Johnathan Swift wrote "A Modest Proposal" in 1729. It was his response to the rise of the lower-class, mainly Catholic, Irish population and the incapacity of the upper class Protestant-English to find a solution to reduce the number of people unable to provide for their families and begging on the streets. “A Modest Proposal” is a satirical pamphlet aimed at the English gentlemen of the time, who constituted the ruling class of Ireland at the time and valued logic and reason above all else. In his essay, Swift uses satire and irony to “propose” a solution to the “Irish problem.” His essay was so innovative and effective because he uses sound logic and reasoning to propose something so ridiculous that it would force the reader to think that perhaps, when it comes to matters of humanity, the solution may require more than cold logic and science. He then challenges the reader, giving a long list of things that could be done to improve the situation, and saying: "Let no one tell me about these expedients and the like, until he has at least one glimmer of hope, that there will always be a sincere attempt to put them into practice. Swift's essay is the perfect example of reverse psychology and using shock value to trick the reader into seeing exactly what they want them to see. Johnathan Swift, Anglo-Irish satirist, poet, essayist, political and religious pamphleteer, is best known as the author of such famous works as "Gulliver's Travels", "The Battle of the Books" and the subject of this essay, “A Modest Proposal”. Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1667, Swift could have been like any other poor Irish Catholic boy. However, he became a fairly wealthy Protestant, and later in life he was even made dean of St. Patrick... middle of paper ...... Johnathan Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal ” was a wonderful satire. , which caused people who read it to take an introspective look and think about how they treated these poor and lower class Irish people. The crude images used by the author disgusted people so much that they were forced to think of a more humane solution. Swift managed to both capture her audience's attention and get them to think more sensibly about an issue that, at the time, was most ignored. This essay is a great example, still today, of how to use satire, irony, and reverse psychology to speak to an audience that ordinarily wouldn't want to listen. “A Modest Proposal” was probably very effective in getting people in the Enlightenment, when they paid little attention to anything other than logic, facts, and reason, to consider that perhaps sometimes , reason alone cannot guarantee success..