A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

In Jonathan Swift’s story, “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public”, he made a satire to talk about how the poor people in Ireland can’t afford to have children and that they have found a solution to that problem by using a very cold-hearted treatment to the poor people. The story is mainly about finding a reasonable, stress-free, and an inexpensive solution to help the starving children of Ireland become more useful to the wealthier people in the country. The story tells us that the solution is to fatten up all the children from poor families and feed them to Ireland’s land-owners that are very rich. Children from the poor could be sold at one year of age to a meat market (Swift). Swift’s argument in this story is that by the poor people giving up their children to the rich will give them an income that will be very helpful and by doing this it will fight overpopulation and

unemployment, not making the poor find a way to care for their children, improving food for the rich, and helping the economic happiness of the nation will turn their problems into its own solutions. Swift makes a very effective argument in this story by showing the readers that there is a solution to getting the poor people off the streets and getting the wealthy a better meal.
A satire is using irony and sarcasm to catch the reader’s attention and making them think (Turner). Swift uses both irony and sarcasm in his story (Sarcasm). The story itself is ironic because there is no way that people are going to give up there innocent, sweet little babies to give to the rich to eat. Sarcasm is pretty much found throughout the entire story. For example, Swift writes, “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 (Swift).” That statement is sarcasm because he doesn’t actually feel sympathy for the poor. By using a satire, Swift made this story a lot more effective to the readers than a traditional argument, because it really makes them think twice about it all. This story was made in 1729, so the use of satire will help the readers’ picture important realities. For example, in that day and age poor people could not afford books, so Swift’s target audience was for the rich people.
Swift uses all three parts of the rhetorical triangle in this proposal. The main part of the rhetorical triangle that he used is logos. He uses logos by making a logical argument by using a lot of different facts and statistics to support his argument. In one paragraph in the story, it states that, “Of the hundred and twenty thousand children already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one fourth part to be males (Swift).” The story uses more statistics and facts by saying that one male baby could serve four females. He also calculates that a new born child will weigh up to twelve pounds, and if taken care of properly will gain sixteen pounds to be twenty-eight pounds altogether. Swift even tells the amount the poor people would get paid for giving up their child, which is about two shillings per annum (Swift). Swift gives a lot of facts on how this solution would be very helpful to the country. One example that Swift gives in the story is that it would increase the care and love a mother would give to their child and that the fathers would become caring of their wives (Swift). By using all these facts and statistics, it really catches the reader’s attention and makes them think that all of this could really happen and be very helpful to their country.
The second part of the rhetorical triangle that Swift uses a lot of is pathos. He starts out the story with an emotional appeal by giving a downhearted story about seeing poor people in the very crowded streets. He makes it an emotional story by talking about eating babies. No one in their right mind would think about eating an innocent new-born little baby. Another way he makes it emotional is by talking about how his solution will prevent mothers from getting abortions and from murdering their own child after it is born. Those two topics will get women very emotional thinking about people doing that to their own children. Not only does this topic of eating babies get people emotional, it can also disgust the reader by talking about different ways the babies can be cooked and knowing how many babies can feed a whole family.
The final part used in the rhetorical triangle is ethos. Swift uses ethos by giving facts from authoritative people. For instance, he states, “I have been assured by an American acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome food, whether strewed, roasted, baked, or boiled, and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout (Swift).” He also states another thing from his American acquaintance which is, “As to the males, my American acquaintance assured me from frequent experience that their flesh was generally tough and lean, like that of our schoolboys, by continual exercise, and their taste disagreeable, and to fatten them would not answer the charge (Swift).” He also talks about some babies getting sold to emperors, prime ministers, and great Mandarins of the Court, which is also using authority by showing that people with power would eat babies. By giving facts and statistics from authoritative people in this story, it makes Swift seem very trustworthy. It shows the reader that supposedly there are people out in the world that have experience with eating babies.
Even though this story seems very trustworthy, there are some fallacies that weaken the argument.

Swift uses an appeal to authority fallacy in this story. He uses it by always referring back to his “American acquaintance” to try to get the readers to realize that eating babies has been done before in other countries. He does not give enough information about this acquaintance for it to be real, which makes it a fallacy. Another logical fallacy used is appeal to pity. Swift uses this by trying to get people to accept that poor people giving their babies away to be eaten by the rich is a good idea. He is trying to get the readers to feel sorry for the poor people in the story, which makes it a logical fallacy. The last fallacy that is noticeable is called hasty generalization. Swift uses hasty generalization by making assumptions that Americans are very experienced in eating babies. By Swift making stereotypes about the American people makes it a hasty

generalization.
In conclusion, the story probably made more sense to the readers back when this story was first written. Now days people mostly consider this story as crazy, so the cultural context surrounding the issue has definitely changed.