Pathos In A Modest Proposal

“A Modest Proposal” was written in 1729 by Dr. Jonathan Swift and is based on his “solution” to the total economic ruin in Ireland and its affects on society. His opinions on the matter are rather outlandish and truly test mankind's morals. Although his ideas were controversial they were possibly, when taken seriously with all humanity aside, a solution to the problems Ireland was battling. The controversial aspects of this paper raise several emotions within the reader, which appeal to the three aspects of writing; ethos, logos, and pathos. Pathos is used to pull at the reader's heart strings, it stirs up their emotions for a powerful reaction. An example of Swift using pathos is when he describes how a mother selling her child for slaughter

Swift pulls on ones heart strings by making the subject of his paper the consumption of infants and small children as a way to boost the economy. An example of this is when he states that women cannot have abortions (Swift, par 5) but could sell their children to be slaughtered and served on a platter, much like livestock (Swift, par 10). For Swift to express such a hypocritic opinion was extremely risky, but served its purpose since it surely stirred up the emotions in many readers. The idea of a family sitting down and devouring an actual infant child for supper creates a disturbing image, but the image of a mother selling her infant creates a unique reaction. One’s first response to this would be absolute disbelief, which in a way helps establish the papers validity by causing the reader to second guess why one would do such a thing. Swift continues to use pathos throughout his proposal, but doesn’t leave his readers pondering the answer to their question very

He begins by breaking down Ireland's population by splitting it between those who have had children and those who have not. From the group of those who have had children, he splits them again into those who can and cannot maintain their children, then subtracts the number of miscarriages he predicts will occur The number of those who maintained their children are miniscule compared to those who could not. According to Swift, this imbalance is the root of the downfall in Ireland. He states that the amount of children being produced was a “very great additional grievance” (Swift, 1) to his country, and that those children grew up to be criminals due to lack of work (Swift, par 1). By talking down the subjects of the issue, Swift makes his solution to Ireland's issues much more probable, causing the reader to accept his proposals