Category: Satire

Introduction

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was written about a satirical story that embraces American ideals. The narrator, Nick Carraway, describes Gatsby’s satirical life, his incredible parties, and the amount of money he has. When reading the book, there is a lot deeper meaning than the luxuries some people have. Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to portray the ideal American dream and a real look at the fancy lifestyles everyone wishes they had in America.

The Illusion of Freedom and Social Mobility

Fitzgerald expresses the American ideal with a satirical story between Daisy and Gatsby. Looking more deeply at Fitzgerald’s writing, when Daisy goes to Gatsby’s house for the first time, she is shocked about Gatsby’s shirts, “He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel… Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. ‘They’re such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such beautiful shirts before” (Fitzgerald 92). The point of Fitzgerald adding this is because Gatsby was not proper, and he’s making a point that it’s okay not to follow some guidelines. When Daisy starts to cry in front of Gatsby, she’s crying because of how Gatsby had so many-colored shirts he was throwing, not because she has not seen him in 5 years. That proves that being wealthy is a need for Daisy to be in a relationship.

Fitzgerald also expresses satire about the American dream ideal when Gatsby throws huge parties and everyone, even people who were not invited, finds a way to go to the parties. When Nick Carraway goes to Gatsby’s house the first time, he states, “I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house, I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited—they went there. Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission” (Fitzgerald 41).

Clearly, the people who were not invited were acting carelessly at the party, and they would not tell people directly, but they were moving from house to house like a moth to only get the gossip and the champagne. Fitzgerald also adds, “his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars…and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another” (Fitzgerald 43). Fitzgerald added that because Gatsby’s female guests are quite young to know the difference between what drinks were being served. This shows how the American dream ideal that the younger you are, the better because girls started to go to parties and meet men without knowing what everything meant.

The last of the American ideal is how Fitzgerald mentioned Gatsby’s personal life in the book. Gatsby went from being poor to out of nowhere getting an inheritance from a friend and becoming ridiculously wealthy. Gatsby is a figure of the American dream because people wanted that life so badly. In society, people believed the American dream was “big money, big house, and parties.” However, reading the book, the American dream was not real, and it would die eventually. The moment when the story is set at Gatsby’s funeral, and Tom says, “..Mr. Nobody from Nowhere..” (Fitzgerald 123). Well, Tom is saying even though Gatsby was wealthy and famous, people only cared for his parties; Gatsby was not seen as “popular” in others’ eyes.

Conclusion

Even Though Fitzgerald showed a satirical story between Daisy and Gatsby, he also showed other strangers the luxurious life of the people they know. Fitzgerald wrote the book to show what it was like back then, people’s luxurious lives, and their dark sides. The American dream was not the perfect life after all. The Great Gatsby showed the American Dream as someone starting low on the economic or status level or working really hard towards becoming wealthy and having fame. In the 1920s, people wanted to be rich, popular, and happy, but Gatsby thought money would fix his happiness, but money doesn’t buy happiness.

References

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 1925.

Introduction

The Roseanne show and fictional Conner’s family has always been able to represent the issues of America and the world using satire and humor. By using the dynamics of the family to bring these issues to the forefront, Roseanne, both in the older seasons as well as in this new season, writes to the people. She does so with her dynamic wit and sarcastic persona. This show was and still is one of the few sitcoms to successfully portray the struggles of the working class. Roseanne and the other writers create memorable and issue-driven episodes. The struggles of today’s families are as relevant and funny today as they were when the original show aired, and Roseanne is still the best at using satire, sarcasm, and humor to bring those struggles as well as the issues facing Americans to the forefront and allow all of us to laugh with her.

Body

The Evolution of Satirical Strategies

Now that Roseanne is back on the air, the writing of the show, although still about a blue-collar family in the Midwest has taken a different turn. The primary writer is Roseanne Barr, and the tone of the show hinges a lot on her political views and the issues that confront Americans today. The first episode aired on March 27, 2018, after a twenty-year hiatus, and on it, Roseanne and her sister have not spoken for two years because Jackie voted for Jill Stein and Roseanne is an ardent Trump supporter.

Roseanne, still wanting to target working-class white people, is using her partisan politics to reach them. The new version of the show is tackling the issues of today by including the opioid crisis, the cost of health insurance, high unemployment, and transgender/gay rights. Although Roseanne is an outspoken supporter of President Trump and a conservative, she has maintained the progressivism of the show in the way that her writing addresses common issues and problems that her fictional family is facing. Daughter Becky wants to become a surrogate mother, and although Roseanne is initially against it, she is reminded by her sister Jackie that “You always believed a woman had a right to decide what happens to her body,” and Roseanne relents. (Paskins)

In the second episode of this new season, Darlene, who is now a single mother with two children and a son, Mark, wants to wear girls’ clothes to school. Darlene is okay with this, as she states that he is not gay or transgender; he just likes to dress this way. Dan and Roseanne are also okay with this and go to their grandson’s school to defend him. (“Dress to Impress”) The tackling of the issue of cross-dressing shows how Roseanne, through the scripting of the episode, is tackling relevant issues in today’s world. Having a character like Mark in the new version of the show is important to maintaining the integrity of what ‘Roseanne’ is all about.

The Subtle Transformation

Another new cast member of the show is DJ’s daughter, Mary Conner. In the “White In the Men Can’t Kiss” episode of the seventh season of the original series, DJ would not kiss the black classmate that he was starring opposite in the class play because of the color of her skin. For a sitcom, Roseanne managed to expertly touch upon racial bias and showcase the uncomfortable conversations Roseanne and Dan had when confronting their own bias. (White Men Can’t Kiss”) As the new season progresses, we discover that Mary Conner is DJ’s daughter with his wife, that same black girl now grown and serving as a soldier overseas. The idea of mixed marriage was not as acceptable in the original series, whereas now Roseanne tackles it with honesty and openness.

The writers, Matt Williams and Roseanne Barr based the show, characters, and storylines on their own real-life experiences. Williams, when asked where his ideas came from, said, “You Write what you know.” (Bennett) Williams is the son of blue-collar parents who created the characters as a consolidation of his own family members. Goranson, when interviewed by TODAY, stated that the biggest impact of the show was “this archetypal family that had storylines around money issues and personal issues and love and … that was such a mirroring for families in the United States and around the world.

