Swift's A Modest Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Swift's A Modest Proposal - Essay Example At the time of this pamphlet’s writing, Ireland was not an independent country and was much poorer than England. Ireland was a place which was wholly dependent upon England politically, economically and militarily. According to Swift, Ireland was an over populated and poor country full of beggars, lack of food storage, heavy taxes and with no right to handle their own country affairs as England uses to control the legislature of Ireland. Majority of the people who were born over there were Roman Catholics and they use to work as labors of agriculture or tenant farmers. The owners of the land known as landlords were paid at a rate which was not affordable by the workers from the lands production. These landlords were usually Protestants and were considered to be the ruling class. Majority of them were not the natives of Ireland by birth nor did they use to live over there permanently. If some labors lost the job they were doing, there position in a job was soon taken over by the other people who are poor living there. Ireland, at that time had the same level of starvation as it can be seen in today’s third world countries along with no social security system. Swift’s Modest Proposal’s beginning is based upon the real poverty of the people living in Ireland. Swift presented this pamphlet in a sympathetic manner but provided the facts and details which showed that there is a surplus that is an excessive number of children who cannot be fed. He mentioned about selling children for slavery as a possibility of living but is against this as nobody will ever buy children who are younger than twelve years of age rather than being against for this possibility due to its cruelty and wrongness. This gives the meaning that children cannot be fed for a long time period as their parents are too poor and children themselves are too weak and small for doing any work. Soon after this Swift went off the point and claimed