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The Eighteenth-century was not an easy time for the country of Ireland, which was facing an ever continuous social, economical, and political dilemma. In his work, “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift orchestrates a witty satire aimed not only at the arithmeticians of the time, but at the people of Ireland as well. Through varying tones he introduces a plan of commercial cannibalism in hopes of “preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country and making them beneficial to the public” (BL 1138). By using ironic, factual and graphic tones, Swift attempts to demonstrate the desperate situation of the country, and the necessity for social and moral reforms. The title “A Modest Proposal” is the clearest of all irony throughout the satire since it is indeed, not a modest, but a grossly inhumane proposal. It is also ironic in another way, in that Swift does not consider his proposal to be inhumane because the country is already declining from the inside out. To further his ironic plan, Swift states that some advantages are “it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children” (BL 1139) and “instead of being a