Satire

1. NO NOTES Satire

2. Satire TAKE NOTES • A literary work that ridicules its subject through the use of techniques such as exaggeration, reversal, incongruity, and/or parody in order to make a comment or criticism about it. • A piece of satire will have an underlying lesson or unwritten moral

3. Why Satire? NO NOTES • On the surface it appears to make fun of someone or something and is intended to make us laugh • Below the surface, the author is attacking someone or something that he or she doesn’t agree with.

4. Where Satire? NO NOTES • Satire can be found in literature, plays commentary, and media • It has been used as a literary device for thousands of years; • To encourage political and cultural change (ex: to criticize kings, or religious laws)

5. Satire : Historical Example NO NOTES • In 1729 Jonathon Swift wrote a piece titled, A Modest Proposal • The subtitle was “For Preventing The Children of Poor People in IrelandFrom Being A burden to Their Parents or Country, and For Making Them Beneficial to The Public”

6. A Modest Proposal : On the Surface NO NOTES • Of course, a mother can feed her child for one year with breast milk. But after that, she must beg food for the child. However, I [the writer of the essay] have a modest proposal to solve this problem. Here it is:   • I have been told by a knowledgeable American that a year-old-infant is a “most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled. . . .” Therefore, I suggest that of the 120,000 new infants of poor parents, 20,000 be reserved for breeding and the rest be sold to people of quality.    • The skin from babies can be used to make gloves for women and boots for men.   • Women will take excellent care of their newly born infants, for they will want their babies to be plump and healthy when it comes time to sell them.   • Men would become as fond of their wives, during the time of their pregnancy, as they are now of their mares in foal; they will no longer beat or kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of a miscarriage. • Only young, tender children would be sold. Older boys, with years of exercise that develops their muscles, would be too tough to eat. Older girls would be so close to childbearing age that it would be best to let them breed.   • An extremely important part of my proposal is that it would eliminate the need to raise taxes to support the poor, thereby enabling the rich to continue to enjoy all of their luxuries. In addition, English landlords would not have to show mercy to their Irish tenants. In turn, the Irish tenants would have enough money to pay their high rents, thanks to the sale of their children.  

7. A Modest Proposal : Below the Surface NO NOTES • Many Irish worked farms owned by the English who charged high rents, so high that the Irish were frequently unable to pay them. Consequently, many Irish farming families lived on the edge of starvation.  • In A Modest Proposal, Swift satirizes the English landlords with outrageous humor. He suggests that Irish babies be sold as food at the age of one, when they are plump and healthy. This will give the Irish a new source of money and the English a new food product. • Swift also satirizes the Irish themselves in his essay, for too many of them had accepted abuse stoically rather than speaking out.

8. Satire : Incongruity TAKE NOTES • To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings.

9. Satire : Reversal TAKE NOTES • To present the opposite of the normal order (e.g., the order of events, hierarchical order). 

10. Satire : Exaggeration TAKE NOTES • To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen.  Guns in the Schools: A threat to your child’s safety or a valuable teaching aid? “Six ATF agents are closing on your position. You have 3 bullets left in the clip and one in the pipe. How many agents can you take out before you’ll need to reload?

11. Satire : Parody TAKE NOTES • To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, or thing.

12. Lady Catherine: “Do You Know Who I Am?” NO NOTES • The characters of Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh, while exasperating, are also immensely entertaining. • Austen excels at satire and provides the reader of Pride and Prejudice with a witty commentary on social class. • You will find textual examples of Austen's ridicule of Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine in Volume 3 and record it in a Double Entry Diary (DED). • Next Tuesdayyou will create your own visual satires of one of these characters (Rubrics and Directions provided next week).