A Modest Propsal, By Jonathan Swift

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John Swift’s argument is extremely effective because there is an ongoing problem of women and children begging on the streets of Ireland. These’s mothers “are forced to employ all their time panhandling” (Swift), for food because their families are too poor to keep them fed and clothed. The Author immediately address’ the dreadful living situations in Ireland as well as the poor economy and comes up with “A Modest Proposal” in a very unconventional way, he is trying to open the City of Ireland’s eyes, if nothing changes, everything will stay the same. The Author proposes that the poverty problem in Ireland can be fixed by selling the children of the poor be sold as food to the wealthy. Swift had this figures down to a science, he wanted to use young infants as food and make their skin as clothing. The younger the infant, the more tender and fatty the meat would be, which would make for several meals as well as excellent meat. “There is likewise anther great advantage in my scheme that 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” (Swift). The poorer citizens in Ireland should have a choice of aborting their child or not. The Author fits this into his proposal as doing Ireland and the economy a favor. There are so many children born to parents who cant afford to feed and clothed them, for economic reasons, aborting a poorer child would be doing less harm then bringing this child into a world of pain and suffering. Swift did not wish to implement his plan. He only used this unconventional theory to help citizens see the problems they had created. " I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny: the youngest being nine years old, and

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