A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis

If a written piece is shocking and goes against morals as soon as it starts off, the writer will lose every single one of his readers. (Hyperbole) But, if the author appeals to their audience in the beginning, and then slowly starts to break a norm, more readers would be willing to read that piece and consider its contents. For that reason Jonathan Swift’s ironic persona uses classic appeals in his essay “A Modest Proposal”. In order to prepare his audience for his proposal, Swift makes himself credible, and uses logic to lay out the problems people are facing.
Swift builds ethos, so that his readers can feel as though they can relate to him. He explains that his plan is really thought out “having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject, and maturely weighted the several schemes of our projections”. By saying that he has thought it over for years, he makes the readers think that his plan must work as it was thought over in detail over a long period of time. Time that he used to think for everybody’s well-being “my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the children of professed beggars”. (Anadiplosis) Saying that his plan will not only help …show more content…
He can see that there is an abnormal amount of children whose parents are beggars and he wants to make them useful “whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth”. In an economic sense, he is right, because children are negative income to their parents’ earnings. (Oxymoron) If his plan were to go into effect “they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands.” He cleverly does not state how the children are going to contribute, but reassures the reader that they will become useful. Swift logically persuades the readers by showing them that children can help them financially, instead of being a

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