I think it really helped people communicate better … and also not feel isolated.” (Bennett) Williams said the intent of his writing was ‘to represent the people I grew up with — without condescending — and basically celebrate this working-class family with a husband and wife who loved each other.’ (Bennett) The writing of the original series did just that – it kept it real. Williams stated about his writing and ideas for the show: “They were real people to me, and I wanted to write about their experiences. (Bennett)

The Roseanne show was based in the fictional factory town of Lanford, Illinois, and is about the nuclear Conner family rotating around the heartbeat of the family. Other vital members of this family are husband and dad Dan, played by John Goodman; sister Jackie, played by Laurie Metcalf; daughters Becky and Darlene, played by Lecy Goranson (replaced by Sarah Chalke partway through the sixth season); and Sarah Gilbert respectively, and son DJ played by Michael Fishman. The early show often tackled issues not usually discussed on TV, like birth control, PMS,
teenage sex, money, unemployment, and feminism. It brought forth the struggles of the working class using satire and humor. In its first run, Roseanne was political, but more indirectly than overtly. The show dealt less with debates happening on the national stage and more with the ones happening at kitchen tables, with the frayed purse strings of two working-class parents, and the even more frazzled sanity that came with raising three kids during the 1990s evolving cultural values. (D’Addario) In the new version, kitchen-table debates have been replaced with the cultural confusion of today’s issues.

Conclusion

Satire and sarcasm are used every day to get one’s views across. The Roseanne show, both past and present, does just that. Roseanne is an expert at using not only sarcasm and satire but also humor to express her point of view through the writing of her TV show. The Roseanne show debuted on October 18, 1988 and ran until May 20, 1997. In its early days, the show was created to portray an average working-class family. It was one of the few on the air that mimicked the traditions of shows like The Honeymooners and one of the last to succeed before TV comedy was taken over by upper-class white folks who never seemed to worry about money. (VanDerWerff)

The show was tough, honest, and often provoking. It could pivot from very funny to very heartbreaking on a dime. While we laughed and cried at the original show, will we do the same for the new version? The new Roseanne debuted on March 27, 2018 and while it still portrays a middle-class family, the script has drifted from the trials and tribulations of that family to a discussion about President Donald Trump, current events, and culture. The arguments now are less about how Roseanne examined feminism and class and more about her political views and stance on today’s debatable issues. The old Roseanne blends well with the new Roseanne. She still writes to provoke conversations.

References

1. Bennett, L. (2018, March 23). ‘Roseanne’ at 30: What the cast has said about the groundbreaking show. TODAY. https://www.today.com/popculture/roseanne-30-what-cast-has-said-about-groundbreaking-show-t125790
2. D’Addario, D. (2018, March 27). ‘Roseanne’ Review: TV’s Most Timely Revival is a Goofy Delight. Time. https://time.com/5211630/roseanne-review-timely-revival/
3. Paskins, L. (2018, March 27). Roseanne returns to its central political conflict – Trump. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/mar/27/roseanne-returns-to-its-central-political-conflict-trump

The Necklace is the most famous short story of Maupassant, and its theme has always been controversial. The most typical one is the theory of love and vanity, which holds that the author satirizes the vanity of the petty bourgeoisie through Mathilde’s tragedy. When Maupassant was writing, he used satire several times to satirize the heroine Mathilde.

The first part is the first part of the novel, which highlights the contrast between Mathilde’s dream and reality and sets the foundation for the first satirical situation. Although ‘she has a good face and a good charm, she was wrongly arranged by nature and grew up in the family of very minor civil servants’, ‘she has no dowry property, no heritage that can be expected, and no way to make a rich and influential man meet her’. She felt that she should live a noble and rich life, but the reality was not as good as people wanted, so she had to be married to a junior clerk of the Ministry of education. In such a pity, Mathilde is suffering. But she didn’t despair, and her dreams would come to her from time to time, making her miserable and intoxicated. The strong contrast between dream and reality is reflected in various aspects such as residence, servant, social intercourse, diet, etc. Mathilde’s classical, exquisite, gorgeous, elegant and sweet dreams are in sharp contrast to the reality of shabby, gloomy, shabby, crude and flat. In fact, in the satirical situation, the unrealistic dream of high self-esteem is the basis of satire, which is the author’s first satire on Mathilde.

The second irony is after the invitation from the Minister of education that her husband brought back. From sadness and worry about the lack of beautiful dresses and jewelry to her husband’s customized dresses, her friends lent her diamond necklace. Everything was ready. Mathilde went to the party. Originally, her life was lonely. Now, her feminine charm is fully revealed, attracting the eyes of the whole audience, and she is totally immersed in the happiness of dream realization. However, the glory of being intoxicated with the realization of dreams is an important part of the realization of irony. It, together with previous dreams and subsequent disasters, forms a complete irony situation. The more brilliant the realization of dreams, the stronger the irony effect in the future. Maupassant especially played up Mathilde’s happiness when she was satisfied with vanity. She was shrouded in the glory of the night, unaware that fate had taken her as the object of ridicule. At the end of the party, she was still infatuated with it. Her husband’s ‘everyday clothes’ didn’t make her feel warm but reminded her that she had to come back to reality. She was reluctant to go home in the old carriage, shivering with cold. Her dream should have ended, but she stood in front of the big mirror, hoping to ‘get a last look at herself in all her glory’. At this time, she found that the necklace was lost! In this way, the ‘sudden turn’ of the plot and the ‘dream come true’ combine to form another ironic situation.

The third satire starts with Mathilde throwing the necklace, comparing Mathilde’s hidden dream with reality. The more beautiful the dream is, the more intolerable the reality is; the more painful the reality is, the more enchanting the realization of the dream is; the more gorgeous the realization of the dream is, the greater the blow of losing the necklace is; the more dramatic the plot is, the more significant the ironic effect on the characters is. The layout of the novel is a series of ingenious combinations that guide the ending. The event develops towards the climax and the ending. It satisfies the curiosity caused by the beginning and lays the foundation for the next irony. Mathilde’s life fell into the abyss. Therefore, the author sets up a contrast again, that is, the splendid night of dream realization and the ten years of debt repayment. The contrast again focuses on several aspects. Isn’t Mathilde dissatisfied with the living quarters, servants, social activities and food in reality? Isn’t Mathilde with a beautiful dream? Now, even what she originally owned is taken away by her. Originally, she hated the simple living room and the shabby chairs and stools. Now, she ‘moved out of their apartment and rented an attic room’; originally, she was worried about no comfort and entertainment. Now, ‘dismissed the maid’, ‘the heavy work in the family, the boring work in the kitchen, she has tasted it. She had to wash all the dishes and pots by herself. On the greasy basin and the bottom of the pot, she broke her pink fingernails.

