A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

This was not the first time I have been asked to read this. In fact, I have been asked to read it for the past three consecutive semesters. I never mind reading it though because I appreciate the shock value that this type of satire carries. Swift presents this absurd solution in such a way that the reader must have sat and wondered if he was serious, particularly given the upheaval of the times it was written during. People were desparately looking for a way to improve their lives to a reasonable state and escape oppression of landlords and Swifts pamphlet was marketed as a solution to their problems. The irony of course was that it was in an effort to make the landlords realize how absurd their own suggestions, not to mention their treatment of people, was in reality. I don't think I could pick one part of this satire that I like the most but I will comment on the seamlessness of the transition from a 'proposal' to a satire. Many literary critics have noted people often confused to pamphlet as an actual suggestion for cannibalism because they were unfamiliar with classical satires. Definitely a piece that everyone should read if for no other reason than to see how magnificently satires can be composed to define the absurdity of a situation.