wentthrough everyone's mind is that this man is crazy. Cannibalism? That isdisgusting. Yet he continues on as if he said something completelyrational and sane. According to his proposal, twenty thousand children maybe reserved for breeding which is more than they allow to sheep, blackcattle and swine. He is comparing humans to animals again. The rest,being one hundred thousand being sold to persons of quality and fortune.Persons of quality? What kind of person eats a baby? He is even going asfar as to tell us to advise the mothers to let their babies suckplentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for agood table. That is revolting. He is just plain mad. That is the effectI think Jonathan Swift wanted to grab our attention and make us listen tohim. That is when the satire starts to unfold and that is when he dropsthe bomb on us. "I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore veryproper for landlords, who as they have already devoured most of the parents,seem to have the best title to the children." He is telling us we alreadyhave cannibalism. The landlords are cruel and inhuman. The landlords havealready taken so much from the families, why not give them the babies aswell?It takes approximately two shillings annually to nurse a child,rags included. The children did not even wear clothes because they couldnot afford them. They wore whatever was cheap and whatever they could findand no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of agood fat child. There is more satire here. What kind of gentleman eats achild? The narrator goes on to tell us that he will be a good landlord andgrow popular among his tenants. There is some more satire presented to us.The people will like the landlords for two reasons. One being that theywill be getting rid of their babies which they cannot afford. I do notthink the people will rejoice at having their babies eaten by theirlandlords.Th...