The last irony is that Mathilde has lived hard for ten years to pay off her debts. Ten years later, when she had become a determined woman, ‘needing a break from her heavy working week’, she was ‘entertained’ by life. She suddenly found out that the necklace was fake.

Ten years ago, when she couldn’t find the necklace, she ‘made up her mind bravely at once’ to compensate for the necklace and pay off her debts; for ten years, she lived a hard life, adhered to her morality and chose to be a hero who endured hardships. But when the truth came to light, ten years of bravery and hard work were in vain. She became a doll of fate. Life reveals its absurdity and cruelty: when you think you have achieved your goal, you find that there is no goal at all; when you think you have won, you find that there is no opponent at all; after you have suffered, you know that all the pain is in vain. In the futility of suffering, the original ‘bravery’ is full of irony. She didn’t have to lose everything she had in reality and didn’t have to pay ten years of hard work. Now her tough and painful struggle has become meaningless and worthless. For Mathilde, her situation in real life is totally different from what she imagined. First of all, her dream of realizing her vanity dream of life by relying on her beauty and beauty has failed in the real world. Second, depending on her beauty and smart mind, she was able to marry a man with status, but the result is It was she who married a humble and vulgar clerk. Her strong vanity and real-life cannot be balanced, so she often feels pain and full of life grievances. Mathilde’s vanity is not an individual phenomenon, but a product of capitalist society, with a certain degree of typicality. In the capitalist society at that time, people often regarded life as a gamble of life, as if everything could be changed by something in an instant.

It is through satire and plot reversal that the author criticizes the trend of money and profit in the capitalist era. Through the description of a small thing in the life of a small person, it reflects the vanity phenomenon in the real society at that time, and the thinking and value judgment of life brought by it. It is not only a microcosm of the society at that time but also a mirror of self-knowledge for the world. It warns people to pursue things of value and significance to their own lives and to explore the ultimate meaning and value of life.

References:

1. Maupassant, G. de. (n.d.). The Necklace. Retrieved from https://photos.state.gov/libraries/hochiminh/646441/vantt/The necklace.pdf.
2. Maupassant, G. de, & Coward, D. (2009). A day in the country and other stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (pp.169-176)

Mark Twain satirizes controversial topics such as slavery, civilization, women roles by contrasting them to the natural state of people living in harmony without external social constraints as exemplified by the life Huck and Jim lead on the raft going with the flow of nature symbolized by the river.. He accomplished this through the eventful journey of two companions, Huckleberry and Jim. As the world evolves and ideologies change, socially acceptable ideas in the 1830’s and 1840’s that were considered unacceptable, in today’s day and age are. The biggest representation of this is slavery. “By the mid century, slavery had become the defining institution of southern culture and economic life.” This controversial piece of literature became a major role due to the time it was written by Twain, during the peak of slavery. “We never got anything handed to us besides more laws and disappointment.” ( African American Christianity). The abuse of the white folk upon african slaves is being progressively depicted by twain coming from the viewpoint of heavily discriminated slaves and abolitionists. “God almighty has spared us another year of sorrows and tribulation.” The life of a slave was an everlasting circuit of torment reaching the extreme that many couldn’t be entirely grateful to be alive.

Although slavery was one of the most prominent topics throughout the novel, the ideas of civilization and roles of a women were crucial as well. The definition of civilization hasn’t changed. Today, someone “civilized” is considered a well educated, courteous polite person who participates in the economy, and has proper body language. Huckleberry Finn was pressed to become “civilized” by widow Douglas and miss Watson, however ditched his clothes for rags and refuses to “mumble” before eating a meal. Twain’s views on society are revealed as he poked fun at civilized expectations. Another crucial topic emerges from the stereotypical roles that women play during the time. The classic role for a women was primarily conserved for the tasks of; caretaking, maid, and stay at home mom. Twain doesn’t contrast this idea, however throughout Huck and Jim’s journey uses characters in the novel to further satirize women. Although female characters in the novel were a scarcity, the women that did appear made an impact on Huck’s life. “You may say what you want to, but in my opinion the girl had more sand in her than any girl I ever see, in my opinion she was just full of sand.” To explain, Huck had just recently met Mary Jane and was charmed by her appearance but got to realize that her looks only take her so far. And her personality is bland. This shows that one of the roles for women were simply to be silent and look pretty.

Political or social satire is presented through the characters of Huck and Jim to decipher the contrast between the idea of slavery. After Huck realized that fooling Jim and taking advantage of his gullibility was wrong, against the morals he was raised on, Huck apologizes to Jim. “It was 15 minutes before I could wore myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger- but I done it. And I warn’t even sorry for it afterwards.” (Page 87) Due to the social views of society, the simplest form of kindness towards a negro was something frowned upon. In this particular scene, Twain’s view of slavery is unraveled as irony is created through an unheard of situation, by having Huck apologize to Jim. Likewise, another scenario in which we identify the contrast in views of slavery occurs when Jim is captured. “Sold him?”, I say and began to cry. “Why he is my nigger…” “I can walk it in 3 days. And I start this very afternoon.” Thirteen year old Huck refuses to hesitate a single second in finding Jim. Abolitionist views are portrayed strongly as Huck shows his concern and affection to a slave. The satarization of both topics is what allows us to create the idea of Mark Twain’s opinion over society and slavery.

To continue, countless moments are identified in which Twain uses his language to satirize civilized southern behavior. Not only does he poke fun at the guilibale nature of their society, but also exposes hypocrisy and uncivilized behavior. For example, Miss Watson is one of the first southern ladies Twain uses to show hypocrisy. Despite being religious and expecting Huck to conform to religion as well, she owns Jim, a slave. According to Twain, this shows how hypocritical religion can really be. Not only is it ironic to pursue religion so harshly yet own another human, but also the way she attempts to instil religion on Huck. “Then Miss Watson she took me into the closet and prayed, but nothing came of it. She told me to pray every day and whatever I asked for I would get. But it warn’t so. I tried it.” (Page 13) Unable to to see any tangible benefits of religion, Huck can not help but dismiss it. Where the widow tries to portray benevolent views of religion to get Huck to accept it, Miss Watson, in her last resorts attempted to regain her credibility, uses scare tactics. “Sometimes the widow would take me to one side and talk about providence in a manner that would make my mouth water; but the next day Miss Watson would take hold and knock it all down again” (Page 14) Miss Watson in attempts to scare Huck into believing, would tell him he was going to hell, or the “bad place” unless he changed his ways. Another example in which Twain creates satirical situations to make fun of the stupidity and gullibility of the townspeople is when they come together to lynch Mr. Sherburn. On pages 147 and 148, the people march to lynch a man who ends up humiliating them all. “The idea of you lynching anybody! It’s amusing.. the average man’s a coward…you’re afraid to back down-afraid you’ll be found out for what you are- cowards- so drop your tails and go home and crawl in a hole.” The crowd washed back, then broke apart and and went tearing every which way.” (Page 148) Mark Twain is ridiculing not only their gullibility and stupidity, but also their conformity. It took one man to call out an entire crowd and state what was clear but no one accepted.

