A Modest Proposal

About the book

Swift's speaker claims to have found an efficient solution to poverty in Ireland and presents it with the language of calculation, public benefit, and sober expertise. The proposal's horrifying premise forces readers to distinguish the apparent reasonableness of the manner from the treatment of human beings implied by the argument. Statistics, anticipated objections, and assurances of disinterest become instruments of satire rather than grounds for trust. The short work depends on a reader who can hear the distance between the speaker and the author, recognising a moral accusation within the parody of administrative good sense. Its target extends beyond an outrageous suggestion to habits of thought that reduce suffering people to economic units while congratulating themselves on their practical and humane intentions.

• Dehumanisation
• Political satire
• Rhetoric

Why read it

For a compact demonstration of how a perfectly controlled argumentative voice can reveal a society's moral failures.

English text