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Ethos In The Modest Proposal

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The "Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift is a very persuasive essay to get attention to the famine in Ireland at the time.

*The structure of the essay is well done. Organization gets you hooked before it proposes the topic of eating the children of Ireland. The word choice and easy to follow train of thought, allows the essay to keep the reader involved. The use of Math made it seems more scientific and therefore, truthful.

*The introduction and conclusion are both jaw-dropping in their statements. Concluding with the statement that the proposal is no use to him because he lacks the age appropriate children to eat. Not only did he write about this subject but also thought about how it would apply to his life.

*It brought Ireland to the forefront of the public news in Britain, when something had to be done about the famine. This shocking way brought the attention to everyone, not just the throne and landlords. The general public was now involved. …show more content…

The reason this essay is so shocking and appalling is because of the ethics of human beings. It is an unwritten law to not eat people. The practice is looked upon as barbaric and definitely not accepted in any social circle. Swift went a step further and proposed to eat children. Children are innocent and really the ethics of wanting to kill them is not acceptable. Not only did he propose to eat the children, he went into detail about HOW to eat them and other uses like clothes. You would be crossing all kinds of ethic codes by eating children in a time of famine. But on the other side of the argument, people were starving. They had no food and couldn't feed their children. The idea of eating people would have had to cross the Irish's mind, which makes this essay even more

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