Through the novel, Huckleberry Finn explored human nature and society. The idea that nature offers freedom is represented greatly by the river. The Mississippi River was huck’s escape ticket from his abusive father, and for Jim the river is the way to freedom from slavery. Huck feels as though he is in prison with all the rules Miss Watson and society place on him, and Jim is a slave with no rights of his own. For this reason, the river becomes a place where they are both able to experience freedom. “ So in two seconds away we went a-sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river, and nobody to bother us.” Huck and Jim feel this each time they set off down the river. Here they are able to leave restrictions of life behind them. On the river, they can be friends and enjoy each moment as it comes without the oppression of society and it’s expectations. Mark Twain’s language faces a drastic change as he describes nature, we are able to feel as though we are there walking in the forest or traveling down the river alongside Huck and Jim. Twain’s tone demonstrates his vast appreciation for all that the natural world offers. When speaking about nature his use of language lulls the reader into the rhythms of the trees and river. Thanks to nature Huck and Jim are able to create such adventures and therefore learn about society.

In conclusion, Mark Twain satirizes several topics including slavery,, women roles, and other common social norms.. Huck and Jim’s, friendship is contrasted with socially acceptable views of society and what was considered right and wrong during the post civil war period. This journey is filled with many hardships that challenge Hucks world view and morals. Slavery, a real situation that was accepted during this era was criticized through Twain’s writing. Not only does he ridicule slavery but also many aspects of society and civilization as a whole.

References

1. Irony: Connecting Huck Finn and “The Open Boat” Website title: Mark Twain and Stephen Crane URL: https://twainandcrane.wordpress.com/irony-connecting-huck-finn-and-the-open-boat/
2. Slow and Steady: Women’s Changing Roles in 1930s America Website title: ThoughtCo URL: https://www.thoughtco.com/womens-rights-1930s-4141164
3. Huckleberry Finn | fictional character Website title: Encyclopedia Britannica URL: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Huckleberry-Finn-fictional-character
4. Primary Sources for History & Literature Teachers – America in Class Website title: America in Class URL: http://americainclass.org/primary-sources/
5. About this Collection | African American Perspectives: Materials Selected from the Rare Book Collection | Digital Collections | Library of Congress Website title: The Library of Congress URL: https://www.loc.gov/collections/african-american-perspectives-rare-books/about-this-collection/

The novel “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” created by Mark Twain and is based on a character/narrator named Huckleberry Finn. The novel starts with Huck in St. Petersburg, Missouri living with a woman who goes by Widow Douglas who adopted Huck and a woman named Miss Watson. The situation Huck is in becomes bad when his father, Pap, who is an alcoholic and had been missing for a while shows up looking for Huck. Pap then takes Huck to his cabin in Illinois across the Mississippi river three miles from St, Petersburg. While in the cabin Pap does not allow Huck to leave. This makes Huck want to leave so Huck starts to plan to escape. Huck then devises a plan that entails making Pap believe that someone broke into the cabin, murdered Huck and threw Huck’s body in the river. While planning he finds a raft and that is how he leaves and goes down the river. While traveling down the river Huck decides to stop at Jackson’s Island and finds a slave named Jim who was a slave to Miss Watson and escaped when he found out the Widow was going to sell him. So, Huck and Jim start their journey down the river which many different events take place. Satire is a major literary device that is used and is defined by the comic portrayal of mankind’s departure from reason or common sense or ethical and moral behavior. Satire is used a lot in the novel by portraying the degrade of religious belief, romanticism, and sentimentality.

In “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” there are many examples of satire in the debased religious belief such as Huck’s rejection of prayer, Miss Watson, and Huck and Jim’s superstitions. Throughout the novel Huck does not believe in religion. In the beginning of the novel Miss Watson tells Huck that he should pray for “spiritual gifts” (pg. 19). Huck believes that praying is not worth doing since he believes that he gets nothing out of it. He believes that if someone prays for something then when can’t they get it. Huck wants physical gifts to come out of praying but Miss Watson tell him that the gifts that come out of prayer are not physical but “spiritual”. Another example of debased religious belief is Miss Watson. Miss Watson very religious but she also has a dark side. Miss Watson owns Jim who is a slave ends up wanting to sell him although Jim has a family there. Since Jim has left this is not possible. In chapter 42 it is noted by Tom that Miss Watson had passed way and has set him free in her will since she felt guilty and was afraid she might go to hell if she didn’t set him free. In the first chapter Huck tells Miss Watson that he wanted to go to hell as a joke, but Miss Watson took it very seriously and said that she was going to heaven. Then Huck asked Miss Watson, “… if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there” (pg. 11). Huck asked if Tom Sawyer, a friend of Huck’s, was going to heaven but she responded with, “…not by a considerable sight.” (pg. 11) Miss Watson unkindly said that there was no chance that Tom Sawyer would go to heaven but that is not very religious to decide who and who cannot go to heaven. Another of satire in debased religious belief is Huck and Jim’s superstitions. One example of this is Jim’s hairball that had a spirit in it and tells him fortunes. “Jim, had a hairball as big as your fist, which had been took out of the fourth stomach of an ox, and he used to do magic with.” (pg. 25) This is satirical because he would rather go to Jim and his fortune telling hairball than to go to someone else.

