Satire in a Modest Proposal Essay

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Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift is satire? The combination of the bland mealy-mouthed title attached to a horrifying vision of mass-murder might at first seem inherently ironic. But this is no guarantee of satirical humor: after all, when the bureaucratic-sounding title attached to a monstrous plan is the "Final Solution," we have left the realm of ironic satire and entered the realm of actual atrocity. The notion that Swift's "proposal" -- which proposes that poor babies and children should be turned into meat, and sold for food, to solve the problems of poverty in Ireland -- is somehow too horrifying or excessive to be taken seriously is actually not enough to explain why this qualifies as satire. However, a close examination of the text of Swift's "Modest Proposal" shows the reason why it can be understood as an effective satire rather than an authentic blueprint for mass-murder. The reason why "A Modest Proposal" is effective satire is because Swift offers crucial clues that enable us to understand the text is not meant literally, but metaphorically.

The central idea of "A Modest Proposal" is cannibalism: the narrator is suggesting that a solution to the problem of impoverished Irish babies and children is to eat them. This would improve the economic condition of Ireland by creating a new industry, and it would improve the social conditions of Ireland by eradicating poverty.

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But Swift very clearly places clues in the text to show why and how the idea is not meant to be literal:

... I fortunately fell upon this proposal, which, as it is wholly new, so it hath something solid and real, of no expense and little trouble, full in our own power, and whereby we can incur no danger in disobliging England. For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation, the flesh being of too tender a consistence in salt, although perhaps I could name a country which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it. (14)

Cannibalism is a form of exploitation, and for that reason it is often used as a metaphor for exploitation. When people look at their income tax bills and say "the government is bleeding me dry!" or "the government is eating me alive!," they do not literally mean that taxation is cannibalism: this is a metaphorical complaint about exploitation.

Swift knows that the problem of Irish poverty begins with Ireland's status as an exploited colony of England. In the passage just quoted, we can see how Swift places the clue for understanding "A Modest….....

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