Preventing Poor People in Ireland Being a Burden to Their Parents - Research Paper Example

Preventing Poor People in Ireland Being a Burden to Their Parents Introduction Popularly known as ‘A Modest Way’, the full name of the satirical essay was ‘A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick’. Written by Jonathan Swift in the year of 1729, the essay is categorized as a Juvenile satirical essay as it with deals with the case of children. In order to understand and argue the proposals discussed in the essay, it is important that a brief introduction of the writer is provided to the readers and the critics. The famous writer and essayist of the eighteenth century England, Jonathan Swift was born in 1667 at Dublin to an Irish father and English mother. The case that the father of Swift had an untimely demise even before his birth, had a profound effect on his bringing up. It is said that the mother of Swift left him as a kid to his paternal grandparents and uncle and returned to London. The childhood of Jonathon Swift was therefore a bit confused and obscure. Later Swift became an Anglo – Irish cleric and held a position of Dean at the St. Patrick’s of Dublin. This famous essayist was also a great poet and renowned satirist. Having famous works like ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ and ‘A Journal to Stella’, Jonathan Swift mocked at the British officials through the satire ‘A Modest Proposal’. Through this satire, he held the British administration responsible for the poor and deplorable condition of the Irish populace and proposes them to have meat of young Irish kids (especially infants at the age of one) which would reduce the population of Ireland and at the same time would provide much needed food and clothing to the starving population (Wittkowsky, “Swift's Modest Proposal: The Biography of an Early Georgian Pamphlet”). Thesis The thesis of this paper takes up the case of meat trade as proposed by Swift in ‘A Modest Proposal’ and discusses the validity of such an alternative in the then Irish society. The paper tries to prove that the essay was basically written as irony by the author. Arguments ‘A Modest Proposal’ is regarded as one of the most prevalent sustained ironies of the English literature ever. In the satire, Jonathan Swift is found to be deeply moved by the economical condition of the Ireland. This Anglo – English cleric believed that it was because of the British government’s policies that the Ireland had such deplorable state. Through the essay, he therefore attacks the British administration. Experts have observed that though Swift was born to an English mother but his mother left Swift at an early age at his grandparent’s place at Dublin and went back to England. This incident had a major impact on the author and he did not find British people too friendly. The author’s proposal to sell off the young Irish kids to the landlords of England is another example of irony. The history suggests that the conflict of the Protestants and the Catholics were prevalent in Ireland from the end of sixteenth century. By the seventeenth century most of the farmlands of Ireland were owned by the English landlords and the Irish folks just worked as laborers in those land. As a result, poverty was part and parcel of Ireland as the local people had to work as the land tillers for the foreigners. It is for this reason that the author thinks that the flesh of the young kids should be sold to the rich English landlords. The irony was more prevalent from the theme of the proposal. Jonathan Swift proposed to sale of the kids of Ireland for meat to the English landlords. But the style in which he narrated the whole incident definitely brings out the satiric view to the extreme. Moreover, the series of logic that he presents in favor of his view is bound to affect out humanistic thinking. He compared the expected profits and losses from the trading of infant’s flesh as if humans were pigs. He writes, “I have reckoned upon a medium, that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, encreaseth to 28 pounds. I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children” (Swift, “A Modest Proposal”). The above statement very precisely states that the parents of the children have been already devoured by the landlords and therefore it is expected that even the children would be used by the land lords only (Boudreaux, “A Modest Proposal to Deregulate Infant Adoptions”). Again the author writes, “I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar’s child (in which list I reckon all cottagers, laborers, and four – fifths of the farmers) to be about two shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, as I have said, will make four dishes of excessive nutritive meat, when he hath only some particular friend, or his own family to dine with him. Thus the squire will learn to be a good landlord, and grow popular among his tenants, the mother will have eight shillings net profit, and be fit for work till she produces another child” (Swift, “A Modest Proposal”). The way Jonathan Swift discusses the menu of infant meat along with the expected profits and losses from the trade, a clear perception can be identified from the words. The writer believes that even if the children