Neither indeed can I deny, that if the same use were made of several plump young girls in this town, who without one single groat to their fortunes, cannot stir abroad without a chair, and appear at a play-house and assemblies in foreign fineries which they never will pay for; the kingdom would not be the worse. Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! In these opening paragraphs, the Proposer comes off as fairly innocuoushe is an earnest, concerned citizen, and the problems he describes are indeed serious. (including. In emphasizing that this remedy is designed only for Ireland, Swift is calling attention to the extremity of his country's backwardness, as an index of how bad things have gotten. Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flea the carcass; the skin of which, artificially dressed, will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen. Having considered Ireland's population problem for many years, the author has concluded that the arguments and schemes of others upon the subject are wholly inadequate. You'll also receive an email with the link. The question therefore is, How this number shall be reared, and provided for? Free trial is available to new customers only. And the money will circulate among our selves, the goods being entirely of our own growth and manufacture. He seems to regard them as eyesores and burdens to the public, not humans in their own right. 4) Restate Swifts satirical thesis. Rather than accept this problem Jonathan Swift offers A Modest Proposal that is a contradiction in itself. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. 5) Lastly, what makes this a funny essay? By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. Thus the squire will learn to be a good landlord, and grow popular among his tenants, the mother will have eight shillings neat profit, and be fit for work till she produces another child. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. 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. In these opening paragraphs, the Proposer comes off as fairly innocuoushe is an earnest, concerned citizen, and the problems he describes are indeed serious. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. 01. I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggars child (in which list I reckon all cottagers, labourers, and four-fifths of the farmers) to be about two shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, as I have said, will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat, when he hath only some particular friend, or his own family to dine with him. by Dr. Jonathan Swift. for a customized plan. I think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom, a very great additional grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the common-wealth, would deserve so well of the publick, as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Sixthly, This would be a great inducement to marriage, which all wise nations have either encouraged by rewards, or enforced by laws and penalties. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Dont have an account? I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children. And secondly, There being a round million of creatures in humane figure throughout this kingdom, whose whole subsistence put into a common stock, would leave them in debt two million of pounds sterling, adding those who are beggars by profession, to the bulk of farmers, cottagers and labourers, with their wives and children, who are beggars in effect; I desire those politicians who dislike my overture, and may perhaps be so bold to attempt an answer, that they will first ask the parents of these mortals, whether they would not at this day think it a great happiness to have been sold for food at a year old, in the manner I prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual scene of misfortunes, as they have since gone through, by the oppression of landlords, the impossibility of paying rent without money or trade, the want of common sustenance, with neither house nor cloaths to cover them from the inclemencies of the weather, and the most inevitable prospect of intailing the like, or greater miseries, upon their breed for ever. Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, till he hath at least some glympse of hope, that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice. For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen the number of Papists, with whom we are yearly over-run, being the principal breeders of the nation, as well as our most dangerous enemies, and who stay at home on purpose with a design to deliver the kingdom to the Pretender, hoping to take their advantage by the absence of so many good Protestants, who have chosen rather to leave their country, than stay at home and pay tithes against their conscience to an episcopal curate. Read itjust not at lunchtime, fair adventurer, for then thoughts turn toward food. But I am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is very well known, that they are every day dying, and rotting, by cold and famine, and filth, and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected. The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couple, who are able to maintain their own children, (although I apprehend there cannot be so many, under the present distresses of the kingdom) but this being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand breeders. Title: A Modest Proposal For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick Author: Jonathan Swift Release Date: October, 1997 [eBook #1080] [Most recently updated: October 17, 2019] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 It will have nothing to do with England, in fact, since the flesh of human infants is too delicate to withstand exportation. Purchasing Purchasing Wed love to have you back! Contact us Sixthly, This would be a great inducement to marriage, which all wise nations have either encouraged by rewards, or enforced by laws and penalties. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. 1 / 6. Supposing that one thousand families in this city, would be constant customers for infants flesh, besides others who might have it at merry meetings, particularly at weddings and christenings, I compute that Dublin would take off annually about twenty thousand carcasses; and the rest of the kingdom (where probably they will be sold somewhat cheaper) the remaining eighty thousand. February 28, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 for a customized plan. 1729 It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see He tells of his own weariness after years of struggling with such impracticable ideas, and his final relief and excitement at hitting upon his current proposal, which "hath something solid and real, of no Expence, and little Trouble," and which will not run the risk of angering England. B. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. In the current state of the nation Swift asserts it to be impossible. For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation, and flesh being of too tender a consistence, to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it. A MODEST PROPOSAL For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, . Swift probably does think that being a poor person in Ireland is worse than dying, but he disagrees with the Proposer on how to resolve that tragic problem. Active Themes Related Quotes with Explanations And, once again, the Proposer fails to see the children as anything other than livestock. I have reckoned upon a medium, that a child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, encreaseth to 28 pounds. 20 of the best book quotes from A Modest Proposal. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! "The Question therefore is, How this Number shall be reared, and provided for?" Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flea the carcass; the skin of which, artificially dressed, will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen. Subscribe now. I am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl before twelve years old, is no saleable commodity, and even when they come to this age, they will not yield above three pounds, or three pounds and half a crown at most, on the exchange; which cannot turn to account either to the parents or kingdom, the charge of nutriments and rags having been at least four times that value. It is a ghastly . which, as I have already said, under the present situation of affairs, is utterly impossible by all the methods hitherto proposed. The reader, however, will (hopefully) be appalled by this notion. 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. (Hint: The answer is not that there are too many Irish children!). The diagnosis: "Unbelievable," said Dave Schuelke, a buff and ruddy-faced . But with due deference to so excellent a friend, and so deserving a patriot, I cannot be altogether in his sentiments; for as to the males, my American acquaintance assured me from frequent experience, that their flesh was generally tough and lean, like that of our school-boys, by continual exercise, and their taste disagreeable, and to fatten them would not answer the charge. He speculates that most women undertake these highly immoral practices "more to avoid the Expence than the Shame" of unwanted children. B. Satire in Swift's "A Modest Proposal" Quiz. You can view our. They cannot get work, and consequently pine away from want of nourishment, to a degree, that if at any time they are accidentally hired to common labour, they have not strength to perform it, and thus the country and themselves are happily delivered from the evils to come. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. Discount, Discount Code Explain both the subtley an savagery of the satire . 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