In Jonathan Swifts, "A Modests Proposal" (1729), Swifts persona offers a solution to overpopulation in Ireland by selling the poor children to meat markets, to be killed and sold to the rich. The speaker argues that, "..instead of being a charge upon their parents...they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding, and partly clothing, of many thousands." Swift proves with data that, "...the maintenance of a an hundred thousand children from two years old and upwards, cannot be computed at less than ten shillings a piece per annum, the nation's stock will thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per annum..." The Author is trying to say that by doing this, it will be creating jobs for women. In this satirical essay, the author hopes to call the attention to his own people, the Irish, and tell them to become better people and promote a change of in themselves. The Irish are being taken advantage of and are not coming together to help the problem. Nothing is going to get better unless they do something about it.
Tone- Persona is serious
Undertone- Satire
Audience- Irish
Polly - much improved!
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