The second example of satire in “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is the satire on romanticism. Tom Sawyer is a major example of satire in romanticism due to the way he makes decisions and the influence he has on Huck. Tom in the beginning chapters of the novel creates a gang to rob and murder people. While setting the rules of the gang he always refers to the “books” when one of the gang members doesn’t like or understand what Tom says. This is explaining that Tom reads to may stories on outlaws and people of that nature and that influences his decision making. In chapters 34 and 35 he also does this when planning to steal Jim back. Huck makes a simple plan to steal Jim back, but Tom says “…it would work, like rats a fighting. But it’s too blame’ simple; there ain’t nothing to it.” (pg. 234) Tom does not like to do anything simple and want to be just like the “books” and be extravagant in whatever he does. This also influences Huck because Huck believes that Tom know how to live the fun way and sees Tom as an inspiration. Whenever Huck is contemplating on doing something, he always thinks what would Tom Sawyer do.

The third satirical example is the satire on sentimentality. The widow in the beginning of the book she is telling Huck about Moses and how she sees him as Pharaoh’s daughter and Huck is Moses. At first Huck loves the story of Moses but when the widow tells him that Moses is actually dead, he hates the story. The widow sees herself as Pharaoh’s daughter because Pharaoh’s daughter rescued Moses and took him in. The widow believes she is like Pharaoh’s daughter since she took Huck in and helped. Judge Thatcher and his wife are similar in the way they help Pap and they all cry for Pap. Judge Thatcher and his wife believe they can help Pap with his alcoholic tendencies. In chapter 5 Pap goes to Judge Thatcher to take Huck’s money but the Judge decides that he want to help Pap. When Pap agreed or what the Judge and his wife believed he agreed they all cried believing they have changed Pap. Pap then goes on to say “…it’s a hand of a man that’s started in on a new life, and ‘ll die before he’ll go back. You mark them words-don’t forget I said them.” (pg. 30) Pap may be trying to just say whatever to make the Judge and his wife believe he has changed to get what he wants. This goes wrong and Pap goes back to his ways. The Judge then regrets what he has done. The judge and his wife felt that they were doing something good and wanted the pride of helping someone. They saw themselves as doers.

In the book “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” there are many examples of satire. Satire is seen in the book by giving example of debased religious notions, romanticism, and sentimentality. Satire in debased religious notions is given by the way Miss Watson acts, Huck and Jim’s superstitions, and Huck’s rejection of prayer. Satire in romanticism is given by Tom Sawyer and the influence he has on Huck. Satire in sentimentality is given by the way the widow sees herself and how Judge Thatcher and his wife see themselves as doers.

Works Cited

1. Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Penguin Books, 2014.

There is no one kind of humor: Numerous types of humor surface in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and The Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Graham Chapman.

Looking at the texts The Importance of Being Earnest and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it is evident that humor is demonstrated differently between both plays. Both texts significantly possess many humor types, indicating that there is no one kind of humor. Monty Python and the Holy Grail uses satire, heteroglossia, trickster figures, and benign violation to attack the knight’s code of chivalry. While The Importance of Being Earnest displays farce, Slapstick, irony, and wit to engage with the play’s themes. Both plays use different humor because they each have their intended agenda.

Satire was one of the prominent types of humor used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with the film being categorized as the satire genre. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones implemented satire to demolish an opposing viewpoint. The viewpoint being destroyed in Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the monarch system of government and the knight’s code of chivalry. Monty Python and the Holy Grail perfectly meets satire’s definition: it uses absurdity to dramatize a contemporary issue: the monarchy system of government. There was an intended message the authors wanted to pass to the audience. They did not want to attack the issue directly because that would be boring, so they decided to address significant issues ongoing at that time but with a comedic spin. Satire was implemented throughout the movie with the sole purpose of conveying social commentary and criticism, allowing Monty Python and the Holy Grail to spread awareness concerning issues in society. It gives a sense of moral purpose to the humorous film, for the sake of the film not being seen as funny for being funny. Not only does the movie give the audience a good laugh, but it also urges them to ponder about the issues pinpointed in the movie. The element of satire gives Monty Python and the Holy Grail the ability to provide political critique while entertaining the audiences through other types of humor. Satire is a different type of humor because satire is comedy as a weapon. It is so common that it has its name. Which means it is a different type of humor. An example of heteroglossia is the way Arthur, the constitutional peasant, brave Sir Robin, the other knights, and the French herald all differed in how they spoke.

Heteroglossia was implemented to distinguish between different social classes and reveal that borders play a part in the vernacular. It is used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as a comedic element, allowing parody to work. Heteroglossia was used to help incorporate satire, for example, the discussion of kingship by the ‘constitutional peasant. Heteroglossia enacts the mingling of differences, the refusal to accept a single authority, and language. One of the reasons it presents throughout the film is to show that there is no single language, but there are distinct varieties between a single language. King Arthur, his knights, the peasants, and the Frenchmen spoke English but with a different accent. The scene in which Herbert’s father instructs the guards to allow the prince to leave the room until he gets back to his son. It takes the guards a while to understand Herbert, even though they are speaking the same language, just like how Abbott and Castello ‘who’s on first.’ Herbert and the guards find it challenging to understand each other, even though speaking the same language creates confusion. In that confusion, the audience perceives it as humor. Which diversifies the film. If heteroglossia were not involved in the movie, all the characters would have been uniform, making the movie less enjoyable. With heteroglossia, meaning comedy is established through multiple languages. This tells us that heteroglossia is one established kind of humor, but it cannot be the only type. For if that was the only type of humor, and it would not have one specified name, we would all know humor to be heteroglossia. There are more types of humor, so there is a need to give heteroglossia its term. It is like a branch of the comedy tree.

Benign violation theory came into play when the French guard insults King Arthur for overusing his power, threatening to take their castle away. This is an excellent example of Benign violation theory because (1) the insults are a violation, (2) the insults are benign (3) the insults are both a violation and benign simultaneously. Benign violation depicts that jokes often fail to be funny if they are too kind or aggressive. Most benign things do not make people laugh, and so do aggressive things in nature. If the French guard’s comments were too kind, the audience would regard its compliment. If his comments were aggressive, people would perceive it as rude, and not needed, and would grow a sense of distaste for the scene. The guard called King Arthur and his men ‘English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottom, sons of a silly person. Although the comments made for the guard violated King Arthur and his men, they were made in a warm demeanor. Just like how friends would banter. Upon seeing that scene, the audience would not conclude that remarks from the French guard were too vile or too vile. They would find it funny because a good combination of being kind and violation occurs. Benign violation theory is evident when the French guards make jest of King Arthur and his knights physically. The guard mocks them by placing his thumbs on the side of his head while making sounds. ‘The Frenchmen also verbally mock King Arthur with ridiculously offensive words like ‘English pigdogs’, ’empty-headed animal food trough wiper’, and another ridiculously offensive name-calling, including intentionally mispronouncing knights as ‘kniggits’.’ (Kusnandi et al., 8.). Making fun of people is a violation but putting one’s hand on the side of their head and making funny noises and faces is quite childlike, which lessens the violation making it benign.

