Hardship in Ireland in A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

In Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” written in 1729, he writes of the hardships faced by the lower class and proposes a solution to help it out. Living in Ireland, Swift witnessed many hardships suffered among the poor, such as stealing and begging. However, not too far away, the British royalty was living a lavish lifestyle, and by doing so, it was sucking the life out of the poor. Jonathan Swift saw this enormous unbalance of wealth and wanted to do something about it. Therefore, in his article, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s aims to publicly humiliate the rich by demonstrating how they always take from the poor. Meanwhile, the author is also trying to anger the lower class in order to get those living in it to stand up to the wealthy landowners. Jonathan Swift adopts a sarcastic tone in order to mock the rich, and show them just how much harm they are doing to the people of Ireland. The main issue being addressed in “A Modest Proposal” is that the many poor people living in Ireland have nothing to live with while the few wealthy people have everything. In order to address said problem, the author describes the situation at hand. He mentions how the poor’s lifestyle is a constant struggle just to find food. Also, as an Ireland native, Swift shows a bias in favor of the poor, but who wouldn’t? Jonathan just wants to see everyone in his homeland succeed, but it is nearly impossible to do so when the rich don’t even give the poor a chance to have a successful life. Therefore, the author assumes that the rich are always taking money and opportunities from the poor, so that he can target the rich in his writing. Swift’s arguments against the rich first start out as outrageous solutions to help out the poor in order to get ...

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... believes his idea is the best, and he will not be convinced otherwise. Overall, the author briefly goes over the possibility of a counter-argument, but he does not go into great depth of how the argument would be proposed before going back to support his own proposal.

In the end, Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” puts forth a proposal arguing that the wealthy need to stop being so greedy and help out those who are suffering every day. Swift shows much strength in his argument by using rhetorical devices, such as ethos, logos, and pathos. He also uses satire and mockery to entertain his readers. However, some may find Swift’s idea of using human babies for food as too farfetched, even for a satirical piece. Overall, Jonathan Swift made his voice and the voice of the suffering be heard, and “A Modest Proposal” became an influential work in satirical literature.