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English Composition II
27 March 2015 A Modest Proposal: Part Two

A “Modest Proposal” is a short story written by Jonathan Swift. To the best of my understanding it is supposed to show a solution to a problem of a social issue. In this story the apparent problem was the overabundance of children whom their mothers could not care for and they were roaming the streets begging or stealing. The setting as in Ireland and until the proposal came up, I thought this was a real life situation. After reading the story, I realize (or at least I hope) it cannot be. The author used irony in multiple situations throughout the story and along with ridiculous justifications the reader or audience is expected to accept. I found this story to be very distasteful and had it not been recommended reading, I would have chosen not to read it. The story falls under argumentive style. The proposal is arguing for hat he feels is right and beneficial to the town. Regardless of my personal opinion of the story, irony in a story is sometimes beneficial and effective. One of the most effective pieces of irony in this story was the proposer’s justification of using the children as food. He states “it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children (Swift, 306). He acted as if he was concerned about all the deaths of the children. When the reader reads this he or she assumes that the proposer is interested in saving lives when in all honestly he is interested in the complete opposite. He states “I rather recommend the buying the children alive an, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs (Swift, 308). He stated this so matter of fact as of this was an accepted practice everywhere. He often used his friend here or there recommended this as if he did not propose the idea himself. In most cases his friends had money and were of some stature. The irony of the story also was that you would expect the parents, especially the mothers to be outraged. From the tone of the story, even as his plan escalates you hear no mumbling or disapproval from the town. Instead of a logical solution as birth control or stop having babies, it is as if he encourages then to have more babies just for the season. The story reminds you of the literature story “The Lottery “by Shirley Jackson. It was just an excepted practice. Another irony is he compared the sacrifice of the children as rent payment. It was like the children were bargaining chips. “Secondly, the poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own, which by law may be made liable to distress, and help pay their landlords rent” (Swift, 309). All his justifications for proposals used irony but it was a t the point of making the reader think they were justifiable. He felt killing the children would eliminate the overcrowding of beggars, the tenants would have a bargaining chip, the city would not have the maintenance of maintaining the wards and the women (breeders) would earn money. It is ironic that the women saw nothing wrong with selling their children. There seemed to be no emotional attachment to their children. One reason he gave was that it would encourage marriage. The people were more prone to be married than knowing their children would be sacrificed. A more logical solution would be to limit the number of children similar to China or impose severe fines or offer a program to feed the children instead of making them the food.

Works Cited
Comley, Nancy R. "Social Sciences: Arguing." Fields of Reading: Motives for Writing. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998. 305-311. Print.