‘A modest proposal’, written by Jonathan Swift – one of the main figures of the Enlightenment

movement, is one of the most relevant essays when it comes to discussing the usage of
humour (dark in this case) to expose political and sociological issues.

In said essay, published anonymously by the author in 1729, there are four main themes:
poverty, racism, privilege, and fanatical religion.

As for poverty, the author portrays those citizens with little to no resources whatsoever as
commodities or tools for the rich. The concept that lies beneath the quote ‘People are the
riches of a nation’ is basically that poor people must choose between becoming a source of
wealth to their nation or turning to begging and thievery. Personally, I can see a link that
somehow connects that concept with our current days – nowadays, if a person doesn’t have
enough resources to live, they should either work harder or find the trick to earn the money
they need for a living.

I can also see how the class privileges Swift adresses in the essay can be found these days – ie
the business around surrogate mothers; the poor give birth to the babies the rich cannot
conceive in order to achieve a better living. Also, the image of fanatical religion and racism
portrayed in the essay is sadly coming back to life: far right parties with extreme religious views
are up and coming and people who are different (for various reasons) are left out and even
despised.