Humour can come in many different forms. Many people are aware of the cheeky humor of slapstick, but it takes a sharper mind to notice the subtle details of sarcasm or satire. In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift was able to create a piece of literature that addresses the flaws of Irish culture by incorporating them into a humorous essay. Swift's satire allows the gravity of the Irish situation to be exploited under the guise of a proposition for economic benefit. The essay, A Modest Proposal, is a proposal to end the economic dilemma in Ireland by selling the children of the poor, at the age of one, for food. The narrator states, "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, are in the present deplorable state of life." realm one more very large complaint” (Swift). According to this proposal, selling children for food to rich Irish people will solve many problems. Poor mothers will earn money to live and not have to raise children, the rich will have a new source of meat and “an increase in his popularity among his tenants” (Sparknotes), and the economy will improve because of it all. market action. In the narrator's eyes, this proposal amounts to an all-round victory for the Irish people and he can see no objection to his plan. This essay will have no value unless the reader understands that Swift wrote this essay as a satire, a humor that shows the weakness or bad qualities of a person, government, or society (Satire). Even the title A Modest Proposal is satirical. Swift proposes using children simply as a source of meat and outrageous thought, but calls his proposal...... middle of paper....... Np, July 2007. Web. December 30, 2013. .Mortensen , Matt. "Literary Analysis A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift." Humanities: Every Topic Every Angle 360. Np, April 30, 2007. Web. November 30, 2013. “Satire.” Merriam Webster. Merriam-Webster and Web. November 28, 2013.. SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on a Modest Proposal.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. nd. Network. November 30, 2013. Swift, Jonathan. A modest proposal to prevent the children of the poor in Ireland from becoming a burden on their parents or the country and to make them useful to the public. Nd TS. Swift, ""Web. Nov. 30. 2013. .