Surprise Ending of Swifts Modest Proposal - Essay Example

Swift starts by addressing the regrettable conditions of Irish families affected by poverty and spending most of their income feeding their children. As a strategy to solve their problems, Swift proposes that the poverty-stricken families should exchange their children for money by selling it to rich landowners in Ireland. Further, Swift proposes that the children would best be vendible in the meat market. Selling their children would reduce the expenses of bringing them up by already poor Irish citizens (Swift, 2001).

In addition, the proposal would be helpful to control the challenges of overpopulation and unemployment. The action, therefore, would help boost the Irish economy. Swift, however, adopts a satirical approach when addressing the concern of poor families in Ireland. There is evident sarcasm and utter irony at the end of Swift’s proposal (Foshay, 1961). First, it appears absurd that Swift proposes killing of Irish children in an attempt to boost the economy. Despite proposing the main idea of making delicious meals out of Irish children, Swift turns to the good objection.

Towards the end of the essay, Swift argues that there are other strategies to reduce population. Reducing the population forms the foremost goal that the Irish government intends to attain. That Swift proposes better ideas than selling and killing children from poor Irish families to solve the problem of overpopulation is a great surprise. Towards the end, the reader is engaged in formulating diverse solutions that can be applied to address overpopulation, unemployment, and poverty in Ireland. He proposes real solutions to the challenges such as advancing trade to boost the economy (Swift, 2004). Justifiably, Swift challenges the reader to think of viable solutions to societal challenges.