Swifts A Modest Proposal (0)

 
The use of satire in Swift ’s A Modest Proposal
 
According to Oxford Advanced Learner ’s Dictionary satire is a way of criticizing a person, an idea or an institution in which you use humor to show their faults or weaknesses ; a piece of writing in that uses that type of criticism: political / social satire (1180).
Jonathan Swift , one of the ambiguous and interesting figure of the Anglo- Irish Literary Tradition , the greatest pamphleteers, and a master of satire, denotes that 'Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind reception it meets with in the world, and that so very few are offended with it’ (Swift). The current essay attempts to analyze the use of satire in Jonathan Swift’s most discussed pamphlet A Modest Proposal and the purposes of using this specific genre .
The pamphlet reveals a vast number of social and religious problems: one of the major at those days was beggary.  The satire was written in 1729, at the time, when economic situation of the country was extremely prejudiced by another crop failure . Thousands of poverty -stricken Irish were dying of starvation, causing the country’s population to fall . However , despite the famine and constantly increasing number of deaths, the government did not  implement measures to improve the existing situation.  Thence, Swift, being an Irishman by birth and feeling disappointed of the ruling classes, proposes a solution to the problem by publishing his shocking work , the bitterest satire A Modest proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public (1729).
 
In A Modest Proposal Swift finds out a solution to stop the famine. The author cites   infants ’ breeding as an example for improving the economical conditions , finding the proposal “a fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the common- wealth ” (52).  He says that because many women in those times had no any material capabilities to raise children and provide for them. The proposal, in his opinion, will make the babies “beneficial to the public” and “ prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children. Alas ! Too frequent among us, sacrificing the poor innocent babies” as well (54). Children are not representing anything, but a hot commodity there . Especially my attention was struck by the fact that the author incorporates a settlement system, when he calculates the costs for rearing and profit from the sale of poor women’ babies. According to Swift, “a child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year , with the little other nourishment: at most not above the value of two shillings” and he also believes that a healthy and delicious infant may easily be sold for 10 shillings, which means that “the mother will have 8s. net profit, and be fit for work till she produces another child” (53,55). The most seemingly blessed event – delivery of a child - compared to the way of doing business. Swift emphasizes this by employing several phrases such as “breeder” and compares humans to livestock, because the only purpose they have is to bear children and sell them as a “delicacy” for the food market . This is a great example of a social satire, reflecting one of the most major human vices – greed, that leads people to commit a terrible kind of actions, just to get a profit.
 
 A considerate and thoughtful reader, who has begun to read the work, could pay his attention to the other sarcastic moment, which appears in the discrepancy of the title with its actual content. Few people dare to call a proposal “modest”, when it means that helpless and innocent children will “contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing of many thousands” in order to improve the economic situation of Ireland as well as the standards of living (Swift, 53). These words  “can take the reader’s breath away , both by the calmness with which it is offered and by the devastatingly quiet logic with which its implications are explained” (Cunningham, Reich , 240-241).
However, the fact that author speaks about infanticide and cannibalism with such ease, and without any sense of guilt tempts us to believe, that his offer is untrustworthy and insincere. Actually, an attempt to apply such an absurd proposal in practice was not originally considered by the author; it is more likely a hidden satire, which is intended to draw the attention of the authorities to what is happening in the country.
Alongside with the exquisite use of satire and cynicism the reader can also trace the paradoxical nature of the Swift’s work. The fact that an Englishman proposes barbarous prescriptions for the Irish ridicules the highly civilized society of England . By calculating the number of children, who can become a “delicacy” for the nobility and talking that child’s skin would make “admirable gloves for ladies ” and “ summer boots for fine gentlemen”, Swift indirectly comes to the severe criticism of the ruling class. The words “admirable” and “fine”, he thus uses, put even more emphasis on his negative attitude to the situation. I assume, that being an Irish by birth Jonathan Swift feels a deep affection for his nation , thus the pamphlet was created in such particular form to mock the cultural arrogance of the English and to stress the Irish subjection and inertness. 
 
Sift has not felt without attention another important issue – the Religion . A Modest Proposal also reveals to the reader a religious theme , expressed by the sense of disdain of British Protestants towards Roman Catholics, especially the Irish Catholics, often referred as “ papist ” within the pamphlet. The British enacted laws limiting the ability of Irish innate to thrive and prosper . Ireland was controlled by England, which imposed many taxes upon Irish people and appropriated their resources. By this, this author satirizes the prejudice of Protestants towards Catholics. He writes that “it would greatly lessen the number of papists, with whom we are yearly over-run, being the principal breeds of the nation as well as our most dangerous enemies” (56). Swift notes that Catholics seem to breed more rapidly than Protestants:
Infant’s flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more plentifully in March , and a little before and after … that fish are a prolific diet, there are more children born in Roman catholic countries about nine months after Lent than at any other season; therefore , reckoning a year after Lent, the markets will be more glutted than usual, because the number of popish infants is at least three to one in this kingdom (Swift 54). 
Despite the fact, that British wanted to dispose of the Roman Catholics, they were afraid of the emigrants. According to Swift’s A Modest Proposal there are only two options for poor children: they “either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the pretender in Spain” (52). The latter meant to argue against the ruling government and policy , as the ‘pretender’ was no other than James Francis Edward Stuart, son of the deposed James II of England and claimant to the British throne. In order to solve several problems in a single stroke Swift suggests the inhuman way of reducing the future generation on the Irish Catholics and improving the economical condition of the poor. Ironically, but Jonathan Swift was a Protestant, in spite of being an Irishman by birth.
To conclude, I would like to quote the following words: “As always, when he seems to tell one story, however simple , Swift is really narrating another” (Kiberd, 72). A Modest Proposal is a direct proof of the above-mentioned quotation . It is a very complex work, masterful and abstruse satire with its deep idea of common principle – the people compose the wealth of the country. However, the mentioned principle is effective if only the population is provided with jobs for livelihood. By creating the nameless projector, who promotes A Modest Proposal, Swift, illustrates the poor living standards in Ireland, where nobody wished to take any efficient measures to improve the situation.  The satirical effect is created by the fact that through a dispassionate efficiency and accuracy of the good intentions, the fictitious author “projector” discovers a monstrous cruelty, and his manipulation of the precise calculations gives the appearance of a real project .
Works cited and consulted
 
Cunningham, Lawrence S., John J., Reich. Culture and Values : A Survey of the Humanities with Readings. 7th ed. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning , 2010. Print .
Kiberd, Declan . “Jonathan Swift: A Colonial Outsider” Irish Classics. London: Granta, 2000. Print.
Ranelagh, John O’Beirne. A Short History of Ireland. Cambridge : Cambridge UP, 1994. Print.
Swift, Jonathan. A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works. Ed. Candace Ward . Toronto, Ontario : Dover, 1996. Print.
Swift, Jonathan. The Battle of the Books . Web. 15 Jan. 2007
 
Wehmeier, Sally, ed. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford UP. 2000. Print.