Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal
Jonathan Swift, being Irish, satirizes the English's perspective of the Irish by offering his best possible solution to the English's hatred: cook Irish babies in a stew. Swift uses satire to hint at the English's unreasonable brutality towards the Irish, he believes the English view them as "savage and inhuman beast[s]" (paragraph 5) for a number of preposterous reasons. He takes the ridiculous stance of an Englishman in the article and proposes that the world rid itself of Irish folk by eating the children, he reckons "a well nursed child at one year old, [will make for] a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food" (9). Swift makes the claim in an attempt to fight fire with fire - outrageous with ridiculous. The satirical explanation continues from paragraph eight to thirteen with an organized list of recipes featuring Irishmen and suggests the babies be "plucked" (11) around age one and served as a "very proper [dish] for landlords" (12). Comparing the babies to an English delicacy further proves his point that the English take everything to extremes such as they are doing with policies toward the Irish. Swift's humorous argument was successful in mocking the English through an impeccable satirical explanation of what to do with people they do not like.