In Jonathan Swift’s satire, “A Modest Proposal”, Swift writes about the starving people of Ireland in the early 1700’s. He makes a wild and absurd proposal to help remedy the problems of overpopulation and poverty. Swift wants to make a political statement by using the “children” as satire to grasp the attention of the audience - the English people, the Irish politicians and the rich – and make them aware of the political, moral, and social problems. In “A Modest Proposal”, Swift’s arguments are presented effectively by using pathos (emotional appeal), ethos (ethics and values), and logos (logic reasoning and facts). Swift begins his argument by stating his view on the situation and displaying his annoyance. He states, "It is a …show more content…
Swift obviously wants the readers to realize that he has studied the problem for a very long time. He even confides from a commendable person about the proposal, thus stating, “A very worthy person, a true lover of his country, and whose virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased in discoursing on this matter to offer a refinement upon my scheme” (Swift 3). By referencing experiences of friends and acquaintances, Swift asserts that his proposal is indeed feasible and can be applied to remedy Ireland’s economy and social ills. He writes, “But with due deference to so excellent a friend… my American acquaintance assured me, from frequent experience…” (Swift 3). Another one, “But in order to justify my friend, he confessed that this expedient was put into his head by the famous Psalmanazar… who came from thence to London above twenty years ago… that in his country when any young person happened to be put to death, the executioner sold the carcass to persons of quality as a prime dainty” (Swift 3). Likewise, from a grave author, an eminent French physician, who says that infant’s flesh are more plentiful in March because there are more children born in Roman Catholic countries due to the fish diet that they eat during Lenten season (Swift 2). Swift undoubtedly uses ethos to show the readers that he actually gathered facts from people
Since the beginning of the 19th century, America has had to deal with the on going
The author of “A Modest Proposal” uses ethos with the intention of the readers taking his plan into consideration to improve the conditions in Ireland, by gaining credibility. Hence, Swift states,” having turned my thoughts for many years, upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors.” As well as, “ having no other motive than the public good of my country.” The use of ethos in this particular evidence shows the author and his plan is reasonable through his expertise on the subject and has a trustworthy impression, which propels the audience towards his plan. Swift uses satire to make the audience recognize how absurd the other plans are. Consequently, the readers gain more sureness and confidence
According to an article written by Jason M. Breslow, as of 2011, children had the highest poverty level with over 16 million children living in poverty. That is just in the United States. Imagine the number of children living in poverty in the entire world.
Swift wants the reader to describe the persona he adopts as one with a deep understanding of the deplorable circumstances in Ireland, so that he is deemed reasonable in his proposed solution for the state of the kingdom. He successfully achieves this by incorporating thorough descriptions of his plan, such as in the explanation having 20,000 poor children reserved for breeding and the remaining 100,000 used as sustenance for the rest of the populace. Swift also forms a solid argument by appealing to pathos in addressing heartbreaking topics such as, “the mothers who, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants,” which promotes sympathy in the readers, thereby influencing them to agree with his proposal to counteract such unfortunate circumstances.
When one thinks of the phrase “A Modest Proposal,” does one come to think of fattening babies so they can sell as meat. In Jonathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal,” Swift uses satirical writing to communicate with the reader to expose the critical situation of the poor people of Ireland. Whom besides going through a tough period of famine have to endure the overwhelming taxation rates of the English empire. The author’s proposal intends to convince the public of the incompetence of Ireland’s politicians, the lack empathy of the wealthy, the English oppression, and the inability of the Irish to mobilize themselves against this situation. Johnathan proposed an outrageous solution that the Irish folks eat their children at the age of one or sell them in the market as meet. Finally, he manifests to be open to other suggestions to help overcome the country’s crisis. The proposal was made strategically using several different parts: the text, author, audience, purpose, and setting to persuade the tax to go lower.
A main stressor for my client is the ending of his marriage. He declares that he wants to resume his relationship with his ex-wife. Even though he and his ex-wife have not spoken in the past 8-months, Pat asserts that they are still "very much in love" and that he is still married. Pat is focused on trying to get a letter to her, reading the books she assigns to her students, and visiting the school where she works. He asserts that they are not together because she wanted him to lose weight and now that he has lost weight he thinks that they will revive their relationship. This stressor serves to motivate most of Pat's daily activities in the hopes that performing these activities will make him more desirable to his ex-wife.
