For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland

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For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland
The author Jonathan Swift uses a lot of reason to present his ideas in his work “Modest Proposal.” In this particular work, Swift criticizes the government and the rich masses in an ironic and satirical manner because of their obvious efforts to ignore the plight of the people of Ireland who are living in abject poverty. Ideally, the author in this work employs the uses of reason to address the injustices in the society and possibly, he hopes to bring order in an otherwise disorderly society.
In Jonathan Swift’s ‘Modest Proposal’, it is true that the author presents reason as solving problems. For instance, Swift begins by describing the poverty situation in Ireland. This is seen when he talks about a country with “beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for alms”. The author is surprised and saddened by the fact that the rich people and the government of the time has little to no concern about these children of poor people in Ireland. He goes ahead to point out how rich landlords exploit the poor people with excessive rents without caring about they can afford the same or not. When they fail to raise the rent, their few possessions are taken. In an ironic way, Swift reasons that since there is no one to give these poor people hope, then their children should be fattened and their flesh sold to the rich as food. Concerning this he says, “a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food.” From this, ...