The problem that
Swift addresses in A Modest Proposal is poor women having too many children and
not being able to support them nor able to work to provide for them. “These
mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced
to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless
infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave
their dear native country, to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell
themselves to the Barbadoes.” He wants to stop all of the poor mothers from
having kids if they cannot take care of them and provide for them. He also
wants to get rid of the children who are currently living in poverty and
relying on their communities and landlords. He wants to do this by selling one
year olds to the rich for food.
I think his purpose
is not serious. I believe his purpose is to make the point that anyone can come
up with an idea on how to solve the problem but if it is not enforced nothing
will change. I think that Swift is making fun of the government because they
have suggested ways of dealing with this problem but have not attempted to put
them into practice. “Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the
like expedients, ‘till he hath at least some glimpse of hope, that there will
ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice.”
I do not believe
that Swift’s solution is logical nor moral or ethical. The evidence of Swift’s
position lies within this quote: “I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that
I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary
work, having no other motive than the publick good of my country, by advancing
our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure
to the rich. I have no children, by which I can propose to get a single penny; the
youngest being nine years old, and my wife past child-bearing.”
Swift, J. (1729). “A Modest
Proposal”
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