How desperate does a person have to be to resort to eating their own children? This is the way it was for the people of Ireland in 1729. Jonathan swift created ‘A Modest Proposal’, an essay written for the poor and the young. Ireland was going through financial depression during the time, and things were only getting worse as government officials did nothing to help the cause. But the real reason why Swift’s proposal was so effective was because of how it appealed to people’s Ethos with their sense of credibility, their Pathos with their emotions for the topic and Logos to appeal to the people’s logical reasoning.
In “A Modest Proposal”, published in 1729, satirist Jonathan Swift composes a proposal in which he suggests that the Irish could ease their economic troubles by selling babies to the meat industries to be prepared as food for rich to enjoy. Swift's purpose is to draw attention and raise awareness to the issues of poverty in Ireland. He adopts a satirical tone in order to give prominence to these economical problems and to warn that if Ireland doesn’t come together as a nation, their problems will continue to fall downhill. Swift begins his proposal with a melancholy image as an appeal to pathos, then builds his credibility of ethos by stating personal facts and tops it off with an appeal to logos as he includes his own statistical data to help support his reasoning. These 3 factors are essential in contributing to develop Swift’s argument and allows his proposal to become more plausible toward his audience, the community of Ireland.
Whether it is to someone who does not fully understand the purpose behind it or someone who understands what he is actually trying to do. The emotional appeal is what really shocks the reader because he is talking about killing mass numbers of poor infants and then eating them because it will make the economy run smoother. I am certain that would pull some sort of emotion out of anyone; however, by doing this he is also talking down to the Irish, treating them like they are tools and cattle; sizing them up by whether or not they are healthy and a good dish to eat. One would assume that he is in no way credible because he is suggesting extreme and taboo methods; however, Swift establishes his credibility by enforcing that he has lived in Ireland for many years and would know the state of the economy. The amount of people he sees roaming the streets and begging for cash could probably lead to his supposed proposition, but also lead him to his actual proposition, for drastic change. Despite how sinister the proposition is, in a way it could be viewed as logical and extremely practical. He demonstrates this by using a series of statistics and mathematics to calculate exactly how many people he would have left to turn into meals, which could be used as a form of credibility, because he comes off as smart. Swift is actually a lot smarter than one would assume by first reading this article. His purpose was to establish a sense of awareness in the Irish and a feeling of guilt in the British by focussing on a “rich feeding off of the poor” stance. The rich being the British feeding off of poor
In 1729 Ireland was overpopulated and riddled with poverty. Women and children lined the streets begging for food or money. In his disturbing satire, A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift suggests a unique solution to this dire situation. Swift uses specific language and calculated arguments to vent his anger with the Irish government and to create an effective argument that makes readers aware of the severity of the situation. Swift takes a cold and distant approach to his argument.
You are still not convinced?! Think of all the worthy causes we could put that money on everything we could cure/fix and everyone. But don’t stop at health and medicine. Imagine how much better our schools could be. We could very well, possibly end world hunger not just in third world countries; but here in our own United States as well. I realize that no matter what people will ultimately do what they want to do, no matter how much you try to deter their behavior. That is where my proposal kicks in to stop these criminals in their tracks before they could possibly do more harm or recruit other people to do their dirty work for them if you will for them. Sure, they are locked up behind bars being a parasite on our system while they have followers
“A Modest Proposal” is a satirical essay by Jonathan Swift written in 1729. In his essay, Swift proposes that the people of Ireland eat and sell their children to help better the living conditions. To justify his proposal he explains the problems Ireland is facing and illustrates the horrible condition Ireland is in. Swift’s proposal is justified because Ireland is in a poor state, there are advantages to it, and it is the best solution. Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is an eye-opening essay that gets readers motivated.
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Jonathan Swift, author of the satirical piece “A Modest Proposal,” organized an outrageous proposal to the people of Ireland. In this pamphlet, Swift offered his personal views on how to overcome Ireland’s issue of overpopulation and poverty. By raising nationwide attention, Swift plan to shock the readers by emphasizing the idea of cannibalism as a way to deal with Ireland’s problems. Swift’s technique of audience, tone, and pathos help determine the advantages and disadvantages of “A Model Proposal”.