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A Reflection On Satire

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A Reflection on Satire While experiencing any type of literature, whether it is reading a novel, news article, or even viewing a movie, it is common for many to overlook or mistake the use of satire for comedy. Satire is utilized within all types of literature to make commentary on society or social situations through the use of comedy or humor (Andrzejewski). There are many devices of satire that an author can take advantage of, one of the most common being parodies. A parody is an imitation of a specific, known person, literary work, movie, or event (Andrzejewski). They can be considered jokes, as they poke fun at what the author view’s as wrong with the original piece of work or situation. Parodies have been extremely prominent throughout …show more content…

In book one of Gulliver’s Travels, “A Voyage to Lilliput”, Swift created two separate political parties; the High Heels and the Low Heels. He created these parties as a parody of the Tories and the Whigs, the two political parties that dominated England at that time. By utilizing the high and low heel concept, Swift conveyed his opinions on how ridiculous he thought that the political parties were. He continued the parody by corresponding the events that took place in the story between the High Heels and the Low Heels with real-life events that occured between the Tories and the Whigs. In the novel, the High Heels parodied the Tories and the Low Heels parodied the Whigs, however, he also helps to convey his messages about these political parties through his characters: the Lilliputians, who resemble the Whigs, and Gulliver, who resembles the Tories. Swift utilizes the details of The War of Spanish Succession to create similarities between the two political parodies. In Gulliver’s Travels, the Lilliputians come off as intense, explosive, and ready to destroy anyone that steps in their way. While on the other hand, Gulliver is shown to be a happy-go-lucky man who is willing to reason with the enemy and avoid altercation altogether. These characteristics are shown through their actions in the plot prior to and after Gulliver is accused of treason. Gulliver proposed an idea that the Lilliputians should attempt to negotiate with Blefuscu, an idea stemming from the Torie state-of-mind (Swift 60-66). The Lilliputians, being easy to set off and ready to fight, similar to how the Whigs were, immediately rejected the idea and accused Gulliver of treason against their country (Swift 60-66). Shortly after being accused, Gulliver fled to a neighboring country by the name of Blefuscu (Swift 67). This part of the novel mocks the Tories actions after they were accused of

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In the news article, Girl Moved To Tears by Mice of Men Cliff Notes, written by the onion uses multiple forms of satire to produce its tone towards the topic. The tone in this article is sarcastic, judgmental, and a little bit humorous towards the idea of Cliff Notes. The author believes Cliff Notes are pointless and people who read them instead of the actual book are lazy. In this article the author uses parody and sarcasm in order to convey the point of view and tone of the news article. The main satire used in the new article written by the Onion is parody.

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1. Irony as we talked about in class is considered to be intellectual or a sort of dry humor. It also has a double meaning, where you say one thing but the opposite meaning is implied. For example, in the reading “SantaLand Diaries” David and another elf realized that Santa is an anagram of Satan. So they would substitute the word for Santa by using Satan in front of customers.

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Satire is the use of humor to poke fun at human institutions, in hopes of bringing about change. It brings attention to the issues, so that people will better understand the problem. There are two main types of satire that authors use often: Juvenalian and

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Mohammed Ismail AP Language Composition Lyons, William December 9, 2014 Rhetorical Devices Used in Jonathan Swifts Modest Proposal The essay Modest Proposal, written by Jonathan Swift perhaps known better for his novel Gulliver’s travels wrote this piece, because during his time he addressed solutions to many contemporary social issues by writing them on pamphlets. Swift’s main purpose in writing this essay is to avert children from being less of a problem to their parents and the public. The author tries not addressing his subject directly, children, instead Swift introduces the concept of a market, livestock, breeders, etc., to address the overcrowding and poverty stricken children in Dublin, Ireland.

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Satire was chosen in order to showcase the idea that people (especially nobility) often

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1729, a Papist infected Ireland was being devoured by the taxes that the British placed on them. The taxes were turning into what once was a glorious place into ruins. Jonathan Swift, an Englishman and Irish sympathizer, realized that someone had to do something to wake up the British. This lead to the creation of A Modest Proposal, a pamphlet heavy with irony and juvenalian satire, which was how Jonathan Swift planned on compelling the British to do something about the poor situation in Ireland. His use of rhetorical devices gets his point across in an effective and powerful way.

