In his "Modest Proposal," Jonathan Swift directs his
biting satire at the government of the English in Ireland, the English and
Irish businessmen, and anyone else who acts in a way that is harmful to the Irish
poor. In his essay, for instance, Swift writes,
I am assured by our merchants, that a boy or
girl, before twelve years old, is no saleable age, they will no yield above three
pounds, or three pounds a crown and a half, at the
most.
In addition, Swift
satirizes Protestants' in their desire to get rid of Catholics, while at the same time
he mocks Catholics for conceiving so many children during Lent, a time when people
should practice abstinence. Clearly, Swift exhibits a bias that Catholics are having
too many children since the number of "popish" infants is nearly three-to-one in on the
island. By eating the Catholic infants' flesh, Swift suggests that the population of
the Catholics will be reduced.
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