Question

Which are main ideas of Swift’s "A Modest Proposal"? Select 3 options.

People could solve the problem of poverty in England by breeding, selling, and eating its impoverished children.
The practice of eating impoverished children would benefit the poor, the wealthy, and the English economy.
Those who constantly breed would have to care for their children for only one year before selling them for a profit.
Men would take better care of their pregnant wives because they would not want to do anything to cause a miscarriage.
Swift maintains that his solution to end poverty in England is the easiest, cheapest, and most effective proposal thus far made.

Answer 1

Answer: 1,2,and 5

Step-by-step explanation:

• People could solve the problem of poverty in England by breeding, selling, and eating its impoverished children.

• The practice of eating impoverished children would benefit the poor, the wealthy, and the English economy.

• Swift maintains that his solution to end poverty in England is the easiest, cheapest, and most effective proposal thus far made.

Answer 2

The correct answer is:

• People could solve the problem of poverty in England by breeding, selling, and eating its impoverished children.
• The practice of eating impoverished children would benefit the poor, the wealthy, and the English economy.
• Swift maintains that his solution to end poverty in England is the easiest, cheapest, and most effective proposal thus far made.

Step-by-step explanation:

Jonathan Swift was an Irish writer strongly linked to the revolutionary experiences of the bourgeoisie in his country. As such, he accompanied the struggle against the feudal classes, but warned of the social consequences of the rise of capitalism. In that sense, he developed an empathy with the nascent proletariat. Ireland was one of the countries that suffered an economic and social decline with the appearance of capitalism in England. Dublin witnessed great famines in 1708-1710, 1718-1721 and finally the one that began in 1728 and gave rise to this satirical text. Written in 1729, this pamphlet is a mockery of the texts of bourgeois "specialists" of the time, who elaborated liberal projects to eradicate poverty, called, incidentally, "modest proposals". That was the title Swift chose for his text, which made a vivid impression in his time. An argument about the consequences of the commodification of life and the world proposed by the bourgeoisie.

A modest proposal, to prevent the children of poor people in Ireland from becoming a burden to their parents or to the country, and to make them of benefit to the public:

It is the object of melancholy for those, who walk through this great city, or travel through the countryside, when they see the streets, roads and portals full of beggars of the females, followed by three, four or six children, all of them covered with rags and annoying each passenger by asking for a handout. These mothers, instead of being able to work for a living, are forced to spend all their time wandering, imploring the sustenance of their helpless infants who grow up, due to lack of work, become thieves, or they leave their beloved native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or they sell themselves into bondage to the Barbados Islands.