Almost everyone is a trickster in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The rabbit was included when it appeared to be gentle and harmless. When King Arthur and other knights saw the Rabbit of Caerbannog, one knight tried to warn everyone that the rabbit ‘is no ordinary rabbit that’s the foulest, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on. ‘(). At first, the rabbit appeared to be calm and harmless, but then, as one of the knights approached the rabbit, it switched its character to become aggressive and harmful. The Rabbit of Caerbannog highlighted one of the common traits of a trickster character, which emphasizes cleverness and trickery as dominant traits. The rabbit displayed this by trickery and cleverness to deceive the knights. The rabbit is neither wholly good nor wholly bad. It sits on the borderline, and one cannot deem the rabbit evil because of the vicious act committed. One can see the rabbit’s actions as self-defense. Throughout Monty Python and the Holy Grail, only the rabbit has been able to fight King Arthur and his men successfully this gives the impression that the rabbit is an agent of change. It used its trickery to mess up pre-established systems and power structures. What makes the Rabbit of Caerbannog scene funny is that it is not every day. You can a rabbit trick a group of men. This proves that there is no one kind of humor. We can all agree that not every character we find funny is a trickster figure. There is another excellent example of a trickster figure in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

Jack appearing to play a reckless black sheep brother named Earnest is an example of a trickster figure. Jack Worthing uses his fictitious brother to travel from the city to the countryside and back (Snider, 59). Jack uses deception to change his identity to fit in socially. Jack Worthing is an example of a trickster figure because he uses cleverness to manipulate others to lead a double life. Jack refuses the social norm by crossing boundaries by playing different roles with people in the countryside and the city. Algernon is another example of a trickster figure. he uses his made-up friend Bunbury to get away from reality. (Snider, 59). he uses Bunbury to avoid confrontation and activities. Algernon employs cunning ways to resist social and natural order to get away from his reality. he also displays a trickster figure by lying to Cecily that his name is Ernest. which is also evidence of a sunshine world where everything is perfect. Algernon also gets engaged to Cecily. (Wilde, 1:15:04). These are the many ways that trickster figures were employed in The importance of being earnest.

Lady Bracknell choosing a husband for her daughter, Gwendolen, based on his status, character, and class demonstrates a farce in The importance of being earnest. lady Bracknell asks Jack, such as ‘What is your incoming,’ ‘in land or investments?’ and ‘You have a townhouse, I hope?’ to measure if he is capable of marrying Cecily. (Wilde, 22:55). Her questions are an example of a farce because they are far from reality. It is improbable for Jack to meet up with Lady Bracknell’s expectations. She presented rude and explicit behavior wanting to know how wealthy Jack is to gauge if he has enough to be Gwendolen’s husband. Cecily’s dream of marrying a man named Earnest is another example of a farce. Her goal to marry a man named Earnest is extravagant, thus making it a farce. she plans to marry earnestly, even though she has never met him. (Wilde, 54:00). Her dreams and hopes are absurd and highly exaggerated. Also, Jack’s grieving scene at the end for mistaking Prism as his mother is an example of a farce (Foster, 19). he was being overdramatic, assuming that Prism is his mother.

Slapstick humor is plastered everywhere in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest. Slapstick is a style of humor that involves exaggerated physical activities that exceed the boundaries of average physical comedy. An example of Slapstick was displayed when Ernest got down on his knees on the sofa and circled the room with Algernon. When Algernon tries to read the words written on the cigarette box, Earnest becomes tense and begins to run around the sofa chasing. Slapstick humor is evident through Earnest’s reaction. Oscar Wilde did not use verbal communication to show Earnest’s reaction. He used his body language to communicate that.

A wit is a form of intelligent humor, the ability to say or write clever and usually funny things. There is almost no action in The Importance of Being Earnest. Everything happens through dialogue which calls the author to use wit to make the audience laugh. The pun in the title is also a wit. The earnestErnest joke is at the center of the play. Gwendolen wants to marry a man called Ernest, regardless of whether the man is wealthy. However, Lady Bracknell wants her daughter to marry someone earnest. Jack is neither ‘earnest’ nor ‘Ernest.’ He is nothing but a paradox and a hypocrite.

Outrageous truths are everywhere in the play. They are absurd, impossible, laughable statements, yet when we consider them further, we realize they are accurate and true not just in the world of the play but also in our world. They are also wits but with elegant phrasing. ‘I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays.’ It is an example of an outrageous truth. Everyone wants to sound clever and ‘woke,’ it gets annoying. Another example of ‘outrageous truth’ is this quote ‘To be natural is such a challenging pose to keep up.’. As humans, we try to fit in, so sometimes it is hard to be our natural selves because we might get accepted. The idea of ‘outrageous truth untruth’ is also a central theme in other comedies. Comedians are just like us, so they write jokes based on reality and truths. Wit is different from all types of humor; it is when something clever is said with some intelligence and some funny elements.

The plays The Importance of Being Earnest and Monty Python and the Holy Grail are humorous. From examining both, one can see that they employ different types of humor to amuse the audience. Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s purpose was to attack the knight’s code of chivalry. Its purpose was a success due to satire, heteroglossia, trickster figures, and benign violation. The Importance of Being Earnest, a play with more dialogue than action, adopted farce, slapstick, irony, and wit to capture the play’s themes. They are not just one type of humor that is constant in both plays. The Importance of Being Earnest and Monty Python and the Holy Grail utilized different types of humor to captivate the audience.

Works Cited

1. “Benign Violation Theory.” Humor Research Lab (HuRL), 25 Aug. 2021, https: humor research lab. combining-violation-theory. Accessed 24 November. 2021
2. Fauzan Romdhoni Kusnandi, Isti Siti Saleha Gandana, Nia Nafisah. “Humor analysis of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).” Passage, vol. 8, no. 3, 2020, pp. 73-88, file:UserscorneliusoluwasikunDownloads29867-65342-1-PB.pdf. Accessed 24 November. 2021
3. Jones, Terry, and Terry Gilliam. Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Cinema 5 Distributing, 1975.
4. Snider, Clifton. “Synchronicity and the Trickster in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest.’” The Wildean, no. 27, 2005. https:home.csulb.edu~csniderwilde.earnest.article 45270141. Accessed 24 Nov. 2021.
5. Stefanovska, Maja. “The Importance of Being Earnest: The Audience Is Repeatedly Beaten with Slapstick Humour.” Capital Critics’ Circle Le Cercle Des Critiques De La Capitale, 27 Oct. 2014, http:capitalcriticscircle. comimportance-earnest-much-emphasis-physicality. Accessed 29 Nov. 2021.
6. Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. New York: Samuel French, 1980. Print.

