Over the many years, England progressively expanded a firm grip in Ireland. 1541, the parliament in Dublin renowned England’s Henry VIII, a Protestant, as King of Ireland. In spitefulness of recurring uprisings by Irish Catholics, English Protestants acquired more and more land in Ireland. By 1703, the English Protestants owned everything except 10% of the territory. in the meantime, legislation was passed that severely restricted the rights of the Irish to hold office in the government, buy real estate, go to school, and advance themselves in lots of other ways. As a result, many Irish ran away to other foreign lands, including America. Most of those who lingered behind in Ireland lived in poverty, facing disease, starvation, and prejudice. It was this Ireland that Jonathan Swift attempted to focus attention on in “A Modest Proposal” in 1720.
......."A Modest Proposal" was originally printed in the form of a pamphlet. Writers of pamphlets, during this time, played a significant role in inflaming or resolving many of the great controversies in Europe in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Jonathan Swift writes “A Modest Proposal as an essay that uses satire to make its point. He is creating his work into a piece that attacks or pokes fun at abuses, stupidity, and/or any other fault or defect. Swift also mocks the Irish themselves in his essay, for too many of them had accepted abuse stoically rather than taking any kind of action on their own behalf to stand for what they believe in. Swift makes the reader laugh at and feel disgust for. Wickedly and sarcastically, he criticizes population control in Ireland using wit and clever wording—and occasionally makes outrageous statements. The main idea of his satirical essay is to urge reader to remedy the problem under discussion. The main weapon of the wit in Swifts paper I would have to say is verbal irony, a figure of speech in which words are used to ridicule a person or thing by conveying a meaning that is the opposite of what the words say. 
Jonathan Swift writes:
“…Therefore, I suggest that of the 120,000 new infants of poor parents, 20,000 be reserved for breeding and the rest be sold to people of quality…”
“…A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter...”
“…Only young, tender children would be sold. Older boys, with years of exercise that develops their muscles, would be too tough to eat. Older girls would be so close to childbearing age that it would be best to let them breed…”
“…Men would become as fond of their wives, during the time of their pregnancy, as they are now of their mares in foal, their cows in calf, or sows when they are ready to farrow; nor offer to beat or kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of a miscarriage…”
These are all clearly outrageous statements that Swift is simply just trying to reach the attention of the public so they will get an understanding of how important this issue is and how it can affect Ireland later on. Swift satirizes the English landlords with outrageous humor, proposing that Irish newborns will be sold as food at age one, when they are plump and healthy, to give the Irish a new source of income and the English a new food product to strengthen their economy and do away with all of their social problems. He satirizes the prejudice of Protestants towards Catholics. He says his proposal, if it were to be adopted, would also result in a drop in the number of Catholics in Ireland, since most Irish babies—almost all of whom were baptized Catholic—would end up in stews and other dishes instead of growing up to go to Catholic churches. He views the Irish people with no morals it seems, or no sense for dignity or initiative.
