Sarcasm And Cannibalism: Analysis Of Swift's Modest Proposal

Sarcasm and Cannibalism: Analysis of Swift’s Modest Proposal In Swift’s satirical essay on cannibalism, he uses layers of tone, vague word choice, organization, ethos, logos, and pathos appeals, to attain a satirical yet impactful proposal aimed at the English. He proposes cannibalism, an extreme but logically presented solution that attracts a considerable amount of attention. Which Swift then takes advantage of and blames the severity of Ireland’s condition on the audience’s inaction. Vague and careful word choice is used to aid Swift’s original description of the issue and the foundation of his own ethos. He starts with discussing “children in rags” that are “following their mothers; importuning every passenger for alms,” relying on …show more content…
The words “useful members” signals a shift in intention, as well as in topic, as the words are broad enough to allow the audience to make their own assumptions pertaining to Swift’s solution (1). He then does the unexpected and calmly suggests cannibalism as a logical solution to the issue presented above. Swift spends over a page explaining how bad it was on the streets and then proves it by explaining how cannibalism would work in excruciating detail, using strictly a matter of fact and logical tone. This explanation goes on for just over six pages in which he states that “a young healthy child well nursed at a year old is a most delicious meal” and that the food “will be proper for landlords,” stating it is expected the English would enjoy eating children as they “have already devoured most of the parents”(3). This strictly logical explanation aims to invoke an emotional response from the audience, by matter-of-factly stating they are so cruel as to logically be expected to eat children of the people they are stealing crops from. However this isn’t the only tone present, a heavy sarcasm slowly becomes more noticeable throughout the proposal to the point where the true intention behind Swift’s Modest Proposal is …show more content…
Swifts real message is realized when the epiphany strikes that the satire exists because the situation is so horrible, cannibalism can be presented as logical in comparison. Once the real purpose of the proposal has been realized, it is possible to recognize the planning and patience it took to write such a simple but powerful essay all while keeping the logical matter of fact tone. Two patient pages of vague, yet moving content about the issues on the streets of Ireland that built Swift’s ethos and invoked pathos in the audience. Followed by 6 pages of excruciating detail about the logistics and why cannibalism was a fantastic and logical solution. All of which tossed the audience around, invoking pathos and logos until the satyrical truth was revealed. Finally, two pages at the end for revealing satire, pointing blame at the English who have left the Irish people to die, and adding the finishing touches on his now obviously satyrical