Paragraph 4 is where Swift reveals the basic idea of the proposal by talking about how much it is to raise a baby until the age of one year for a poor begging family. He says that it would cost no less than 2 shillings as the baby would feed on its mother’s breast milk. When it does reach that age then the baby can be sold to feed and clothe the ‘many thousand’ Irish rather than the child becoming a burden to its parents as they will not be able to feed them much longer. I think that Swift writes this with a dispassionate tone even though the topic he is proposing is a sensitive area to the people who are reading it. He could have used some emotion rather than becoming so reserved. In paragraph 5 he starts stating the advantages of the scheme like preventing voluntary abortions and ‘that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children’. For some, this will emphasise the savage animalistic nature of the Irish. This is where Swift becomes aggressive and tries to persuade the reader that his proposal can solve these unfortunate mishaps just because the families these children are born into cannot support them.
In paragraph 6, Swift uses statistics to rationalise his argument. In this section he writes very bluntly without any emotion at all. He starts calculating the amount of women who will be used as ‘breeders’ and those who will be able to support their children. He then calculates the amount of breeders in Ireland and minuses the amount of miscarriages. It’s good that he does use statistics because otherwise the reader will not be able to imagine how you can put this plan into action to solve the problem of too many poor Catholics in Ireland. By using statistics he could win the readers over because they are very logical and straightforward ways of thinking. He weighs out the factors that could affect the ‘breeders’. He uses the term ‘breeders’ as substitute names for the wives who will be producing the children. This is harsh and inhumane as you would normally associate ‘breeders’ as animals or cattle. If Swift didn’t use statistics then the readers would not be convinced as to how such a plan would ‘work’.
In ‘A modest proposal’ Swift uses a lot of irony in his writing. Some examples of this is when Swift says that 12 year old boys and girls could be sold as an alternative to deer however the reason he changed his mind was because they wouldn’t be worth much money for their meat. This is because they will have to be fed alot more than a one year old baby as they are growing and need to have some fat and meat on them to be used as food. They would be expensive to breed, clothe and feed. He never gives the full proposal in the first paragraphs which builds suspense as you want to know more and ask questions about why he is doing what he is and when will this happen.
Swift reveals his proposal in paragraph 9 and 10 by mentioning ‘a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London’ which implies that he is blaming the theory on someone before he even starts. He says that this man told him that a ‘young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food’. This line would have most probably shocked all readers because they would never think of eating babies however Swift would see it as comical because it is a ridiculous idea in the first place. He then adds to the horrific idea of eating children by listing some of the ways to cook them! This is where Swift is being satirical and humorous because he would never cook a child ‘in a fricasie, or a ragout’. It was just to shock the audience. In paragraph 10 he tells you how he would go about ‘reserving’ women for breeding purposes only and how the males will be made to breed and not be allowed to create a bond with the women. It would be like a production line which would be similar to ‘sheep, black cattle, or swine’. He refers to them as ‘savages’ which is very callous and unsympathetic. Swift then talks about how many people one baby will feed and how many it will entertain. He says that a child will make two dishes for friends and for a family meal they can use the fore hind quarter will make a reasonable dish. He talks about the baby as if it is any piece of meat. He wants the audience to feel that he is very blasé about the situation and that he doesn’t care that he is dehumanising the Irish in such a horrific way. I think that the way he is so unloving about the women being used as baby machines is terrible but the only reason he is removing the love is to show the lack of humanity given to the Irish. The objective is to lessen the amounts of ‘papists’ which is an abusive and racist term given which plays on peoples prejudices of the Irish. He takes anti-catholic/Irish sentiment to its logical conclusion.
In paragraph 13 ‘everybody wins’ because a gentlemen will pay 10 shillings for a carcass of a ‘good fat child’ as it will feed his family very well which means that the mother of the child will get 8 shillings in profit which will enable her to buy food and clothes for herself until she falls pregnant again. This shows a win-win scenario and will improve the lives of the poor. In paragraph 14, Swift mentions the other ways in which you can use the baby e.g. to use the skin to make gloves for ladies and boots for gentlemen. It is like there is an endless twisted use for the babies. There seems to be pro’s for everything. It gets worse when he suggests that you buy the babies live and roast them hot from the knife like a kebab. This statement is created to horrify the reader as it is a sickening image to reflect on. He may find it comical as he knows that it’s all a joke but the readers could take great offence to some of the satire he is using.
In paragraph 16 Swift says that someone gave him an idea on how to improve the scheme even more by saying ‘why stop at one year olds? Replace animals like deer with teenagers. Swift didn’t like this idea (ironically) because he says that the meat of school boys would be tough and lean from all the exercise they do which wouldn’t be very nice to eat and as for the girls, well it would be a waste as they would grow up to be breeders themselves so they will be of use in the near future. Of course, it would be dreadful to end the lives of thirteen year old children so this is very ironic.
Swift argues that the proposal will definitely work by giving many ironic and sarcastic examples like ‘the young labourers’ in paragraph 20. He says that if they are not getting fed properly then they are unable to work to their full potential so they must eat the meat of babies to aid the country’s work force. In paragraph 21 he uses abusive terms to represent the Catholics as ‘papists’. He says that the plan will remove the Catholics from Ireland. In the next paragraph, Swift says that the Catholic’s lives are useless and they have nothing worth living for. It’s better off to get rid of them as their existence is pointless. He uses a lot of statistics to keep the reader positive that the idea will be a success for example in the way he uses ‘firstly...Thirdly...sixthly’ shows that he is trying to make the reader think that there are numerous points that support the proposal. He says that the babies will provide meals for taverns and a new kind of food for the rich to buy. It is ironic when he says that ‘fine gentlemen’ will serve this food in their houses. In paragraph 26 swift says that the upbringing of the baby will be a ‘great inducement to marriage’ as the parents will be caring for the child and the attention will be on the babies’ health. The husband will not abuse the wife as there could be a risk of a miscarriage. This would be terrible because the child is the only form of income.
Swift is arrogant when he concludes the proposal, there is little irony used and he summarises the whole thing in a paragraph including the key points. He says that the poor people will be completely safe from harsh weather because they can stay in the house by paying the rich English landlords with their raised baby. Overall, the proposal created awareness of the horrific conditions in Ireland that the Catholics were living in and what they would have to give up just so they could feed their families. He uses a lot of exaggeration as the purpose of the piece was to entertain the readers. However as it was a piece of satire people wouldn’t always see the veiled meanings behind so they would be horrified at the level of inhumanity in the writing. He was criticising both the Catholics and the Protestants even though he is protestant which means that he wasn’t just writing a biased anti-English piece. He wanted to criticise both sides by writing an agenda to help Ireland. I think that it is a very successful piece of satire as it is a world famous piece of writing that gave out messages to the public about the way people were being treated and to see the reactions that people would give by reading it. The key point is that it would be better to die at one years old that having to live a life of suffering in Ireland.
