Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”

Who Was Swift?• Dates: 30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745• was an Anglo-Irish (a privileged social class in Ireland)

satirist (witty ridicule intended to provoke social change), essayist, political pamphleteer, poet, and priest.

• He became Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin• Most famous English prose Satirist• Published several works anonymously or under

pseudonyms • He was born into a family with literary connections • He was well-educated• Famous works: Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal,

A Journal to Stella, Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the Books, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, and A Tale of a Tub.

Context • Ireland had been controlled by England for 500

years.• The government was a Protestant-run

aristocracy (government ruled by the highest social class), but the country was made up of a large population of poor Catholics.

• In 1707, Scotland joined in a union with England, but Ireland was denied the same courtesy.

• Ireland suffered under tough trade restrictions, and the government in Dublin was limited.

Context, Continued• Swift was born in Ireland’s ruling class.• Swift spent a lot of time in England, so his loyalty was

sometimes questioned.• He was a supporter of Irish causes and was a “patriot.”• In the 1720’s, he became increasingly involved in Irish

politics. He recognized the injustices brought on by England’s rule and spoke out against them (political pamphlets, essays, satirical prose).

• It was during this period (in 1729) that Swift wrote “A Modest Proposal,” exposing in a satirical way the worsening conditions in Ireland at the hands of English rule.

“A Modest Proposal”

• Rather than shock and outrage those he sought to criticize, the satire was largely received as a joke.

• This was the last of his writing about Ireland economics and politics; he would write mostly poetry later in his life, for which he is less well-known.

“A Modest Proposal”• Full Title: "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the

Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick.“

• ** Why “modest?” • He describes the purpose as to "find out a fair,

cheap, and easy Method" for converting the starving children of Ireland into "sound and useful members of the Commonwealth."

• The poor children were living in squalor, sparsely clothed and inadequately fed.

“Proposal”

• Swift uses 2 types of reasoning:• 1. Economic (comes at it from a “numbers”

standpoint) and• 2. Moral (turn a problem into a solution for

the good of the country)• What exactly is his proposal?

“Proposal”

• Of course, Swift doesn’t really intend for anyone to eat babies.

• The essay is a SATIRE: genre of literature (and art) that uses irony and sarcasm to provoke social criticism and change using wit. It is intended to be funny.

• Can you think of examples of modern-day satire?

Modern Satire

• Stephen Colbert is a popular modern satirist.• Jon Stewart is another popular modern

satirist. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K13HdTs

W_E0• http://www.colbertnation.com/• http://www.thedailyshow.com/

Types of Satire• Horatian: sympathetic, playful tone; light humor; criticizes folly• (Colbert/Stewart)Juvenalian: harsher tone; more insult than humor; moral indignation;

criticizes evil (O’Reilly, other ‘political pundits’)• ”Juvenal was a poet active in the Roman Republic during the first

century CE, best known for his bitter attacks on the public figures and institutions of the Republic, with which he disagreed. Where his predecessor Horace utilized gentle ridicule and absurdism to point out the flaws and foibles of the Roman society, Juvenal engaged in savage personal attacks. He utilized the satirical tools of exaggeration and parody to make his targets appear monstrous or incompetent. While he occasionally utilized humor to make his point, Juvenal's satire had more in common with the invective of a political pundit than the primarily humor-driven form favored by most modern satirists.”

Modern Satire

Swift’s Rhetorical Style

• Complex sentence structure (confuse us?)• Litotes (understatement by denying

opposite of what you mean)• Gratuitous Details• Mathematical Terms (reckon, compute)

Argument• Presents numbers– facts and statistics– to convey the

problem at hand: increasing population of poor who are starving and destitute.

• Presents a plan– facts and figures about consumption patterns, price per pound, outcome, etc.

• He goes so far as to suggest recipes and present the idea as being a good one for more innovative cooks.

• Gives a moral argument: Parents will treat their children better because they will be more valued; husbands will have more respect for their wives and their part in feeding the population.

• This will solve a problem.

Opening Text• Opens with imagery of the destitution of the poor: “It

is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms.”

• Where does Swift get his idea? “”I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled ...”

Other Benefits…• Swift says, “There is likewise another great advantage

in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, alas! too frequent among us! sacrificing the poor innocent babes I doubt more to avoid the expense than the shame, which would move tears and pity in the most savage and inhuman breast.”

• Assumes that abortion is a decision based on materialism rather than morality. Does he have a point?

• What is ironic about his reasoning?