are reared up, there are high probabilities that they would not find any job either in agriculture or in industry. The author was deeply moved by the economic condition of the Irish citizens. In other words, he was shocked by the number of increasing beggars in the streets of the country. In fact, Swift mocks the system of begging as ‘legal’. Even being a server of Christianity, Swift goes to the extent of selling one’s child for the purpose of meat and dish. This cannot be taken on a serious note as it was definitely an ironical statement. The author was so hopeless with the situation in his country that he wrote “the poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own, which by law may be made liable to a distress, and help to pay their landlord’s rent, their corn and cattle being already seized, and money a thing unknown” (Swift, “A Modest Proposal”). The statement clearly denotes that Swift views that there is no such difference among the corn, cattle and children. As corn and cattle are already acquired by the English landlords, the author predicts that it could be children next. And therefore, on an ironical note he offers them to be sold for meat because in that case the poor parents could earn a considerable sum that could enable them to have their food and clothing. On a tremendous sarcastic note, Jonathan Swift feels the money that could be generated by the flesh trading of the young kids, can be used for the good of the overall economy of Ireland. In his words, “The maintenance of an hundred children, from two years old, and upwards, cannot be computed at less than ten shillings a piece per annum, the nation’s stock will be thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per annum, beside the profit of a new dish, introduced to the tables of all gentleman of fortune in the kingdom, who have any refinement in taste. And the money will circulate among ourselves, the goods being entirely of our own growth and manufacture” (Swift, “A Modest Proposal”). Opposition There had been strong opposition regarding the approach that Jonathan Swift undertook. The critics across the world were of the view that the proposal that the author provided cannot be accepted at any form. The critics had been of the view that Jonathan Swift have down graded the human population and considered them at par with the cattle like pigs, eligible for the flesh trade. Some of the other critics were of the view that through the essay, the author tried to promote cannibalism. They believed that the way Swift discussed about the dish of child flesh (with salt and pepper and boiled on the fourth day), is no human. Therefore, the essay has been criticized by the reviewers quite harshly time and again. Justification It is true that the way Jonathan Swift analyzed and proposed the condition of the economy and society of the then Ireland, was too harsh. But that does not change the actual scenario that the Irish citizens of the eighteenth century had to undergo. It is fact that Jonathan Swift was a sarcastic essay writer of very high stature. He had very high levels of satires in his credit and therefore, it is understandable that he would have irony attached to his writing. When the scenario of his country is in shambles, it is expected that Jonathan Swift would use his pen in the form of satire to protest such conditions. Still one should agree with the fact that the proposal made by Jonathan Swift was too outrageous. But without criticizing the writer on the humanitarian grounds, it would be prudent for the critics to understand the deplorable and wretched condition of Ireland in that time period. If one delves deep in to the Irish society of the first half of the eighteenth century, one could easily find that the people were virtually living in shambles and begging had been one of the prime professions as there were no jobs in agriculture, trade and finance and almost zero employment generation. Though, the way out proposed by the author is too harsh and cannot be modest in any sense but the outcome of such a way out was indeed modest, at least expected to be modest, as it aimed to provide respectable living for the parents of the children since it was expected that such trade would generate revenue for them and they would not be required to beg on the streets. Conclusion ‘A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick’ has been a hugely successful satire in the history of the literature. In the period of eighteenth century, the proposal that Jonathan Swift offered was too extreme, yet one should be aware of the satiric way of writing that the author excelled at, and should understand the underlying meaning in the same plain. References Boudreaux, Donald J. “A Modest Proposal to Deregulate Infant Adoptions”. May 02, 2010. CATO. No Date. Swift, Jonathan. A Modest Proposal. Forgotten Books. Wittkowsky, George. Swift's Modest Proposal: The Biography of an Early Georgian Pamphlet Journal of the History of Ideas, 1943. Bibliography Baker, Donald C. Tertullian and Swift's A Modest Proposal. The Classical Journal, 1957. Landa, Louis A. A Modest Proposal and Populousness Modern Philology, 1942. Smith, Charles Kay. Toward a Participatory Rhetoric: Teaching Swift's Modest Proposal. College English, 1968. Read More