A Modest Proposal is everything that a satirical story should be. It includes sarcasm and irony as Jonathan Swift takes us through a roller coaster ride to show us how the poor are treated miserably. The narrator begins by leading us down a path. He seems sincereand thinks it is a pity how everywhere you walk in the streets of Dublinyou see the poor begging people for hand outs. He is seeking a solution tohelp the commonwealth.He appears to be a logical, educated person who makes it clear thathe has been studying this subject for years. He then tells us that he hasa solution to help the babies whose parents cannot afford them. We thinkhis idea will be charitable and will actually help the poor as well as thenation.The narrator then does something that I think set the tone for therest of the story. He referred to a baby just born as being dropped fromits dam. Animals are dropped from dams, not humans. Therefore poorpeople in this story are nothing more than animals.We are told how the children are a burden and how instead ofrequiring food and clothing the rest of their lives, they will contributeto the feeding and clothing of many people. Any intelligent person wouldassume he intends to put them in factories or farms to work and not be onthe streets begging for food. We are also told that his plan will preventvoluntary abortions and women murdering their bastard babies. The narrator shows the reader he is serious by producingcalculations that appear to be well thought-out and then showing us,through examples, That these children have no future.Up to this point the narrator appears to be intelligent. He isfrom the upper class and has low morals. He thinks lowly about the poorbut has made several logical assumptions and observations. He has us allwondering what his proposal will be. He then tells us that a young healthy child at a year old is a mostdelicious, nourishing and wholesome food. The first thing that...
