A Modest Proposal

The ideas of Jonathan Swift in his "A Modest Proposal" are very radical, but sadly they are possible in a world where people have to take drastic measures to survive and live well. Although his proposal of impoverished Irish selling their children as food to the rich seems barbaric and cold, he poses a solution to many of the country's problems.

I think it possibly, sadly. You'd be surprised what people do to survive, especially if a mother isn't able to support all her children. The idea is very radical but he posed a solution to a few problems for example he says, "There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children." The idea of selling your child would eliminate abortions when the child has no father. As cruel as it sounds, this proposal would also be using underage kids for something useful since they cannot work until the age of twelve. Swift also mentions children growing up to be thieves in the line "... helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes." This proposition will help eliminate that problem as well as the problem of the mothers being unemployed. "These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to bed sustenance for their helpless infants," this problem Swift points out will no longer be a difficulty for the country with this proposal because it will provide the mothers with money and encourage them to find jobs. If this proposal were to take place in present day today it would also help the unemployment rate go up. Swift's suggestion will also get rid of the idea of over population. Poor families tend to have many children, if they sell their babies to serve as food and get money in reward, overpopulation would not be a concern.

Although Swift's proposal is a gruesome idea, especially when he says " I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London that a young healthy child well nursed is a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled," it is something that will help abolish problems like over population, unemployment, children turning into thieves and all that bad stuff.

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