A Modest Proposal

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift is a famous satirical essay addressing poverty, hunger, and British exploitation of Ireland in the eighteenth century. Written in the form of a seemingly reasonable economic argument, Swift’s narrator proposes an outrageous solution to the problem of impoverished Irish families: selling their children as food for the wealthy. The shocking proposal is deliberately absurd, exposing the cruelty and indifference of those who treat human suffering as an economic problem. Through irony, exaggeration, and dark humor, Swift condemns political oppression, economic exploitation, and the failure of the ruling classes to respond to widespread poverty. Short but extraordinarily powerful, A Modest Proposal remains one of the most celebrated examples of political satire in English literature.