“A Modest Proposal” is an essay by Jonathan Swift that aims at providing a solution to the hunger problem in Ireland. Swift adopts a satirical approach that ensues a surprise ending. At the beginning of the essay, Swift focuses on presenting his proposal that will benefit the public and ease economic troubles. The proposal that Swift advances concerns the selling of poor Irish children to the rich, so that they could suffice as food. In addition, he points out that this will ease the pressures on the poor population as it will earn them sustenance. However, in the end of the essay, Swift adopts a pliable tone, which contrasts significantly with the one he uses at the beginning. This emanates from his indication that he is open to more suggestion towards the problems affecting the public and the fact that he is not inclined to promote the ideas that he intended for the progress of the country. Swift is successful in advancing his conviction at the end of the essay by restating the main aims of his essay, which are: the provision of pleasure to the rich, easing the poor people’s burden, success of his country, and prosperity of his country’s trade.
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This essay explicates the surprising endingof Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” and outlines the success of the author in his attempt to convince the reader to accept his surprise ending.
The surprise ending of the Swift’s essay begins when he restates his objectives for advancing his proposal, which he indicates to be beneficial to all people of the nation. In addition, Swift depicts the surprise ending pointing out that his proposal advocated to provide for infants, whereas at the beginning of the essay he was proposing to sell them to the rich for sustenance. It is also surprising when Swift (2007) concludes his essay by indicating how beneficial it will be to sell children for food. He does this through stating that he does not have children who could earn him money, which proves his argument in relation to selling children in order to earn cash.
The second last paragraph hints that the end of the story will be different from what is expected. We can notice this when Swift avows two propositions concerning why children should be sold for cash. The second last paragraph provides Swift’s argument that it will be difficult for the poor to find food for many years to support their children and that people in the country are poor. The poor in the country comprise of beggars and their children, and cottagers and laborers; if the government decides to provide for them, it will result in a serious debt spanning myriad years. Swift’s indication that his proposal is rather cheap, innocent, effectual and easy to adopt is also an indication that the end of the story will be different from what the readers expect. Swift asserts that even the parents of the children who have developed to adolescence would have seconded his idea to solve the problems that they have faced trying to provide for them. In comparison to how the essay concludes, this is an indication that Swift (2007) was also speaking for himself as at the end of the essay he regrets not having children whom he could sell for benefit.
The author is successful in his conviction at the end of the essay through offering several reasons for the adoption of his plan. Firstly, he indicates that before any other writers present their proposals concerning the matter, they should spare a moment and consider his ideas that are uniformly cheap, effectual, easy, and innocent. This observation by Swift is to lure opinionated readers to reconsider their position and try to reason in the same line as Swift. Secondly, Swift (2007) provides two reasons which, as he indicates, are the proof that his proposal is viable; they include the fact that the country has many poor people and that their government will forever be in debt if it opted to feed the immense population formed by the poor. In addition, Swift alludes that many poor people with adolescent children will second his idea of selling children while they are still young because of the challenge they have encountered in feeding these children to adolescent. These three points indicate the author’s success in preparing a reader for the surprise ending because they demonstrate clearly Swift’s position regarding the welfare of his country.
In conclusion, “A Modest Proposal” is an essay by Jonathan Swift that adopts a satirical approach to poverty and hunger in Ireland. However, the essay has a surprise ending that one can observe when Swift openly declares that he has no children to sell in order to earn cash. A reader cannot be sure about Swift’s proposal until the last paragraph where the author prepares the reader for a surprise ending. He does so through outlining reasons to consider his proposal before any other proposal is written or contemplated. Among the reasons he provides is the fact that the poor population will also second his idea of selling infants and that the country resources will be strained if the leaders opt to feed the poor. Thus, the above points also qualify the author’s success in convincing the reader to expect a surprise ending.