A Modest Proposal

While I was reading through some of my other classmate's blog posts, their reactions were all about the same, disgust, horror, and surprise. A lot of what Swift says are disgusting and horrific and I don't blame anyone to have these emotions. Although all of these emotions are fair, there is an underlying message to this essay that not many people know; especially if they are reading it for the first time. 

During high school, we read and analyzed Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal. In fact we had to write a pretty lengthly essay on it so, I know what Swift was really trying to get across. Even though Swift may have brought up some pretty interesting solutions to solve the hunger problem, he is not really serious about any of it. He is actually writing a satire. It might have not appeared to be so but that is the point of the essay. He wanted to get attention from the public by proposing some ludicrous solution. His satire actually mocks the way people view the poor and the hungry. It also is meant to make the audience think about the Irish policy at the time. 

I must say that Swift does have a very dark sense of humor and a very dark writing style. However, I can see how this would catch everyone's attention. Even now when people read it, its very attention grabbing. Its just a crazy proposal that nobody in their right mind would actually consider. It does actually make it quite funny once you figure out his real intention behind the essay and what he was actually trying to accomplish.