A Modest Proposal

In 1729, the esteemed satirist Jonathan Swift anonymously published “A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Publick.” History has come to refer to this seminal work of satire as simply “A Modest Proposal.” His suggestion in the face of soul-crushing poverty in Ireland was that Irish parents sell their children to the rich for consumption as food. Dissecting “A Modest Proposal” was the only exercise in classical literature I undertook in high school that I truly enjoyed.

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-Alemaster