Jonathan Swift
- 30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745
- Born in Dublin.
- Jonathan Swift was an Irish politician, writer and satirist.
- When in Ireland Jonathan swift began to turn his pamphleteering skills in support of Irish causes.
- This lead to him to producing some of his most memorable works.
- A Modest Proposal which written in 1729 earning him the status of an Irish.
A Modest Proposal 1729
Jonathan Swift argues for a way to turn the problem of mass starvation into his own solution. His proposal is to make undernourished children fat and feed them to the people of Ireland. Children of the poor could be sold into a meat market at the age of one, he argues in order to combat overpopulation and unemployment, helping families save the expenses of child-bearing while providing them with extra income, improving the lives of people overall and the economic well-being of the nation. Jonathan Swift uses irony and exaggeration to expose the truth of Ireland and how the government did nothing to help the people. He uses statistics to support for his ideas and gives specific data about the number of children to be sold, their weight and price. He suggests recipes for the preparation of children. He believes that by selling and eating children this will have positive effects on family morality such as husbands treating their wives with more respect. His conclusion is that by following his suggestions this will solve Ireland's social, political, and economic problems rather than any other alternative options proposed.