I suppose I should start off by saying that I really enjoyed the story "A Modest Proposal", by Dr. Jonathan Swift. In the story, Swift took a very serious issue and using satire, he offered an extremely, out of ordinary solution. The problem was what to do about the amount of poor people in Ireland, and the solution was simple, eat the poor peoples baby's. According to Swift, that would fix a lot of problems; The amount of beggars on the street, release a burden of raising a child in poverty away from the mothers, it would feed a lot of people, as well as clothe people. Swift also lists a variety of other benefits that come about from eating children, one of which is improvement in the art of making good bacon, and many other disturbing things. The point of this story was to suggest a totally outrageous idea as a solution to the poverty problem. One thing you may notice about his data is that eventhough it is all disturbing, it is all true. Everything he suggests would very m uch fix the problem. His solution is inhumane and ridiculous but it is a valid solution. Swift is able to pull it off using sarcasm and irony.
Another thing I noticed was Swifts comparison between poor and rich. If you read you would notice that in the story it is the poor people being cooked and eaten while it is the rich people who feast. Also when Swift is very specific about the costs and expenditures when selling a baby, he suggests that it is a way for the beggars to create some income. The problem in Ireland is the high amount of poverty and usuing sarcasm and a comparison, Swift is able to make his point about the problem and is sarcastic on how to fix it.
