Any case to present a proposal, as in this essay, is made
stronger and more powerful if the anticipated results are presented before the actual
details of the proposal itself as it focuses the readers' attention on the potential
results and what could be gained rather than problems or issues arising from the
proposal itself. Note how Swift is very careful to delay the actual nature of the
proposal. Indeed, at the beginning of his essay, he is careful to paint a very bleak
picture of the "deplorable state of the kingdom" and the "prodigious number of
children." Note how he also makes a very strong ethical appeal before detailing his
proposal:
There is likewise another great advantage in my
scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of
women murdering their bastard children, alas! too frequent among us, sacrificing the
poor innocent babes, I doubt, more to avoid the expense, than the
shame...
Presenting the
advantages of his plan in such a reasonable fashion helps us to agree with the proposal
once it is unveiled, and also raises our anticipation and curiosity as to what the
proposal might be. Of course, Swift has a double purpose here, because by making us wait
to hear his proposal he emphasises the horror of it when it is actually unveiled thus
reinforcing his main theme: the inhumane way that the government and people of Britain
viewed the starving in Ireland.
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