I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children. 

• Nothing much to add here, though I do enjoy how he slyly drops in that they should probably eat the parents too, I mean they're poor, they're pretty much useless to society anyways.
• The voice suggests that the rich get rid of the poor. He/she believes that it is normal to eat human beings, and expects the reader to agree.
• The words and phrases Swift uses, presents readers with the idea of a plump baby as a gift to landlords. I think that Swift is discussing how the landlords have already taken most of the parents finances, “as they have already devoured most of the parents”, so why not just raise a plump child of 28 pounds as a solution. This ironic situation presented to readers evokes the thought of wanting to know how society in Ireland responded to Swift's essay. Nicole
• The expectations this section is setting up for a reader could be, why don't these messed up people wait to eat people that are full grown or a little older. Can they not handle the thought of eating someone that already can talk and express their feelings or is it truly the sole purpose of not having to supply anything but breast milk to them for the first year and doing away with them immediately after. The reader is being led to feel and think that the landlords eat the parents; for some reason that is not explained, and seem to have the best title to the children? This may make the reader somewhat confused. A reader is likely to be engaged by the second sentence, where it says "I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children." The connections the reader is being invited to make is possibly confusion at this point as they assum ed it was only babies being eaten, but now they mention parents are eaten too. Swift's choice of words, once again, are in the right place, but seem a little confusing as he says that parents are devoured by the landlords. Up to this point, readers assumed that it was only babies that were eaten. Now the reader may begin to think that it does not matter that the babies cannot communicate their feelings, because parents are eaten too sometimes apparently. This may evoke the reader to feel sick still. Kirsten Graham
• swift here criticizes the system that the poor are stuck in by attacking greedy landlords who presumably take everything the poor have just for a roof. Criticism of capitalism insofar as it places money over humanity. Colin B.
• Again, he is measuring the children and talking about them as though they were animals, but his manner is effective. If I am correct, he is also implying that the landlords will eat the parents, and can save the children for breeding, raising and eating. Again, totally shocking, but totally effective.
• Swift points out how much a landlord (the upper class) already consumes and how they continue to profit off the lower class. Therefore, a child would be ideal for the upper class. --Jeremy
• Twelve pounds for a newborn whose mother was probably malnourished?... Yeah right! Such irony. Also, in the "and therefore very proper landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children" section-- it's clear Swift really means monarchy and/or government, when he just names landlords. He is also hinting at more serious issues with these people than what he mentions in the text, when he says they should even be entitled to others' children. So there's a jab at the class system and at the economy, and the control over the means of production, in this section. (A.P)
• My favorite line in this entire piece so far is, "I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children." The word "devoured" is the most important here because he is using it in two ways: one to advance his "proposal" that is to actually, physically devour something like food, and two, to advance his actual argument, that the rich have savagely and metaphorically devoured the parents. He is basically saying, well, you've ruined the lives of the parents, why not top it off by eating their children! -Sarah
• I'm starting to see symbolism that Swift is drawing upon in his proposal. I think his exaggerated child-and-parent-eating rich people in Ireland are symbols of the society itself. Everything in life comes down to consumerism, materialism, and selfishness. The people always want more than they have, they always want the best, they are greedy and selfish in attempt to get what they want. These "wants" cloud their judgement and "wants" quickly becomes "needs". Also, I think he is referring to how quickly people forget about anyone other than ourselves. That we will go the extra mile if it will benefit us, but when it comes to helping others, we'd rather let someone else do that... well, if everyone is waiting for someone else to step up and ACTUALLY help someone, then nothing will ever get done. -Elizabeth
• The first line we see again Swift's close attention to details and statistics to imply that he has done much research that backs his proposal. The second line is a jab at greedy landlords and he is playing on the word "devoured" as eating vs. soul-crushing. -Michael Taggart

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