While the book reflects the author’s sentiments and feelings for the poor, the book is a manifestation of Swift’s outrage at what he saw were the scandalous economic and political policies of the Irish and English governments during that time. ‘It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, … or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes’ (Swift, 1729). Left to fend for themselves without food and shelter, these children finally grows up to become thieves or leave the country to fight for the so-called pretenders in Spain. The men have no jobs and the women are treated like slaves, only to get impregnated and deliver babies who languishes their life in rags. Swift is made to touch upon this topic after seeing the millions of poor beg for food on Dublin’s streets with no solace in sight.
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