A Modest Analysis

Brainstorming an idea to overcome problems within poorer communities in A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift utilizes grim irony, touching pathos, and dark comedy to convey his satirical idea of selling and eating babies to prevent poverty and overpopulation.
Swift’s dark comedy is humorous and disturbing in a way that makes reader decide between wanting to laugh and wanting to cringe in revulsion. His idea that “a child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarters will make a reasonable dish” leaves the reader debating whether Swift is incredibly smart or incredibly crazy. When first hearing the plan, it seems too ridiculous to even imagine but as Swift progresses and goes into more detail, his dark comedy makes the readers question if it is serious plan or if it is meant to be humorous. The fact that the children’s mothers could make a “gain of eight shillings sterling per annum by the sale of their children” is disturbing; most mothers would not even consider selling their children but if they were poor and desperate enough they could be swayed otherwise. Swift’s twisted, sarcastic humor also has a very real and fathomable aspect that makes everything about his proposal questionable and disturbing.
Swift plays on the emotions of his readers by enlightening them on the hardships of the poverty-stricken families who would benefit from his proposal. He displays the image of the streets “crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children all in rags” to instill a feeling of sympathy and sorrow in his readers who pity the poor. These women have too many children yet not enough money to support all of them. This is why Swifts idea, selling their babies to be made into food and clothing items, in both aspects; it will rid them of excess children and supply them with a hefty profit. Once the babies are born, “the poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own” since they have nothing else to value. Even during the time of pregnancy, Swift’s plan will increase the living standards of the women; their “men would become as fond of their wives, during the time of their pregnancy, as they are now” because the women would be carrying a good source of income which the husbands value. All of the beggars are portrayed as useless, invaluable, and insignificant, making readers feel sorry and willing to help them in any way possible.
Many of his supportive details and examples have a irony laced throughout them. A small child would, “at a year old, be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune” and used for more than just a food source. Their “skin of which, artificially dressed, will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen.” Apparently, it would be the wealthy that would be buying and utilizing the infants but if they were in fact wealthy enough to buy anything they wanted why would they need to resort to cannibalism? Would the rich and fortunate really want to waste their money on other people’s babies instead of a different form of possibly finer meat? The husbands of the women carrying their children would no longer “offer to beat or kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of a miscarriage” yet not because they think it is wrong or do not want to hurt their wives. They will stop beatings during the time of pregnancy just in order to prevent a miscarriage but once the baby is brought to term they will resort back to their own ways. Swift’s final statement, “I have no children, by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife pas child-bearing” displays how he can suggest that mothers sell their innocent children to be eaten and used as accessories just to raise money; there is no possible way that he would have to experience the pain of being separated from his child because his are too old to be sold and he will never have another one.
Swift proposes to his readers that the poorer people of Ireland sell their newly born children to raise money for themselves and stop overpopulation at the same time. Selling their children will, ironically, provide food and accessories for the wealthy and provide a way for the poorer tenants to have something of worth and value that they can appreciate; it’s possible they wouldn’t appreciate their child if not for Swift’s proposal.