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Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. In today’s world satire is embedded into several things. Some things it’s embedded into is cartons, playwrights, movies, passages, jokes, etc. The play “The Acharnians” by Aristophanes and “The Word- Armistice” by Stephen Colbert uses satire and has several similarities and differences. “The Acharnians” by Aristophanes is a play that involves a lot of hilarious satire.

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According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, satire is a “way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, or bad”. Satire shocks its reader into awareness of the situation through the use of sarcasm, blunt and harsh words, and/or exaggeration of the issue. The two types of satire utilize these

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At the time when Swift’s proposal was made, Britain’s dictatorial reign in Ireland had left the nation in poverty and disarray. Criticising a nation was much easier to do in a joking tone or be harder to read rather than direct and upfront. Swift wanted to discuss these issues and found by writing in satire he could have the readers’ attention in way that a seriously written piece could not reach. Satire is present when Swift convinces the audience that he is an empathetic individual introducing the proposal with a sophisticated and compassionate manner beginning in the sentence, "I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection (1)," luring the reader into a sense of false trust as he begins the descriptions of the poor in Ireland. The reader is led to believe at first that this is a serious essay however it is not until deep into the proposal the reader can see how Swift uses satire to propose his thoughts found in the sentence, “a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled;” continuing on that, “no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust (1).”

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The article gives appeals to the article emotionally, “their helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn into thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for the Pretender of Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes” (1). He aims this at the thoughts of the audience by trying to make them feel sorry for the children by saying they will not be good for anything. Not only does Swift use various rhetorical devices, humor, and emotional appeals to appeal to the audience, but also an ethical appeal. He says, “…that it will

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Rhetorical Analysis Essay: A Modest Proposal Dr. Jonathan Swift places himself as a villain who is willing to do evil deeds to answer hard questions. What pushes Swift to write the essay “A Modest Proposal” is Ireland's economic and social problems. In this satirical essay Swift highlights the problems in Ireland and gives a sarcastic solution to make people feel guilt. Swift’s use of dehumanizing language is used to make the reader oppose Swift’s modest proposal.

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When it came to Ethos, Swift was not quite as persuasive as he could have been. He does have a background when it comes to writing about corrupt governments in tales such as “Gulliver’s Travels.” The way Swift wrote this essay, however, makes it feel slightly less objective. Even when he is writing from the point of a wealthier Irishman, his overall tone shows a large amount of contempt towards the higher economic classes. Instead of allowing the readers to read alternative arguments on this subject, he focused strictly on his own opinion.

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Satire is nowadays found in many artistic forms of expression, including literature, plays, commentary, television shows, and media such as lyrics. In the text “My Satirical Self” the author explains “All these varied entertainments-human emotion on the web, on television, at the movies and between hard-lovers are attuned to the ridiculous in modern life”(Mason). This illustrates that no matter where you go in entertainments there is going to be satire. In today’s society people are accustomed to being around satire, they have accepted this fact by the passage of time. Also, according to the passage “In me straight faced language of a sermon, advocated solving me problem of poverty by selling children as meat - his made was perfect ironic”(Mason).

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“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people”. This quote is perfect for this novel because Gulliver’s Travels judges the British society of the particular time period through the heart and soul of the main character Gulliver. Gulliver’s Travels makes many annotations on British society of their particular time period. As Gulliver visits different islands at the time he discovers many different societies and their people. All the societies that Gulliver discovers are used as a comparison to British society of the time period throughout the novel.

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Critical Analysis of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” In the work entitled “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the theme of social injustice is enhanced by the use of verbal irony to convey a charged message. The ambiguous title and introduction to Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece does little to prepare the reader for shocking content revealed later in the text. Swift’s work is powerful, poignant and persuasive because it strikes at the heart of the modern readers ethics, as it likely would have done for the author’s contemporary audiences. Jonathan Swift’s 1729 masterpiece is a satirical metaphor centered around the pervasive assertion, “the English are devouring the Irish.” Jonathan Swift gives a more comprehensive exordium concerning his work stating that is it “a modest proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents and country, and for making them beneficial to the public (Swift 1199).

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