CHS students composed their own modest proposals as part of a unit on satire.
Our own modest proposals
In 1729, Jonathan Swift composed what may be the most important satirical work in the English language when he published “A Modest Proposal,” which is a satirical attack on the British government and its mistreatment of the native Irish in Ireland. The Brits had ruled Ireland with an iron first, instituting the penal codes, a series of laws that kept the Irish from obtaining most jobs and forced them to tithe to the church of England, among other things. Actions like these kept the Irish in poverty while the British scooped up their land in acres. By the 1700s, 75 percent of land in Ireland was owned by non-Irish.
In his satire, Swift proposed eating the babies of the impoverished Irish, or using them like livestock for breeding or clothing. It was clearly a ridiculous idea, but that’s what Swift wanted. He was trying to show how simple the solution actually was, which he later explained in a sarcastic manner.
Seniors in CHS Argument and Rhetoric class at Bellwood-Antis read this story every year as a classic example of satire as persuasion. This year, in honor of April Fools Day, these students were asked to compose their own modest proposals on any topic they wanted. The only parameters for the assignment were to follow the pattern set by Swift: address a problem, propose a wild solution, and then subtly deny more practical solutions.
