Preview

Modest Proposal

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
541 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Modest Proposal
A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Essay

Jonathan Swift, “Modest Proposal” is mocking the government and the English people and seeking a change in the way Irish people are living. Jonathan Swift was effective using ethos, pathos and logos to bring attention to the bad situations that the Irish people went through. Irish people were starving and dying, while the English landlords were exporting gain. Jonathan Swift uses tones of sarcasm and irony in order for people to get his purpose.
Jonathan Swift is effective using ethos to make his proposal to the English people which were using the poor infants as food to profit the rich people. Jonathan Swift writes, “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or broiled; and make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.” (Swift 389) Jonathan is saying that by the age of one an infant will be ready to be eaten by the rich people whichever way they want it to be done. Jonathan is being sarcastic in telling the people that the infant will be ready at age one.
Jonathan Swift is also effective in using pathos to make his proposal. It states, “These mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their hopeless infants: who as they grow up either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbados,” (Swift 387) He says this to make us the reader feel sorry for the poor infants because either they turn into thieves trying to survive or they will fight for the pretender or they would just sell themselves to other people to be eaten by.
Jonathan Swift is effective in using logos to make his proposal of the infants to the rich. He writes, “At a year old, be offered

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Modest Proposal

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There are many different ways to write an argumentative paper. An argumentative paper is a paper designed to push a reader toward an idea or feeling an author evokes (Skywire 332). An author will try to make ludicrous ideas seem more appealing to the reader. "A Modest Proposal" is a great example of this technique.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jonathan Swift’s 1729 “A Modest Proposal,” definitely grasps the reader’s attention with an outrageous proposal using satire. His use of rhetorical strategies formats his article into a well-organized argument. The purpose of his argument is to raise awareness about the starving people of Ireland. Swift, being one of the most prestigious writers of his times forms a solid argument using each of the following rhetorical strategies, ethos, pathos, and logos. By using a satire, Swift hopes to grasp the attention of the English elites. Swift tries to persuade his audience by proposing a serve and disreputable solution, hoping it will bring enough awareness to the…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Modest Proposal

    • 75 Words
    • 1 Page

    CM returned Meghan (therapist) voice message regarding meet and greet for Jason (youth). CM left a detailed message informing therapist that CM will arrive at EMYL around 11:45am to transport youth to Hunterdon Group Home for scheduled meet and greet on 1/27/17 at 1:00pm. CM stated that youth parents will not be present for meet and greet but will have to be present for admissions if youth gets admitted to group home.…

    • 75 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift reaches out to the readers about social problems that the great town and county are going through. I believe Swift is trying to tell the readers in a satirical way that the government and political party are not doing anything in the country to solve the social problems. Swift believed the only way to catch their attention was to write the essay “A Modest Proposal”. Swift used satire in his essay to inform people of Ireland how high poverty, hunger, and death rates were not getting any help from the government.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rhetorical strategy

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I think that this relates to the rhetorical strategy Pathos because it talks about feeling and emotion and the wording really plays a big part how you take it and react to it.…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Modest Proposal Irony

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page

    Dr. Jonathan Swift’s use of irony, hyperbole, and invective causes the piece “A Modest Proposal” to succeed. The title is an example of irony because this piece is not really modest at all. The proposal to use children as a food source is outrageous. Another example of irony in the piece is,”I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for the landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children.” The wealthy landlords have already crushed the poor’s dreams, so could the be best for the children. Also, Swift uses the literary device hyperbole throughout the proposal. For instance, when he writes,”I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing hot from…

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” incorporates satire in his writing that exposes England’s economical exploitation of Ireland. The full title includes, “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Public” (Swift 558). His essay, very skillfully, brings shame to and sheds light upon the impoverishment of the Irish people at the hands of England’s greed for profits. He employed satire and irony as an effective tool to make the reader understand the state of oppression of the Irish using the most extreme statements. In his writing, although grotesque, Swift’s use of satire effectively confronts the abuses and shortcomings of the political and economic structure of the time, and he successfully uses sarcasm as a constructive method to criticize the social issues faced by the poor Irish natives.…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jonathan Swift, a celebrated name during the eighteenth century, was an economist, a writer, and a cleric who was later named Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Although Swift took on many different roles throughout his career, the literary form of satire seemed to be his realm of expertise. Because satire flourished during the eighteenth century, Jonathan Swift is arguably one of the most influential political satirists of his time. In one of his famous essays, A Modest Proposal, Swift expresses his anger and frustration towards the oppression of the Irish by the English government. In order to gain attention from his audience, Swift proposes the outrageous thesis that the solution to Ireland’s problem of poverty is to feed children of the poor to the wealthy, aristocratic families. To whom Swift is directing his satire…

