The major proposition behind the "modest proposal" is that Ireland's travails under English rule, namely the dreadful poverty that plagued the island, can be remedied by a simple solution. This solution is, according to Swift, that Irish babies be sold for food. That way, he assures his readers, the children, who are a terrible burden on their families, who are reduced to begging to feed them, will become assets. This shocking proposal is, of course,...
The major proposition behind the "modest proposal" is that Ireland's travails under English rule, namely the dreadful poverty that plagued the island, can be remedied by a simple solution. This solution is, according to Swift, that Irish babies be sold for food. That way, he assures his readers, the children, who are a terrible burden on their families, who are reduced to begging to feed them, will become assets. This shocking proposal is, of course, satirical--Swift is pulling the reader's leg.
His purpose in doing so is serious, however. So the real "proposition" behind "A Modest Proposal" is perhaps that solutions to social problems that do not take actual human lives into account should not be considered. Swift uses statistics and hard economic data to make his case, and indeed if we only considered the solution on this level, it might make sense. But there is more to life, Swift seems to be saying, than economics, and by choosing such an extreme solution with no regard to the obvious moral questions involved, he makes this point very clearly.
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