Financial Support for Children in A Modest Proposal - Essay Example

Swift reasons that nipping the problem in the bud during the early stages of life, makes everyone a whole lot easier later on.

Swift proposes that little children who are destined to become a burden on society are sold and turned into meat for the eating pleasures of the wealthy. Swift subtracts out the number of children who have parents who can afford to take care of them and also those children who die due to disease or accident. The total figure that Swift comes up with is 120,000 children each year. Swift claims that these children are unredeemable and the only way to provide some benefit to society is to sell them off to be eaten. To strengthen his argument, Swift tells of at least six advantages that would come from his proposal: (1) the number of papists would be reduced. This would prevent people from being tricked into following a religion that has no purpose. Also, there is already a plentiful supply of them, so no more is needed; (2) poor parents will be able to be compensated for the sale of their child, and with this money, they will be able to pay for their rent, and maybe even their corn and cattle that had previously been taken away from them; (3) the nation’s economy will improve because a whole lot of children will not have to be provided for. This is in addition to the new dish that would be present in restaurants across the nation; (4) parents will not have to raise their children after the first year of life, and so they will be able to live better lives themselves. Money saved from bringing up their children would ease their burden in the long term; (5) the introduction of babies as food would provide a new delicacy to all taverns, and will result in a surge in new customers; and (6) men would not abuse their pregnant wives because they would harm their prospects of being able to sell their child later on.

Swift concludes that his only motives for putting this idea are to benefit his country, increase trade, ease the burdens of the poor, and help the rich to enjoy themselves. In the final sentence, Swift states that his youngest child is already nine and his wife will have no more children, so there is no financial benefit for him.