A Modest Proposal

Niall Owens

June 17, 2015

Comp II

A Modest Proposal

            In this article the author points out the problems with poverty in his community. Those problems include large numbers of children with parents that can do nothing but beg in hopes to feed them. Because of this many people are dying from starvation and the children that do grow up with this kind of parenting also become beggars or criminals as they are unable to be employed, continuing an ugly, multiplying reality.  The author’s solution to this problem is simple; there are too many children. There are starving people that cannot contribute to society for that very reason. Why not feed those people the excess amount of infants? There would be a smaller population of individuals and a decreased percentage of starvation. It could even help the economy and become a competitive industry, very similar to hog or cattle farms. The rich could then buy these products, allowing money to flow through the society and creating stability as well as jobs. The article is very logical and the reasoning makes sense, but being human it is an option none of us would consent to. Cannibalism is taboo, only in drastic circumstances does it occur, I believe the author was merely meaning to scare his audience, by using pathos he was able to show the issue in our society, suggest an extreme way of solving it to hopefully create recognition of the issue and allow for alternative strategies to be presented so that the society would not have to try to embrace such a disgusting, inhuman extreme.