There are all kinds of fake news that exist around us and knowing what is reliable and true is important. Radio in the past has had many problems with fake news such as the Orson Welles famous broadcast. Newspapers have higher prints in the United States that include USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Each of these newspapers has a website that has certain levels of access (paywalls), and many of these newspapers rely on The Associate Press. Television has the largest broadcasters today than radio, which include NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX.

Today there are different types of news for certain audiences, for example, Univision is just one of the large Spanish news programs that influence the Spanish community. The internet has made widespread use possible and has grown rapidly, which has become the go-to source for all news. Word of mouth, news that you hear from others by mouth is also another news source. Today many news sites have radio, newspapers, and TV networks, but some news organizations focus on certain political news such as Politico and The Huffington Post. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram share the news with mobile users and develop apps for these devices, which we can download and subscribe to, to get our daily news. Newspapers have faced a political and social media shock and journalists are becoming less reliable and are now seen as the enemy.

Fake news can take many forms, such as deliberate misinformation, fake headlines, social media sharing, and satire. Deliberate misinformation is news that is written for profit and shared on social media, which targets certain groups of people who believe in its true content. In other words, this tactic of fake news is to get the news to spread fast so that the reader doesn’t have time to properly verify its true content. False headlines are one way into luring people to read their news, for example, a false headline should state something factional, but the body of the news article is completely different from the headline. This is basically called “click bait” which lures in the readers and catches his/her attention to make them click on the false news headline. Social media sharing makes it easier to get false news in a matter of seconds, which makes it harder for users to verify each one. These sites rely on shares, likes, and followers which turn them into a popularity contest (viral). Just because it gets a lot of attention it doesn’t mean it is true. Satire news (comedy) often begins as true but later twists its comments on society (The Onion). October 30th, 1938, listeners tuned into Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) radio network and hear a news flash interrupt the regular program. The broadcast goes back to the dance music and the orchestra is interrupted to inform the listeners that a strange object is heading to New Jersey but in the end, it is false news to get the people interested. In the 19th century, Phineas Taylor Barnum used fraudulent stories and staged events to secure newspaper coverage for his circus. Barnum’s skill in using the media for the promotion of fake news made it possible for performers to become the earliest celebrities. Barnum understood that his audiences loved to be tricked and cheated.

Press agents were the first to use a wide variety of media channels to generate publicity. For example, promotional newspaper stories, magazines, articles, ads, dime novels, and theater marquees. Burke (press agent) and Buffalo Bill shaped many of the myths about American individualism and frontier expansion. All of this was utilized to sway the public and generate business, and in the 19th century, America’s largest industrial companies employed press agents to win the favor of public opinion. In the 20th century, reporters and muckraker journalists were investigating many companies, which later brought the attention to the citizenry paid. This made the middle class rise and increase the spread of information through print media and democratic ideals, which began to hurt the established firms and politics. The elite groups who managed them were Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, they were the ones that started the popularization of shaping the facts and the “engineering consent.” However, journalists like Walter Lippmann, wrote the famous book “Public Opinion” in 1922, which spread worries about PR professional and their hidden agendas. World War II was a huge time for propaganda and the U.S. government, for example, the most iconic posters at the time were about a woman asking women to join the workforce. A Press release organizes a story for the news media, and the news media transforms it into a news report, which the PR firms manage the flow of information and control which media gets which order. For example, Twitter has become a popular format for releasing information to media (140 characters or less). Astroturf lobbying is phony grassroots that are engineered by PR firms. Fake news shows like Saturday Night Live (SNL), use news satires to tell their audiences something that seemed truthful but uses media to manipulate public opinion. By 2016, all news satires were aimed at Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. For example, fake anchors like Stewart display a range of emotions that match our own, then our detached hard news anchors. Also, Stewart covered the 2012 presidential election and often show irony and humor.

Finally, fake news programs are often mock formulas that real TV news programs have long used. Today we use media and watch news satires to be not only entertained but also to stay current with what is happening in the world. False news information is being spread online every day and online communities growing, the range of solutions is being implemented every day. Twitter and Facebook and many others now require users to confirm their identity through email or by phone number just like Google. False news has led journalism to increase along with its quality by creating subscriptions to its readers, which makes it safer and more reliable to its users. Although it is hard to avoid false news stories in journalism, it is now known to the public that false news exists. The landscape of journalism has changed, and with the fake and sloppy reported news stories that have gone viral, journalists are now rethinking their craft. False news has been known since the strip-up (anti-British) of Benjamin Franklin in 1782. When he made a false news story claiming that Native Americans had sent the scalps of Americans to the king of England as a sign of loyalty. Franklin was smart to pull this hoax by printing an authentic-looking newspaper on his own printing press. Today, social media is available to anyone and the internet has made it easier to spread false news fast, but for some reason, it has become a part of our everyday life or a norm. Since we own the media (cell phones and computers) we trust it more than (traditional) expert journalists.

Wilde succeeds in criticizing the Victorian era by using satire to show the reality of the society of the time. Throughout the movie, we can clearly see the characteristics of the Victorian period. For example, the desire and pressure of marriage for young women of the time and always focused on the financial side. The characters are also part of a group that seems to be somewhat distinguished from English high society, which is relevant to why the movie is a critique. The idea of the characters using pseudonyms to free themselves from the social norms of the time, and the confusions that they enter, reflects a critique of the model of conservatism, social and cultural customs of the period. This sheds light on a social critique of the time, offering us information on the culture of the Victorian period. Wilde succeeds in disturbing the audience because he portrays issues such as constructing a “social mask” covered in disguise.

During the film, we realize that Wilde is familiar with the weaknesses and hypocrisies of Victorian society. Wilde chose the name of the play to entertain with the adjective ‘Earnest’ which has a double meaning of being a name and also of honesty. The plot is based on Jack Worthing, the main character, and has its obscure origin, as Thomas Cardew found it, a high-ranking person who adopts him in sequence, in a briefcase at Victoria Station in London. As the movies unfold, Jack Worthing becomes the guardian of his adoptive father’s granddaughter, a wonderful young woman named Cecily Cardew, but she is extremely futile in matters related to culture and education.

