A Modest Proposal 1045is, therefore, not the poor Swift means to criticize
and chastise but the rich, particularly those who add
to the poor’s misery and disadvantage by exploiting
them by financially.
For the remainder of the essay, Swift enumer-
ates the benefits of his proposal, emphasizing how
wealthy members of the establishment will gain.
Specifically, he points to a decrease in Roman
Catholics, a threat to the Anglican Church, as well
as keeping money within the local economy since
the “meat” is too delicate for export. By focusing on
the behavior of the rich rather than the poor, Swift’s
satire clearly locates its moral compass.
Cheryl Goldstein
SuFFerInG in A Modest Proposal
At first glance, it may seem odd that Jonathan
Swift’s true purpose in A Modest Proposal is to bring
international attention to the plight of the Irish
poor in the hope of alleviating their suffering. This
is certainly a skillful use of the genre of satire, in
that he adopts a writing persona that is cold and
meticulous; his intent is to fill his readers with
disgust because of the narrator’s inhumanity and to
make them realize that their indifference is just as
bad as his “solution.”
The narrator’s diction reflects that of medi-
cine, agriculture, and economics, which strips away
any pretense of compassion. Yet Swift’s excellent
descriptions of the people’s sufferings cannot but
move readers toward the desired emotional response.
He refers at once to the most pitiable of humans:
the single mother begging in the streets with her
several rag-dressed children. The unfeeling narrator
remarks that this situation is evil, not because of
the intensity of their human suffering but because
it drives women to abort their “bastard children,”
while those who are born must ultimately either sell
themselves into slavery or turn against the English
to fight for the Pretender, the Catholic James Stuart,
who unsuccessfully claimed the thrones of Scotland
and England. The narrator insists that we must find
a “fair, cheap, and easy method of making these chil-
dren sound, useful members of the commonwealth”
and so begins to explain his solution of raising
babies until they are a year old and can be profitably
sold as food.
The question of how a civilized nation should
treat human suffering is raised through an indirect
reference to cultural differences and superiority. The
scheme is first advanced by an American, and there
is a reference to a learned Frenchman’s writings
about Catholic breeding practices, but the most for-
eign influence is seen in the account of “the famous
Salmanaazor, a native of the island Formosa.” It
is this truly foreign visitor who refers to the great
prices paid by the wealthy in his country to obtain
the remains of crucified criminals as a delicacy. This
image at once reminds Swift’s readers of the barbar-
ity they assume of foreign lands that they would not
want associated with theirs, the connection through
crucifixion between the poor and Jesus Christ, and
the question of treating poor Catholics as if they are
criminals simply because of their economic plight
or their faith.
The narrator offers what seems to him to be
grim hope, but which actually emphasizes Ireland’s
suffering. He refers to those people of “a despond-
ing spirit” who are concerned about all the poor
people who are “aged, diseased, or maimed” and so
have no hope. The narrator insists that this problem
is lessening on its own, because “they are every day
dying and rotting by cold and famine, and filth and
vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected.” Even
the stronger youths go so long without work and
food that they lack the energy to work even if they
should be “accidentally” hired to perform some com-
mon labor.
To compound his picture of Irish suffering,
the narrator insists that his proposal, odd though
it might seem to some, is the best solution for the
situation and the only one that can offer the Irish
any real hope. He clarifies that if someone were to
offer a better proposal, he would readily accept it but
states that this is unlikely given the immensity of the
task of feeding and clothing “an hundred thousand
useless mouths and backs.” Perhaps the darkest por-
trait of human suffering is offered near the essay’s
conclusion. The narrator insists that anyone who
opposes him ask the parents of starving children
whether they would not be much happier if, through
his scheme, their children were saved the perpetual
misfortunes of not having employment or money or
food or clothing or any hope for the future.