Leslie Nunez
Mrs. Guevarra
English II – T/Th 2nd
September 19, 2014 In A Modest Proposal, Swift talks about the problems that the whole country, Ireland, is facing. During this period of time, Ireland was a colony, politically, militarily, and economically dependent upon England. It was England's interest to keep things as they were since Ireland was weak, and could not go againts their country. Swift then came up with the idea of proposing his thoughts on how to solve their problems. The state of affais of Ireland are the same of those of the U.S. which is why I agree. Today the U.S. is facing economic problems as well as pregnancy rates, and descrimintion of class. Today the U.S. is facing economic problems as we fall more in debt with other countries, and within our own country as well. Jobs are scarce making it diffuclt for money to reach homes due to the low wages. Taxes are getting higher for the cause of inflation, but will help the economy within our country be stabalized. In A Modest Proposal, the economy is severe since the people aren’t more productive. The povety of the Irish isn’t making Ireland any wealthier for they “…can neither employ them in handicraft or agriculture; we neither build houses (I mean in the country) nor cultivate land” (Swift 2) adding to their poverty and suffering from starvation. Another problem which both countries face is pregnancy. In A Modest Proposal pregnancy is something viewed as dreadful being the cause of “those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children” (Swift 1). It’s until Swift voices out his exaggerated ideas to provide economical and social commentary. Swift suggests that the only way to save their country from poverty and overpopulation, as in the journal states, is to kill the babies of the poor and serve them to the upper class. This will create a new source of income, and for the English a new food product to strengthen their economy and eliminate the social problem which Ireland is facing. In the U.S., pregnancy is viewed the same way it is Ireland. Today girls get pregnant wihtout knowing the defiances behind it. Then abortions become more common due to the lack of resources to cover the vastly high costs associated with pregnancy, birth and childrearing especially if they do not have health insurance.
Rich people tend to think that the poor are poor because they chose to be poor. In Ireland the poor were poor because the English would charge high rents so high that the Irish were frequently unable to pay them, and would end up on the edge of starvation espceially women who would not be able to find jobs easily. They would end up being “beggars of the female sex , followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passanger for an alms” (Swift 1). The upper class would suck the life out of them in labor, and still they would stay as poor no matter how much they worked. The similar in the U.S., poor people will stay poor no matter how much they work. Rich will offend them