A Modest Proposal Blog

“A Modest Proposal”, the gripping, satirical essay on famine and the poor in 18^th Century England, reveals the struggles and hardships of the poor, and the oblivious response of the rich to their plight. In this essay, Dr. Jonathan Swift denounces the struggles of the poor, stating it is obviously their fault, but also providing a “modest” proposal to relieve the poor’s suffering, and everyone else’s. Swift proposed that the best, most efficient way to rid England and Ireland of the “poor problem” would be to hire out thousands of the over one hundred thousand poor people of the United Kingdom to breed for food. Swift cites many reasons his plan would be a success, namely the increases in food supply, money for the destitute, and gloves or boots for the “thrifty.”                                     While the main goal of “A Modest Proposal” was to change the situation of England and Ireland’s poor and destitute underclass, it conveys a broad message that spans generations- that the rich still undervalue the poor and do little to support them or alleviate their suffering. Swift’s main goal can be spread to other areas of history: how would history be different if the rich in America felt differently than they did when they scoffed at the “deserving poor” during our Industrial Revolution? Our nation’s poor underclass suffered greatly in these years, as the privileged few robber barons succeeded in amassing huge fortunes, which they promptly invested to make themselves more money, rather than giving back to the poor. Many poor people worked in rich men’s factories under deplorable conditions, but weren’t appreciated- workers were often let go if they became injured or couldn’t work because they were sick.

Swift’s essay, while extremely revealing about the struggles during his own time period, also forces us to reflect on how we view the poor, and whether poor people’s lot in life has improved at all over the centuries since Swift wrote this modest proposal. Many times when the track team is running to Alamo Park to practice, we see the same woman over and over. She is obviously poor, but also seems to be either extremely depressed or schizophrenic, and her situation is extremely sad. She wanders the area from about Alamo Park towards the High School every single day, and I’ve never seen her with any friends or family or anyone who could help. It’s made me wonder whether she is homeless because she wants to be, whether or not she can help it, or if she needs a modest proposal of her own.