Summary Of Jonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal - 918 Words

18th century Ireland was most certainly one of the worst places in the world to be poor at the time. Persecution was all around and men, women, and children were suffering from famine due to the poor condition the land was following the war in the mid 1600s (Turner). Most of the poor lived as tenant farmers who struggled to get by while under the thumb of their unforgiving landowners. Many had to sell most of their crops to pay rent and survived simply off of the potatoes they grew on their own small plots. The sad part is that many people just viewed this as the way of life and did very little to fix anything. The Protestants enacted many laws against the Catholics that put massive restrictions on them. Many bishops were banished and the†¦show more content†¦He also explains how the system would work. The children would be bought from the breeders at the age of one year old. They would then be cared for by the government, and eventually be converted into food for the people . Teenagers, he says, are too lean if they are males, and the women would also be a loss to society for they would almost be to the age where they would become breeders themselves. Another point Swift brings up is ending the feud between the Protestants and the Catholics. He brings this up towards the end of his essay where he is speaking of things that he does not want to hear from people to counter his idea of eating the children. However, this is one of Swift’s real points that he truly means in his essay. In 18th century Ireland the persecution was ravaging the country. Many laws were enacted against the Catholic population that not only were demeaning to them, but also gave them no way to fight back. They were physically disarmed and they also had no say in the government. This caused many people to end up in poverty because of how they were segregated from the rest of the people. Swift compares them to the Jewish people that started slaughtering each other when their city was take. This like the Irish because they are assaulting each other even though they are of the sameShow MoreRelatedJonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal949 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"A Modest Proposal† by Jonathan Swift takes place in Dublin Ireland in the 18th century. The narrator is a very ironic character. His â€Å"modest† proposal is anything but modest. This short story takes place during a famine. Since there was a famine, Swift proposes the idea that people sell their one year old children to the rich so they would not be a burden to their family. One important way in which the author engages the audience’s attention and tries to help his readers see deeper politicalRead MoreOutline: a Modest Proposal Essay1044 Words   |  5 PagesOutline: A Modest Proposal I. Introduction A. Audience Participation 1. How many of you see poverty and hunger as a problem in the world? 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