One of the most interesting and least understood literary writing styles is satire. Many readers have difficulty grasping the art of satire due to its use of irony, wit, and sarcasm to point out a social ill the author sees in the world. While it can at times be comical, as The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms points out, satire’s main purpose, however comical it may come across, is morally centered. Therefore, an author would not aim a satirical writing at something static – something a person could not change. It would point out something that a person, or a group of persons, has the power to change and perhaps just need a little push in the right direction to get the change started.
Jonathan Swift was a native of Ireland but as he grew up, he grew ties in England. From his vantage point in England he became entangled in English politics as he became a member of the upper class as his writing made him a household name and began to observe the hard times his home country of Ireland was going through. Ireland, having been controlled by England for around five hundred years, was being denied union with England in 1707 and the country began to suffer. Swift watched as Ireland suffered under extremely strict trade restrictions placed on them by England and their own government outsourcing its own goods in a sad attempt to support its people. Again, we see problems with commerce. It’s a shame that something that has the power to help and encourage a country is instead used to destroy and harm. Swifts grew tired of observing these injustices and the people of Ireland sinking deeper and deeper into poverty and in response wrote one of the most prolific pieces of satire every written, A Modest Proposal, in hopes to spark the government to change.
The idea that a country would eat its children is, of course, preposterous. It is a universal truth that humans should not eat other humans. The government and people of these countries knew this truth, but Swift is using this shocking suggestion in hopes to see a social change in the countries closest to his heart. He used the suggested cannibalism as a reform to the greed he saw displayed in the government leaders. We see his use of sarcasm in the first paragraph. He mentions that it is melancholy to see beggars and children on the street. It is sarcastic in the sense that Swift himself was a member of the “nobility” mentioned in the text; he may have been saying that it was melancholy to him and other members of the upper class to see their streets littered with beggars but readers are lead to believe he is sympathizing with them. Knowing this information, readers can look back and read the entire text with that that setting the tone for their readings.
We can see irony at work in Swift’s commentary as well in the sense that instead of him asking the government to feed the children to the starving and impoverished people, he suggests that they feed the bastard children instead to the nobility and upper class. While the upper class continue to enjoy their comfort lifestyles, the beggars on the streets mentioned earlier would continue to breed and raise their next meals. “A Modest Proposal” suggests that this society should turn to cannibalizing their own children to combat the poverty present in their country. Swift hoped that readers would recognize his sarcasm and ironic suggestions and would do whatever possible to effectively fix the problem he was addressing.
Works Cited
Murfin, Ross, & Supryia M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms.
New York: Bedord, 1998.
18th Century British Literature Ideology 