Language• “I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand

couple whose wives are breeders…”• “I am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl before

twelve years old is no salable commodity”• “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my

acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.”

• Swift’s language likens human beings to “statistical entities, economic commodities, and animals.”

Specifics• “He proposes that the 120,000 Irish children born in a year should be disposed of

as follows: 20,000 should be kept for breeding and continuance of the population, but only a fourth of these are to be males, in accordance with the practice common among breeders of livestock ("one Male will be sufficient to serve four Females"); the other 100,000 are to be fattened and then sold as a culinary delicacy”

• He then discusses the price of the meat and the marketing.• He mentions, “since a one-year-old baby weighs, on average, only twenty-eight

pounds, the flesh will be relatively expensive. These children, therefore, will be marketed primarily to Ireland's rich landlords, who, as Swift points out, "have already devoured most of the Parents" anyway.” What does he mean by that last statement?

• The new food source will be available year round!• And, “The cost of the meat will be ten shillings, and the profits of the sale will be

mutual: the mother will make eight shillings, and the landlord who buys the child will not only have "four Dishes of excellent nutritive Meat," but will also enjoy an increase in his own popularity among his tenants. In times of need, the skin could also be used for leather.”

Taking the Idea Further?• He then tells of a friend's proposed "Refinement on my Scheme,"

which was that, in light of the shortage of deer on the estates of Ireland's wealthy Gentlemen, teenage boys and girls might be butchered as an alternative to venison (they can’t find employment anyway!)

• Swift resists this idea, protesting that "their Flesh was generally tough and lean...and their Taste disagreeable."

• He also speculates that "some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice (although indeed very unjustly) as a little bordering upon Cruelty."

• He then acknowledges a general concern about the vast number of elderly, sick, and handicapped among the poor, who are no more able to find work than the children. But, he is unworried because “these people are dying off fast enough anyway.”

The Effect• Swift was an “astute economist”• He pits ruthless logic against human social and

political reality.• Part of the effect is that the “reader [will]

feel that the argument is bad, without knowing quite where to intervene”

• We are left to pit moral judgment against other, more rigidly logical kinds of argumentation.

• What is he trying to convince us of?

After the Shock: His Messages• To point out the self-degradation of the nation• “fatten up the starving people to feed the rich” – shows how much

the lower classes suffer at the hands of the upper class.• People as livestock- shows that the citizens are dehumanized under

the oppressive rule.• Breeding– becomes a commentary on the Irish Catholic values; they

“regard marriage and family with so little sanctity” that they become like “breeding animals.”

• Critiques the barbaric lengths which we go to protect economic profitability.

• The idea of cannibalism can be interpreted as a metaphor for how we “devour” each other– and how big nations can devour little ones.

• Perhaps it is a commentary on consumption– we “consume” all of our resources; the only thing left to consume is ourselves!

Swift’s Targets

• Swift takes aim at the wealthy; he views them as irresponsible, greedy, and morally indifferent.

• Swift takes aim at political leaders; he views them as failures.

• Swift takes aim at the Irish poor and Catholic; they are too wrapped up in social and religious “mores” that do not help their cause.

Other Ideas• Swift alludes to other ideas for solving this problem: • Taxing absentee landowners• Buying domestically manufactured goods• Rejecting "foreign luxury" • Reforming morality (particularly in women)• Instilling "Parsimony, Prudence, and Temperance" in the people• Promoting Patriotism• Abandoning factions– come together as one people• refusing "to sell our Country and Consciences for nothing" • Encouraging landlords to treat their tenants justly,• Enforcing honest practice among merchants• He calls these ideas “naïve and unrealistic”– WHY?

Wrap Up• Swift says he remains open to other ideas, but they must

address the problems as effectively as his proposal does.• Other ideas must include: "advancing our Trade, providing

for Infants, relieving the Poor, and giving some Pleasure to the Rich."

• He lends credibility to his argument by saying that he cannot profit from his idea; his youngest child is already too old to garner him a profit.

• In the end, Swift shows just how neglected the Irish poor have become; in fact, even cannibalism would be an improvement over the conditions they currently endure. This is a very powerful message.

Questions for Consideration• [T]he chief end I propose to my self in all my labors is to vex

the world rather then divert it. -Letter to Pope, 29September 1725

• How and why does Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” vex us?

• How does the mode of argument of ”A Modest Proposal’• relate to the “dark side” of the Enlightenment?

• How does Swift use the tools of classical argument to critique Enlightenment thinking?

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