A Modest Proposal

With wit and biting sarcasm during the time of great famine in Ireland, Dr. Jonathan Swift puts forth the proposal of the poor eating their little children to avoid starvation. Through his cynical sarcasm in this so-dark-it’s-funny satire Swift shed light on the reality of the Irish plight and how poor conditions truly were for the starving. By fabricating such an appalling proposal as those who are hungry eat their young, Swift forced the upper class to acknowledge how terrible the conditions were during the Irish famine, and therefore became a huge voice for Irish social justice.