Question

I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.

I do therefore humbly offer it to publick consideration, that of the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed. . . . That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune, through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump, and fat for a good table.

Write a short argument responding to these questions: What point does Swift want to make in the passage, and does he use satire effectively to make that point? Be sure to include a clear claim and to respond to at least one counterclaim. Use specific details from the passage to develop your argument.

Answer 1

Swift's essay is a great example of the way that Augustan writers took on political and social issues. Swift was a big critic of English policy in Ireland, which, if you've read up on your history, you'll know was pretty freakin' brutal.

Here Swift is pointing out just how heartless and cruel the English were toward the Irish, and especially the poor Irish… which, let's face it, was most of the Irish. Hey, Swift is saying, you might as well just eat Irish babies, since you're ruining them, anyway.

Satire is the mode of this essay. Swift, of course, doesn't actually mean that we should all go off and eat Irish babies. He's being ironic. He's suggesting something so outrageous, so cruel, and so horrible that it's funny and scary all at once.

The point is, by deploying this satirical mode, Swift is reflecting back to his (English) readers their own cruelty toward the Irish. By making such an outrageous proposal (eating babies isn't "modest" by any stretch of the imagination, is it?), he's exposing the terrible treatment of the Irish.

Hope this helps!

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