Thoughts on "A Modest Proposal"

The way in which Swift presents his idea makes it seem like cannibalism is a real possibility. He statements are so matter of fact, and his ideas and reasoning make cannibalism seem not so different from us raising cows to eat later on. In my opinion though, the fact of the matter is that humans have no reason to prey on each other. The reason we are having a shortage of food is because there are so many of us, and families in poorer third world countries, who cannot afford food as it is, are having the most children. This makes feeding them near impossible. So, while logically Swift’s ideas make sense, I don’t agree with its morals. As humans, we are smart enough to exercise population control. We don’t have the animal instinct to reproduce so our species doesn’t go extinct. We know that everybody doesnt need to have three or more children a pieve to keep the human race alive. We can impose certain regulations on how many children are allowed in each family, as China does. I also think that I, or anybody I know for that matter, could get over the “abhorrence” of raising a child for food. If children suddenly had a per pound dollar value put on them, women would be getting paid to have as many children as they could. Women would suddenly have one main purpose, to have children. Children would be cooped up and fed, and probably even be given growth hormones to make them big, just like the cows, chickens, and other animals we harvest now. Most of us can agree that what we do to other animals is bad enough, and that inflicting these moral wrong doings on ourselves would be even worse.

Calabro, Marian. The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party. New York: Clarion Books, 1999.