In the time it took to fully read and truly understand this clever essay, there was never once a dull moment. From the moment I began reading to the moment I wrote my final annotations, I was completely enthralled with this essay. This grotesque and disturbing writing was a brilliant way to grab people’s attention and make a statement, a trait that many forbidden texts are proud of. Simply stated, this essay is shocking and is guaranteed to make anyone’s head turn, while expertly using the shocking material in a satirical way to express an important message.
The essay starts by bringing attention to the poor mothers begging for their helpless children instead of working for their “honest lively-hood” and working to improve their own lives. Swift mentions how disappointing it is to witness such a sad sight in society, especially when those same children often end up with disappointing lives themselves. Many parents in Ireland faced the challenge of raising a child without having the ability to support them. He claims that these children are a grievance and that someone needs to make them useful in some way. He calculates that there are 120,000 children born to parents who are unable to take care of them. Furthermore, many of these children are apparently not useful because they can’t work the majority of the jobs needed. His solution is the following: 20,000 children will be kept for “breed” (according to his words), and the remaining 100,000 will be “offered” to the rich and wealthy of society…as food.
The essay takes a dark turn from this moment forward, and it continues to spiral until the very end. Throughout the rest of the essay, Swift meticulously describes the benefits of feeding these children to the elites of society, arguing that it will help relieve the poor of some of their burdens, while simultaneously giving pleasure to the rich. Although the content of this essay may be distressing, its true purpose is to invoke a harsh reaction in order to convey an eye-opening message about society in Ireland in the 18th century. Swift’s true argument is meant to call out the elite of society, like the politicians and landowners, for seeing the poor as an inconvenience rather than as actual people who are struggling.
Swift utilises clever irony and satire to fully convey his message, leaving the reader pensive and reflective. One of my favorite examples of this is found in the very last line of the essay, where he admits he has no children to sacrifice for the very cause he is arguing for, because his child is too old and his wife can no longer have children. This ironic line calls out the hypocrisy of the elite in his society, who expected the poor to do something for their benefit, while refusing to do that same thing themselves.
Overall, Swift does an excellent job of conveying his message in a very memorable way that will stick with their readers even after they are done reading.