What is Swift's proposal? |

The proposal being made by the narrator is that the poor Irish sell their babies to the wealthy English as a food source.  The narrator suggests that this would rid Ireland of many ills as well as benefit the Irish by providing them with a renewable source of income.  First, there would be many fewer beggars in the street since the children whose families cannot really afford to support them would likely have been sold off at one year of age.  Second, it would render Irish husbands more gentle and loving to their pregnant wives, knowing that those wives are carrying a major source of income for the family.  Beyond making the country and marriages run more smoothly, this proposal would provide poor Irish families, which were typically large, with an additional source of income to help support those children who are kept.

The proposal would also benefit the English because it would decrease the number of Irish, who were Catholic, in the world.  It would also be an economical way to procure a new food source, as one could get several meals out of a one year-old child's body.  Further, the skin could even be used for gloves and boots and the like.

It is important to remember, though, that "A Modest Proposal" is a satire; its purpose is to point out some flaw or vice in its subject and then ridicule and criticize that flaw in hopes of inspiring change.  In other words, although the narrator is making this proposal in earnest, Jonathan Swift is not actually proposing that the Irish sell their babies to the English for food.  He is drawing attention to the figurative devouring of the poor Irish by the wealthy, land-owning English.  These English land-owners, by 1729, had purchased around 90% of the land in Ireland, and they raised the rents steeply.  As a result, the poor Irish farmers often could not afford to pay their rent as well as feed and clothe their children.  Poverty increased exponentially as the Irish seemed to get leaner and leaner, and the English grew fat (so to speak) on their profits.  In order to satirize this figurative devouring of the Irish, Swift made it literal, implying that if the English were so willing to "eat up" the Irish in one sense, they would likely have no objection to actually eating them up.