that the parents are not literally eaten by the landlords, but it puts into perspective how much they must give in order to receive a place to live. Swift uses these emotional appeals from the very beginning of his essay to encourage the readers to make a difference, and to add a personal touch to his