Final answer:
The passage from Swift's satirical essay criticizes landlords for their exploitation of poor families, not sparing even the children.
Step-by-step explanation:
The passage from Jonathan Swift's “A Modest Proposal” criticizes landlords for exploiting families. Swift uses satire to highlight the cruelty of the landlords by suggesting that since they have already exploited the parents financially, they might as well claim possession of the children. He sarcastically proposes that children of poor families be sold as food, implying that the oppression faced by the parents is so severe that the children are seen merely as another potential source of profit.