The Immodest Proposal

The Immodest Proposal

Modesty is something reasonable, effective. But also, it means something that is humble unpretentious. This proposal appears to be modest, reasonable, and the projector appears to be humble when talking about his proposal, but in reality, the proposal and the projector are neither reasonable nor humble.

First, this proposal appears to be modest, reasonable. The solution appears to be rational, since the projector first states a problem and then he tries to find a solution. The founded solution appears to be effective, since the numerous advantages that he mentions in the first part of the text makes the proposal seem doable, effective, and simple. The advantages mentioned create a credibility of the solution proposed, because the projector makes a logical thinking by stating all the benefits that his solution will bring to the population. And also, his reasonability is supported by numerical statistics and his tone seems like a mathematician giving a numerical report that is modest.

By looking deeply to this text, the supposedly modest proposal turns out to be one of the most ridiculous and immodest solution. The logic made in the first couples of paragraph, breaks down when, in the ninth paragraph, the projector states his solution; to kill one year old babies in order to use their skin and flesh. Although, when the text is read for the second time, this logic is "destroyed" since all the benefits that the projector states are related to his immoral and immodest proposal.

The second definition of modesty is something that is humble. The projector wants to appear as a humble person. First, he claims that he is not making any profit from his proposal; however, his youngest child is nine years old and his wife is past childbearing. Also, he pretends to be an unpretentious person; as in many parts of this text, he states that his proposal is humble and generous.

The projector is not a humble person as he appears to be. First, the projector claims that he is not going to profit of his solution, but in paragraph two, he states that anyone who finds a solution to this problem would deserve a statue. In other words, he is saying that he is a humbly person, but because he found a valuable solution he deserves a statue for people to "honour" him, which is the opposite of a humbly person. He is waiting for certain recognition from people.

To conclude, the proposal appears to be reasonable because of its structure and the many advantages that the projector gives; but in reality, the solution of this proposal is not reasonable at all. Also, the projector appears to be a disinterested person offering a humbly proposal, but in reality he is not as unpretentious person as he appears.