    • 1309 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. The persona in which Swift adopts for the modest proposal is that of someone concerned for the greater good of the land, Ireland, on the very outskirt of reading. Although as one dives into this proposal, they become bombarded with irrational means of dealing with this assumed problem; the plentiful source of beggars in Ireland. One becomes consumed with disgust yet intrigued by its soundness in reasoning. Swift creates a tone that juxtaposes its message, which further confuses the reader in his irrational yet balanced argument. On one hand he seems psychotic, on the other he appears to be a profound visionary.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Swift intended to parody similar pamphlets that were being circulated at the time. His diction throughout the piece, including the word modest in the title, highlights this effect. Of course, one’s proposals are modest and offered “humbly.” With word choice like this, Swift is mocking the false modesty in the tone of many of the pamphlets of his contemporaries; their style may have professed deference, but their proposals displayed audacity.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Jonathan Swift 'sA Modest Proposal, the tone of a Juvenalian satire is evident in its text. Swift uses the title of his essay to begin his perfect example of a Juvenalian satire. Swift gives a moral justification to the dehumanization of the Irish and attempts to provide 'logical ' solutions to their problems. Despite Swift 's use of belittling language towards the Irish, he uses positive strategy to make his true point known. Swift declares children as the underlying cause of the parents ' inability to obtain a successful occupation. Swift 's scornful disregard for infants is one ploy in attracting the attention of the population. Swift uses a rhetorical style that causes the reader to loathe the narrator, who is depicted as a member of…

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Jonathon Swift wrote and published “A Modest Proposal” anonymously in 1729. During this time Swift’s country of Ireland was being controlled by England. Under England’s control Ireland’s conditions were very poor during the 1720’s. Ireland was overpopulated, poor, and heavily dependent on England during this time. “A Modest Proposal” is an argumentative essay that uses both satire and irony to entertain the reader.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    After voicing his frustrations to his government to no avail, he saunters down an alternate route. While digesting his most influential and recognized piece, all readers nod along with the author’s point: a change needs to occur in order for the Irish poor to end their suffering. That is until Swift mentions his plan, which involves raising babies, harvesting them at the ripe age of one, and selling their carcasses as a delicacy to the rich. Until the man reveals the details of his proposal, a majority of the readers nod along, eager to see Swift help the poor that plague the nation. Though no laughing matter like Lichtenberg suggests of satire, the poor do not realize the “hit” against them until they are too deep in their support for Swift. Instead of “[rousing] laughter”, the satirist rouses support from those “who are hit”, as he leads the poor and downtrodden along, appearing like he possesses a true solution to their problems. “A Modest Proposal” exists to criticize the Irish government for its lack of action in helping the poor improve their status, but first, Swift mockingly hits the poor by suggesting the sale of poor…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Modest Proposal. (Patrick 129). The work A Modest Proposal is a sardonic piece written to expose the economic crisis in Ireland in 1729. It was to validate the dilemma of Dublin, Ireland. Swift was a political writer who was not afraid of people, of backlash, or criticism. He “ was not afraid to speak truth to power” (Kelly…

    • 1462 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He begins in part 1 using pathos, “ There they were on our television screens, the storm’s most desperate victims- disproportionately poor and black, wading through muddy water, carrying children and plastic bags containing a few meager possessions.” This was his view of the people that were left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In part 6 of his work, “But there is no crescendo of national public opinion about the presence of millions of poor people in our midst, and President Bush has not announced the creation of a national task force to combat poverty.” This part to me shows that he is not happy with what President Bush has not done for the people that are battling poverty. Part 9, “Poverty, however, is not a technical issue, but a deep, structural problem that implicates our values, our economic institutions, and our conception of the proper role of the state.” This shows his views on what poverty is.…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays