- I would just like to say that I wrote this seminar paper as i was reading it.
- Firstly Swift talks about beggars crowding the cabin doors followed by 3,4,5 or 6 children behind, all in rags and begging every passenger. Beggars are known to be of the female sex.
- Instead of the mothers working they choose to beg, and there children grow up to turn thieves or leave their native country, to fight the pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.
- 'As instead of being a charge upon their parents, or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall, on the contrary, contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing of many thousands.' From this quote I think Jonathan Swift is trying to say that after the 1st year of the beggars child's life, instead of them becoming a burden on their mother and the public, that he should make good use of them. (But it is not clear to me how he tends on doing that yet).
- Swift believes that the advantages to his scheme will prevent women from aborting and murdering there children.
- He believes there remain 120,000children who are annually born of poor parents. He asks 'how will this number be provided for?'
- He he basically then goes on to say that the reason why its hard to provide for these kids is because they have no skill so therefore you cant employ them. He uses the example of not being able to employ them in handicraft or agriculture. He says the only skill they have, are as thieves.
- Swift then says ' that a young child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled;' At this point it becomes clear that his proposal is to cook and perform acts of mass cannibalism on these children.
- He then says ' that of the 120,000 children, already computed, 20,000 may be reserved for breed', he also says 'that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage'. And 'one male will be sufficient to serve four females'.
- He then proposes that ,the remaining 100,000 may, at a year old, be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune, through the Kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentiful in the last month, so as to render them plump, and fat for a good table.
- At this point I'm finding the reading extremely funny, simply because of how ludicrous his proposal is and just the thought he comes across as being dead serious. Especially when he starts talking about how a child would make two dishes at an entertainment for friends and also when he talks about seasoning them with a little salt and pepper, then eating them on the fourth day, especially in winter. Although I do believe that Swift is a satirist writer.
- He then talks about when a child is born, they should weigh 12puonds, but after a year should weigh 28 pounds.
- He also talks about there being more children born in roman catholic countries.
- Swift also thought about how much it would cost to nurse a beggars child, which he thinks it will be two shillings per annum T me this shows that he has really thought through all areas of his proposal.
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| Not the original cover, but probably the best. |
- He then goes on to say that a good fat child cost 10 shillings and that the mother could make a good profit of 8 shillings. By Swift saying this, he is trying to let the mothers know that there is money to be made. It almost sounds as if Swift is trying to make his proposal turn into a business. ( It sounds like a business proposal to me ).
- He then says 'those who are more thrifty ( as i must confess the times require ) may flea the carcass; the skin of which, artificially dressed, will make admirable gloves for ladies, and Summer boots for fine gentlemen'. At this point it sounds more like a business proposal, because it seems like Swift is trying to draw in more people to his proposal by coming up with more than one suggestion for why the publick should kill these children.
- Swift suggests buying the children alive, and 'dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs'. Its almost as if he doesn't see these children as human, but more like animal.
- Swift claims that his American friend who gave him this idea, was given it after conversing with a famous salmanaazor, who is a native of the island Formosa. This friend told him that they eat children, who happened to be put to death. To me it seems as if Swift uses this story as an excuse to make it come across to the publick that his proposal is perfectly normal and that people actually perform these acts of cannibalism in other countries.
- When Swift refers to the 'Kingdom', he's talking about Ireland.
- Swift proceeds to state all the reasons why his Proposal would be beneficial to the publick. He says 'Wheareas the maintenance of 100,000 children, from two years old, and upwards, cannot be computed at less than 10 shillings a piece per annum, the nations stock will be thereby increased £50,000 per annum'. By him saying this, its as if he's trying to make it seem like it will be beneficial for Ireland's economy.
- Towards the end, Swift states ' I can think of no one objection, that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it should be argued, that the number of people will be thereby much lessoned in the kingdom'. From this, its as if he's very confident in his proposal.
- Lastly, in the last paragraph, he states ' I progress, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavouring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the publick good of my country, and giving some pleasure to the rich. I have no children, by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing'.
- From this quote, to me, Swift is trying to make it sound as if he's not proposing it for personal reasons, but just in order to better his country. He also starts to sound very patriotic, because he keeps on referring to Ireland as 'the Kingdom' and he also says 'my country' and 'our country' very often.
- My brief overview of the Modest Proposal, is that I found the essay very entertaining and funny. I'm not sure how the Irish public took it back in 1729, but I would imagine that the uneducated members of the public, may have not seen this essay as satire and could of took it seriously. The reason I think this is because people in those days believed in much more far fetched things than mass cannibalism, so I believe that this essay could of been a disaster. From this video that I found on YouTube, it's probably right to say that you could see how Swift's Proposal can be made modern, but yet still entertaining and hilarious.
- Points Of Discussion.....
- In general what do you think of Swifts Proposal ?
- Do you think his being serious ? If no, why not ?
- What do you think people in 18th century Ireland thought about his Proposal ?
- What do you think his real motives where behind his Proposal ? Do you think they where what he said they where, as stated in the last paragraph ?
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