The Working Woman

In Virginia Woolf's Professions for Women the idea of women working for their own money is discussed from the perspective of Woolf herself, a writer. The beginning paragraph of the article introduces the topic, but more importantly it gives Woolf's own opinion on the subject. She explains how she is going to tell the reader something about her own professional experiences.
Woolf introduces herself rather humbly. She says that although she is indeed employed, there were few material obstacles in her way. Woolf explains that for a woman to become a writer is not overly difficult. All she must do is buy paper (which is cheap) and have a mind for writing. She says that women have succeeded as writers because of this. Woolf then goes on to discuss her hardships with becoming a successful writer. She obviously sees the lack of employed women as an issue, but manages to keep the article on topic.
I found this article to be incredibly well written and understandable, particularly for the time period. Woolf is articulate in her speech and gets to the point rather than filling pages with useless wording. I enjoyed her writing very much in both subject and style.

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A "Modest" Proposal

The article "A Modest Proposal" written by Jonathan Swift was meant to be a satirical piece of writing discussing how the cannibalism of young children would be the solution to Irelands famine. Although it was mean to be sarcastic, many took it seriously and its easy to see why. Swift's article is so well written, and he makes his "scheme" sound so logical that one may be fooled into taking it seriously. Swift uses ethos, logos, and even pathos, to make his point. These devices make his argument even more convincing, even though the thought of cannibalizing young children is unbelievable.
Ethos is when the author establishes their credibility. People will only listen to what Swift has to say if they think it worth their time and holds some meaning. Swift uses impressive language and addresses quite properly to create ethos. I also believe that the shocking proposal he makes adds to his credibility. It encourages people to continue reading and find out why such an article would ever be written by a man who seems so knowledgable. Swift also mentions a "very worthy person, a true love of his country..." who is a cannibal himself. Swift creates a source; a very worthy source whose opinion would be taken seriously. Swift is essentially saying "if you don't believe me, listen to this other man of high importance who supports my scheme." It adds to ethos and makes his argument all the more believable.
Swift's article appeals to logos the most. Logos is when an author uses logic and reasoning to make his/her argument more persuasive and convincing. Swift's proposal sounds so absolutely insane in the beginning that everyone would simply think him mad; that is, if he had not given so much logical support to his idea. Admittedly, by the end of the article I was thinking to myself if this wasn't such a morally wrong idea, it would most certainly work. Swift lots of calculated numbers such as how long a child can live off of nursing alone, how many children are produce in a year, and how many would be spared so that the population doesn't drastically decrease. People love to see numbers when you are trying to convince them of something. Numbers create solid evidence, and can't be argued against. Swift's overall tone of the article also adds to logos. He seems so confident in his plan, and he makes it sound like such a great idea that there are times when you forget that he is talking about cannibalism. If he wanted it to be facetious, he missed the mark.
Pathos is a writing device that "pulls on the heart strings" and (usually) makes the reader sympathetic.  However, in Swift's case, his form of Pathos pulls the "heart strings" in the opposite direction. The article certainly evokes emotions, but they are not sympathy, or sadness. Instead one may feel disbelief, utter surprise, horror, or unease. Although this isn't exactly pathos, I still see it as a evocation of emotion, and encouragement to keep reading.
Swift's strange, and slightly horrifying, article is an impressive piece of writing. It's satirical aspect is often difficult to see because of Swift's use of ethos, logos, and pathos.

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