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Motifs
Definition of Pathos
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is... read full definition
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Part 6, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Too Menny:
Thomas Hardy appeals to the audience's sense of pathos with his horrifying description of the suicide of Jude's children in Part 6, Chapter 2. When Jude and Sue return from a brief excursion, they are flabbergasted to find all their children hanging dead in the cupboard:
Moreover a piece of paper was found upon the floor, on which was written, in the boy’s hand, with the bit of lead pencil that he carried: ‘Done because we are too menny.’ At sight of this Sue’s nerves utterly gave way, an awful conviction that her discourse with the boy had been the main cause of the tragedy, throwing her into a convulsive agony which knew no abatement.
The heartrending sadness of this scene is a stinging political critique of the social environment of Hardy's period of writing. Times were so hard that families all over Britain were struggling to survive. Every aspect of this scene is pathetic and provocative, including the immediate and intense reaction Sue has that “throws” her into agony. She blames herself for her son's death, seeing her pregnancy as the “main cause of the tragedy,” as Little Father Time was panicked by the family’s troubles and alarmed at the prospect of having another sibling.
The childish language and misspelling of "done because we are too menny" adds to the pathetic atmosphere here. Little Father Time doesn't kill himself and his siblings because he is unhappy, he does it because there are too "menny" of them to survive. Like his father Jude, he feels oppressed by uncaring fate, living in a world that appears to persecute and punish him for things he does not choose.
Related Themes:
