A Modest Proposal

● ironically conceived attempt to "find out a fair, cheap, and easy Method" for converting the
starving children of Ireland into "sound and useful members of the Commonwealth."
● poor children, predominantly Catholics, are living in squalor
● poor to keep them fed and clothed
● hard-edged economic reasoning as well as from a self-righteous moral stance
● fatten up these undernourished children and feed them to Ireland's rich land-owners
● sold into a meat market at the age of one
● combating overpopulation and unemployment, sparing families the expense of child-bearing
while providing them with a little extra income, improving the culinary experience of the
wealthy, and contributing to the overall economic well-being of the nation
● statistical support for his assertions
● gives specific data about the number of children to be sold, their weight and price, and the
projected consumption patterns
● suggests some recipes for preparing this delicious new meat
● anticipates that the practice of selling and eating children will have positive effects on family
morality: husbands will treat their wives with more respect, and parents will value their children
in ways hitherto unknown
● implementation of this project will do more to solve Ireland's complex social, political, and
economic problems