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Write a 500 word paper answering; A Modest Proposal Surprise Ending October 26, The reading selection chosen was “A Modest Proposal” by Swift

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Write a 500 word paper answering; A Modest Proposal Surprise Ending October 26, The reading selection chosen was “A Modest Proposal” by Swift. The surprise ending in Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” was the end. Throughout the whole text, Swift proposed the poor of Ireland to kill and eat or sell their one year old children as a way for Ireland to get rid of the overwhelming poverty of the time. The final paragraph shows that Swift personally would not be able to contribute children to eat since his youngest was nine and his wife could no longer have children. This surprise of offering a solution without being part of the solution only became clear in the last paragraph. In a cynical way, Swift is showing that many solutions can be offered, but no one really wants to sacrifice for the cause.

During Swift’s era in Ireland, the Irish were being suppressed by England and a minority Irish Protestant population. This elite rule held the majority of Ireland in dire poverty. The majority of Irish were Catholic, but laws were put into place revoking the right for a Catholic to vote, own property, or have weapons (Baker 1999).

There were no jobs due to repressive English laws on export according to Baker (1999). Baker (1999) explains Navigation Acts, The Cattle Acts, and The Woolen Acts put the majority of the Irish economy at a standstill. The only way to make money was to beg or steal. Many poor married women had large families to feed. This was a burden on both the husband and wife.

Swift wrote about this proposal to show that England and the minority Irish Protestants would not allow any reasonable solution. The English did not care if Irish babies died. He put the theory out to show how ridiculous the English laws had impacted the Irish people. Instead of slowly starving babies and the poor through reasonable laws, why did the English not outright kill the infants? That was the goal in the end. While Swift’s proposal was barbaric, the situation in 18th century Ireland was equally barbaric. Swift just ripped the façade off the situation with his modest proposal.