Mary Barsoum Joshua DeOliveira Humanities Section P 12/19/17 A Modest Essay, for preventing the students of Mass. Academy in Worcester, from being a burden on their teachers or society, and for making them beneficial for future colleges. The 1700s proved to be a difficult time for the people of Ireland. The people of Ireland suffered from the consequences of the Irish Famine. Poverty and hunger ensued within the kingdom, leading people to take part in inhuman solutions, such as cannibalism. Ironically, the solutions that others proposed, such as Jonathan Swift, were not too far off from the truth. Jonathan Swift s satire, A Modest Proposal, explores the reality of the Irish Famine in a ridiculous fashion. By suggesting the idea of eating the children to resolve the famine, Swift creates a Juvenalian satire that not only highlights the problems concerning the famine, but also the social and economic problems that the Irish encountered. He created this satirical piece using an ironic undertone and a burlesque rhetoric, along with apathetic and grotesque imagery to promote his obscene solution. Swift's satire proves to be an example of a Juvenalian satire by using certain qualities, such as inciting the audience, providing harsh solutions to a sensitive topic, and igniting disgust from the audience, that define what a Juvenalian satire is. Swift uses persuasive techniques that appeal to the audience s rational mindset, rather than their emotional mindset to incite them into cooking
their own children. Swift points out the reality of the situation; that the parents and the kingdom, lack nutrients and clothing, which are essentials that are needed for living. Swift then points out that having a lot of children just makes the situation worse. So, the logical solution would be to get rid of the extra children and produce nutrients out of them, or sell them to pay for rags. By tapping into the logical side of things, Swift is able to incite the audience into actually considering eating the children. Another quality Swift uses, that identifies with a Juvenalian satire, is the element of apathy, or harshness. Swift compares the children as being livestock; something that is grown to be fat, killed when they are young, sold to make money, and eaten. Swift even goes as far to say that a one-year old child who is well fed could be a delicious and wholesome food whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled (Swift 59-60). Swift finds no harm in killing off children. He thinks that it will be a positive outcome for the parents because they will get money, clothing, and lose a responsibility. However, Swift fails to recognize the harshness of the situation and how emotional that it would be for parents to give up their children to be killed. Swift lacks emotional competence and incorporates that into the satire. The final criteria that defines a Juvenalian satire is the element of disgust. Swift takes his comparison of the children to livestock a step further when he mentions what can be done with the extra parts of the child after they are eaten. Often times, after the meat of an animal is eaten, its hide can be used to make clothing. The element of disgust appears when Swift mentions that the skin of the children will make admirable gloves for the ladies, and summer boots for the fine gentlemen (Swift 95-96). At that moment, Swift takes the comparison to a new level, invoking disgust from the audience. The idea of wearing clothing and accessories made from human skin, is repulsive. The satire can be easily identified as being Juvenalian because Swift makes point to show the
audience the poverty in Ireland is not an easy problem to solve, and possible even impossible because of the cynical nature of all those who were rich and in government at the time. Swift s proposal is filled with apathy and hypocrisy in order to address the juxtaposing socioeconomic levels in Irish society; the gluttonously pretentious culture of the rich is contrasted by the socially-profiled poor that have been uncared for by Irish society. Near the introduction of the proposal, Swift begins to stereotype lower-income families as, forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance (Swift 4) and end up, [turning into] thieves for want of work (Swift 6). The poor are considered as lesser citizens to society that are destined to burden others within the community with their begging for money and clothes. Thus, all others within the community are obligated to help the undesirables that free-load off of those who have paying jobs and can support themselves and their families. This initial perspective begins to dehumanize and objectify a demographic as a singular problem must be eradicated for the betterment of the community, rather than one-hundred and twenty thousand individuals struggling to survive. Thus, Swift s entire argument relies on the mutual agreement between him and the audience that the poor are less important to society than those who were born into better socio-economic situations. Furthermore, Swift s proposal is also hypocritical by proposing a solution that separates himself from the harvesting demographic. Poor mothers who are child bearing are expected to give up their children before they are one year old just for a few shillings, while Swift has a child whose nine years old and a wife who s past childbearing (Swift 238). Swift's child is uncoincidentally past the cutoff age to be subjected to his egregious proposal. Swift is actively willing to allow tens of thousands of children to killed and eaten, and be the founder of an ethically atrocious system since neither him nor his family would be affected. Swift craftily wrote the final lines in the play to take a final stab at the corruption of the
Irish government, as well as the partisanship that takes place among rich and powerful individuals that create and pass laws that align with their personal agendas. The poor weren t taken care of by the government at the time of the famine since there was not anything to gain economically or politically from the advancement of the poor and needy. Swift s argument transitions from being a satire about the horrible treatment and profiling of the poor to the blatant lack of empathy from those were not affected by the famine. This selfish perspective of treating the poor as a problem rather than a hurting demographic accurately represents a poor handling of a nationwide problems; in turn, poverty and the woes of a struggling economy cannot be as easily solved as harvesting them as livestock and selling them off to the highest bidders within society. Swift s use of satirical rhetoric, such as irony and burlesque, to craft a ridiculous argument about a possible solution for the growing hunger and poverty in Ireland at the time. Irony is present throughout the proposal, especially within the full name: A Modest Proposal, For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public. Swift s proposal is anything but modest in its action towards the children of the impoverished via killing and skinning them just one year after being born. Swift continues to assure the audience that his humble proposal will not be liable to the least objection (Swift 56) despite involving a small-scale genocide and cannibalism. Swift emphasizes the humbleness and modesty of his proposal for the audience to reflect on the other legitimate proposals that he had written to help aid in the effort to help Irish society. In addition, Swift continues to downplay the absurdity of his argument through using formal language and organizing his proposal in an effective and persuasive manner with an introduction, summary of the proposal, an anecdote about the cooking of infants, and a rebuttal
to potential counter-arguments. From providing vivid examples of how babies can be cooked and prepared, from a slow cooking ragoust, to a well baked baby fricassee. This is deliberately meant to disgust the reader about the current problem with cannibalism among poor families that are unable to financially support themselves. Likewise, Swift s use of burlesque language further elevates the satire to make the piece better reflect the problems during the time period. There is also a small anecdote regarding Swift meeting an American that recommends children taste the best when they are one year old. This is both an insult to the Midwest culture of backcountry American farmers as well as creating a false allusion that others have participated in baby eating as well, furthering the bandwagon mentality that cannibalism might be socially acceptable under certain circumstances. Consequently, Swift's rhetoric is vital to the effectiveness of his satire, as well as a powerful public service announcement when published. Jonathan Swift s satire, A Modest Proposal, proves to be a perfect example of a Juvenalian satire in more ways than one. By incorporating his apathetic personality, along with disgusting images for the reader, into his writing, his argument flourished with the added ironic introduction and burlesque examples of all the grotesque culinary advancements that can be done with newborn children. Swift is able to propose a solution that serves as not just a solution, but also as an acknowledgment of socio-economic problems in Ireland. The satire reflects the negative opinions of the poor by the rest of the populous, adding on to the continuous stigma that is related to the lower class. This stigma illustrates the selfishness of society as well as an inadequate handling of a difficult nation-wide problem. In conclusion, the satire proves to be a significantly more complex piece of literature beyond the surface level of baby eating, provoking the audience to question if current crises are being dealt with both ethically and with the victims best interests in mind.