The persona Swift has adopted is that who is malicious, savage and inhumane. He is a fiercely left-wing economist who is fascist to the extent that one could compare him to a Nazi. Although he tries to give an objective, sensible tone, he reveals his intolerance to the homeless on numerous occasions. He refers to the birth of children of the homeless, as being “dropped from its dam”. This phrase is more commonly used for animals, rather than humans, so by using this phrase, Swift’s persona is comparing the homeless to animals and thinks of them at the same level. He also implies that all children of the homeless are thieves. While discussing possible methods of providing for the children of the homeless, he says that children under the age of six “can very seldom pick up a livelihood by stealing...” This suggests that the only way the children of the homeless set about earning a living, is by stealing. This is an extremely fascist, unreasonable and intolerant attitude. In short, he uses rational, sensible language to express his extremely discriminating, fascist views.
Swift’s proposal is established upon parody and ridiculous ideas put forth in a very serious manner. His persona states that “There only remain an hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents born annually. The question therefore is, how this number shall be reared and provided for...” This appears to be leading to the explanation of a very sensible, effective proposal. However, the true horror of the proposal becomes apparent when his persona outlines his plans for selling the children of the poor to the rich, to be eaten as a delicacy. “A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends...” Although a ludicrous idea, it is put forth with the utmost sincerity. His idea is made even more ridiculous when he says that one “may flay the carcass: the skin of which...will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen.” He goes on to elaborate on his proposal, explaining the age range and sex of the children which will be sold and the methods of making them more profitable. His persona stops at nothing to increase the profits and to save money. He is a cold calculated economist.
Swift’s persona talks of one of the benefits of the proposal, being that it would “greatly lessen the number of Papists...” He talks of such an evil idea, simply killing off thousands of people for economic gain, with sincerity and even with an element of conviction when he explains the extent of the benefits.
Although much of the proposal appears to be horrific, the true motives of the proposal are not revealed by Swift’s persona until very late on. His persona concedes that the proposal may have a disadvantage in that “the number of people will be thereby much lessened...” but he combats this by saying that it is in fact an advantage. At this stage Swift reveals his actual concern for the poverty problems Ireland has. He rubbishes other possible proposals for solving the problems, which are actually in his mind, the true solutions to the problem; this is merely an ironic way of making them seem more powerful. He is expressing his concern that the British government are not taking more plausible action than his proposal, as he feels that so much more could me done to solve the problem of homelessness and poverty, confined within moral boundaries.
Swift’s Modest Proposal is designed to exhibit the kind of lives the poor people in Britain live. He has used parody to highlight his concerns and enlighten the public as to the fact that the poor do not have things easy. He intends to shock and horrify the reader, and in doing so, promoting values and increasing awareness, and warning against the dangers of focusing purely on economic gain.