Jonathan Swift was an Irish author and satirist whose work was disapproved and criticized by many Catholics of his time. The Catholic Church regarded Swift’s work as contentious and politically instigated with the intent of demeaning the religion. Nonetheless, Swift’s work earned him a reputation as a revered author throughout the United Kingdom, earning him the position of an editor for one of the prominent papers. In one of his work, Swift proposed a “modest way off for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public” (1729). In this work, Swift is concerned about the welfare of the poor people in the streets. He suggests that the beggars of the female sex on streets who are always spending the entire day with their children should be assisted. This was to avoid raising future thieves as youths who will, later on, leave their country to fight for the Pretender or even sell themselves away but instead made beneficial to the public. The genre in Jonathan Swift’s “Modest Proposal” is satire. He was bitter about the able people who were doing nothing to save the Ireland situation. He also tried condemning the act of selling children as food.
The key aim as to why Jonathan Swift wrote his article on the Modern Proposal was because he had seen the individualism portrayed by the Irish and the English people who had bought about 90 percent of the Irish land by then. Swift wanted them to be selfless, He stated that “and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the commonwealth, would deserve so well of the public.” He wanted the young children of the poor to be at least provided with milk for a span of a year and other nourishment. Jonathan was also against the inhumane nature of the people of Ireland “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food” he used the satire to make people who were into the business of selling children to stop. He wanted human lives to be treasured and treated equally. “It will prevent those voluntary abortions”. Swift said this to make the women who gave birth out of wedlock to feel comfortable and not as if they are breaking the confidence of the Catholic Church.
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Swift’s strategy while writing the article was effective. Many people were able to put into consideration what was requested of them. His action on abuse enabled candidates of the priesthood to get on their mission by being made to lie prostrate during their ordination. Pope Francis further practiced this by scheduling a big mass and having the poor as his main guests. He encouraged the Catholic fraternity worldwide to reach out to the poor and on that day 19, November 2017 at the Vatican, Pope marked it as the World Day for the Poor. He took lunch with the needy and thereafter, he encouraged all parishes to at least organize something towards the needy such as visiting their families.
The article is very useful in a person’s life. I learned how it is essential to do something towards helping the poor. How the street children can be useful to the public provided the same opportunity as the average children and how inhuman it is to end innocent lives. It is of importance to both one’s professional and personal life as day to day we encounter the street children and we can now handle them appropriately or channel them to the rightful places. Professionally, one can organize with his/her team on how to always visit children homes or make programs on how to educate needy children.
