A Critical Analysis of A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift - Essay Example

In his discourse, Jonathan Swift equivalently points out defects existing in the Irish political system and the neglect of the ruling class which, according to Swift, ought to be blamed altogether for the crisis that had been worsened by the mercantilist structure of British control over his nation.

         Prior to the endeavor of illustrating the substance of his proposition, Swift initiates “A Modest Proposal” by briefing readers with a concrete picture of the grounds which he thinks amounted to a grievance that deserved an unordinary level of attention. He confesses “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 … this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom..” (Swift, 5). As Swift proceeds to indicate numerical figures of the Irish populace herein, it is quite evident how he intends for the target audience to imagine and feel the excruciating sight of poor Irish children whose parents were themselves breeders with hardly a more appropriate livelihood than begging for a few shillings in order to satisfy the duty of feeding mouths though nourishment and other basic concerns were not necessarily met.    

         Apparently, it is in this approach of leading readers to realize the appalling situation of the impoverished percentage of the country that Swift occurs to build the logic of his concept. By concretization of the problem parts, creating rich imagery in the minds that must be inclined to ponder on taking an urgent course of action toward resolution, and by providing a sensible knowledge of statistical estimates and proportion between resources and human count, the satirist gradually manages to promote a conscious thought of the central theme of his philosophy and the grave predicament for which it should apply. So, on claiming that children may be sold for consumption to which he adds “instead of being a charge upon their parents or the parish … they shall, on the contrary, contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands” (6), one may be perceived to understand not the irrational and ever inhumane principle of cannibalism, rather the gravity of the present circumstances and its future implications if unsettled.

         Moreover, Swift may be observed to have systematically spread vital details inadequate support of his arguments. In the elaborate enumeration of the advantages corresponding to his schematic proposal, Swift speaks of the reduction in the number of Papists, improvement in the capacity of poorer tenants to pay their rents, and the optimal circulation of goods and monetary gain once the large quantity of youth within the most tender ages could be turned into profitable carcasses and textiles. Then he continues to argue that the materialization of such an idea would keep ‘constant breeders’ from the burden of maintaining their offspring during growth, aside from the other benefits being a great economy for the Irish nation which would hence be brought to experience good dishes out of the opulent supply of meat and increased respect for the value of marriage and family ties. Swift further mentions other significant advantages which he believes are worth thinking of for those who would be disposed to acquire real enlightenment of the matter and consider the wisdom of employing grand revolution.    

         While the satire of “A Modest Proposal” expresses the author’s perspective of a wretched nation, it serves as a speech of high protest in its philosophical content. With the position he assumes, it seems conspicuous that the chief objective of his unpleasant humor is to persuade the Irish citizens of his period to become more socio-politically aware and react against their prevailing condition, recognizing the truth that under British dominion, there emerged injustice in the form of economic imbalance between the inferior Irish Catholics and the superior English Protestants. This is effectively conveyed via Swift’s satirical take on stating “I could name a country which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it [salt]” to allude that it was about time that the Irish learn to cease allowing the English to trample on their rights of progress, identity, and well-being.