While reading Swift’s “proposal,” I couldn’t help but laugh for two reason. The first reason is that although Swift’s idea seems gruesome and inhumane, it may actually be the best logical solution for Ireland’s situation. The second reason had me thinking for a bit and lead me to ask myself this: “Is Swift really being sarcastic? Is this actually satire?” As much as I wanted to believe that Swift was being serious, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was really being sarcastic. The idea of selling children as food as a source of income sounds like something that came from the mind of a very twisted person but the fact that this idea can work is where I find the sarcasm in this essay.
Though I don’t want to over exaggerate but here’s how Swift’s proposal would work: for example, a woman that have seven children with no money or food. By selling about five of her children as food she can gain money, twisted and sickening yes but this way the poor has access to income, mothers can now support their kids because there is less of them, there will be four full bellies tonight and the Ireland head count decreases, it’s a win-win right? It also made me wonder if this were to happen now to the USA would we resort to this method? Most likely not because our moral and standards doesn’t allow it, but hey, change can quickly happen during a grave situation. Honestly, I have to give Swift credit because he takes this insane idea, uses logic and reasoning to back up his argument and make it sound like his proposal can actually work, even if he was being sarcastic. Reading this made me hungry for a kid burger. Oh geez, am I starting to catch his sarcasm….?