Jonathan Swift in his essay “A Modest Proposal” uses satire to attack government injustices and political abuses. He addresses Irish poverty and argues that the problem can be solved and the economy can be saved by eating Irish children. In doing so, he highlights the number and extent of Ireland's social ills and the indifference and neglect with which they have been treated. It talks about the abuse of Irish Catholics by English Protestants who owned farms where the Irish poor worked and demanded high rents that the Irish were unable to pay. This leaves many Irish parents without work or a decent job to support their children, so they spend all their time walking the streets begging for money. In this case he attacks the English and shows how the English Commonwealth is cruel and corrupt. He satirizes them by saying that: I think it is agreed on all sides that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and often of their fathers, is at present deplorable. state of the kingdom, a grave further grievance; and therefore whoever could find a just, economical, and easy method of making these children wholesome and useful members of the common good, would deserve so well from the public, as to have his statue erected to a preserver of the nation (Swift 483). Swift also mentions how Irish parents gave birth to many children considering the poor economic conditions they faced, and most of the children grow up to become thieves or emigrants because the parents are unable to support them. It satirizes the Irish for not being able to save themselves from the situation, even after so many solutions were proposed. It proves that the Irish are incompetent…middle of the paper…he would probably oppose this proposal, unless urged, that the number of people in the kingdom will therefore be much reduced” ( Swift 489). The fact itself that such an immodest proposal can be given and received with such seriousness shows that everyone involved has lost even the thinnest shred of human decency and respect. Finally, the author tries to excuse himself from the situation by saying that "I have no children, with whom I can propose to obtain a single cent; the youngest is nine years old and my wife has overcome the pregnancy" (Swift 489). writing the proposal for his own benefit since he will get no benefit from it. Works Cited1) Swift, "A Modest Proposal" The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Pgs 483-489 2nd Ed New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2002.