Question

Write a paragraph that objectively summarizes Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and explains his purpose.

Review Swift's "A Modest Proposal" here.

Answer 1

In "A Modest Proposal" (1729), Jonathan Swift adopts the voice of a calm, ostensibly rational economist who shockingly proposes that impoverished Irish parents should sell their infants as food and a source of income to solve overpopulation, poverty, and economic stagnation in Ireland. The essay lists supposed economic benefits, offers precise calculations, and treats human life as a commodity, using deliberately absurd, grotesque proposals to expose the reader to the inhuman logic that underlies contemporary attitudes. Swift's true aim is satirical: by taking the cold utilitarian reasoning of English landlords, colonial officials, and self-interested reformers to an outrageous extreme, he indicts British policy and the apathy of the wealthy toward Irish suffering, challenges readers’ moral complacency, and forces public attention on long-standing social and political abuses rather than offering any literal program of cannibalism.