Satire In Animal Farm And The Canterbury Tales

Satire is a way to criticize corruption and foolishness of a society or an individual by using irony, exaggeration, and humor. Usually, satire uses fictional characters, which symbolize real people to expose their corruption. The function of satire is to try change people’s opinions or to try to warn people about a certain issue. For example, political cartoons use satire to question authority and to expose political corruption to try and warn people or change people’s opinions. Horatian satire gently critiques something in a humorous way, while juvenalian satire strongly critiques something in a more abrasive way. For example, South Park uses horatian satire to criticize Mormons in a comical way by showing how absurd their beliefs are. Animal Farm and the Canterbury tales both use satire to critique the Russian Revolution and the Medieval Ages. Satire is used in Animal Farm to critique the

For example, Napoleon and the pigs get special benefits: “Nevertheless, some of the animals were disturbed when they heard that the pigs not only took their meals in the kitchen and used the drawing room as a recreation room, but also slept in the beds” (Orwell 79). Napoleon and the pigs sleep in beds and eat in kitchens, while the other animals work long hours for their food. Napoleon and the pigs represent the corruption of Stalin and how he lived like an entrepreneur. The other animals represent the people of Russia, and how unfairly they were treated compared to Stalin’s fantasy lifestyle. This is juvenalian satire because it is trying to show readers how corrupt Joseph Stalin was because of how inconsiderate he was towards the citizens of his country. Orwell uses satire in Animal Farm to show the theme of foolishness though Mollie’s characterization. For example, Mollie shows how foolish she is: “She was late for work every morning and excused herself by saying that she had