Jack always tells Cecily that he has a younger brother named Ernest, who is very troublesome and irresponsible; he is always in trouble and as a result, still needs his assistance. Thus, Jack justifies his constant travels to the city and the fact that his brother remains invisible, never being allowed to visit his family in the countryside. When Jack arrives in London, he assumes another identity and becomes Ernest Worthing and justifies his constant trips to the city.

On one of his trips to London, Jack falls in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, daughter of Lady Bracknell, cousin of Jack’s best friend – Algernon Moncrief. Algy, through the cigarette holder that Ernest had forgotten in his possession, learns of Cecily’s existence, thus becoming curious to know her. Soon after Algy questions Ernest about Cecily, Jack Worthing reveals that in the camp he is called that, while in town is Ernest Worthing. With that, he decided to visit Cecily in the country, posing as Ernest Worthing, Jack Worthing’s troubled younger brother. By the time Algy goes to the camp, Jack is not present because he had gone to put an end to his alleged brother and would return to the mourning camp for his death. Since Jack and Algernon have a double life under other names and the fact that there is a marriage interest from Jack to Gwendolen and Algernon to Cecily, the situation is funny because the two girls have the same dream of marrying a man named Ernest.

During the movie, Jack’s double life is discovered after confronting Aggy, and everything is clear, including Gwendolen and Cecily’s passion for a man named Ernest. Augusta Bracknell, Gwendolen’s mother, demonstrates the superficiality and futility of the society in which she lives in all her speeches. Concerning marriage, her position is solely for the sake of interest, depending on the material goods of the parties involved, so she disapproves of Gwendolen’s marriage with Jack because of her background but supports Algy’s marriage to Cecily because she is heir to great fortune. Shocked by the discovery of who Jack really is, Augusta Brecknell makes a reference to the place where Jack was found (a briefcase) referring to it as if it was like a social mask and how it would never be part of the high society.

In this plot, it is important to highlight how Wilde is successful in the satire made of that empty and superficial society that was more concerned with an elegant name, origins, and people’s material goods. His satire is always very conscious, so Wilde takes advantage of the differences between appearance and reality, thus exposing hypocrisy. The irony is also a form of criticism because it says one thing meaning another and therefore reaching its target, which is similar in satire because it needs two essential elements, which are the humor and the object of attack. During the movie, satire and irony appear all over the place, exploring the differences between appearance and reality and exposing the distorted values of that society. The paradox, a stylistic feature used by Wilde, has many ironic effects, as seen in the way serious things are treated, such as the institution of marriage.

Abstract

Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a genius work in the art of literary satire. I picked certain issues and commented on them regarding how Swift made Irish beggars and their children a necessary evil that was deteriorating Ireland from the inside. Largely, this behemoth of a problem was causing an economic slump of mass proportion.

I point out his brilliant use of population figures, social issues (domestic violence, poverty, hunger, etc.), and religious groups (other than his own). He addresses these issues by offering a ludicrous solution—cannibalism of the young infants when they reach their first birthday.

Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal: Reflective Essay Addressing Swift’s Satire Approach Concerning the Economic Problem of Dublin’s Starving Children

Swift presents a brilliant tongue-in-cheek argument concerning a way to solve the plight of starving Irish children. He introduces his ludicrous proposal at the beginning of his essay, and then supports his subject by reinforcing his foundation with strong, supporting arguments.

Each building block of his argument elicits sound thought for handling Ireland’s glaring social issues; namely, begging and starving children. Swift proposes to eat one-year-olds because of their economic burden. While purporting his idea, he uses economic strategies, population figures, cooking methods and avoiding commodity outsourcing to support his irony.

Swift looks at a beggar’s child as the projected worth of a future commodity. He justifies his moral depravity and degrading of human life in lieu of population control, annihilation of abortion, domestic violence and food shortage.

He refers to wives as “breeders” of these future delectable human dishes, and believes a one-year-old could give back to the commonwealth by offering its “carcass” as food for a starving country. He reasons that a beggar’s child should be able to live for the first year so that it could be fattened up on mother’s milk, which the “dam” naturally produces and therefore would cost the commonwealth nothing.

Swift surmises that his idea is humane because the future holds nothing for these children who mature and adopt livelihoods like “stealing,” going off to fight for the

“Pretender in Spain,” or “selling themselves to the Barbados.” Instead of suggesting the obvious—limiting the number of children each female “breeder” should have—he

encourages the “breeders” to get pregnant, enjoy motherhood and nursing of their suckling infants for one year, and then sell them to the marketplace as a prime cut of young, tender meat. This is a chilling mental image of the plight of a poor Irish infant.

He continues to build upon this horrific image of an Irish infant dressed and prepared as the main serving for a lavish feast. He enjoys toying with the image of “a young healthy child well nursed” that could be “a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled,” and suggests serving it as “a fricassee or a ragout.” This is a disturbing image of a baby as the main dinner dish.

He continues to take this macabre image further when he suggests “a child will make two dishes at an entertainment” function for friends, and if it is only to be one family dish, would “be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.” This gruesome image has come full circle by suggesting the infant “carcass” could be extended to four days of leftovers.

Ireland’s population has always been Catholic, and Swift sees Catholics as a major part of the starving human burden that is hurting Ireland. He ridicules the Catholic religious holyday, Lent. He reasons that since Catholics eat more fish during Lent, nine months later, a lot of infant Catholics are born.

He does not criticize this, but reasons that because Catholics propagate more after Lent, the meat market will benefit from plump infants ready for the grocer. Swift connects Ireland’s economic problems directly to the Catholics and their lack of birth control—even in the face of being extremely poverty stricken.

He revels in putting a price on a beggar child as the child matures. He uses the figure of 120,000 children as full reservoir, then reserves 20,000 as breeders, but not more than 5,000 of that number as males. He reasons that 5,000 males is a usual number for sheep, cattle and swine. Swift’s irony gives the reader a picture of a single cock that breeds with the entire hen house and the reader cannot help but be amused.

One male should suffice four “breeders,” he surmises, but then catches himself in this digression, and reverts to his ridiculous projected numbers. Of the 100,000 infants that remain, Swift writes, these should be fattened up for the meat market. He almost forces the reader to think that it is a well thought-out plan that would benefit all—irony at its very best.

Swift is not a feminist. He never refers to the father’s responsibility to his beggar children. Instead, he puts the sole responsibility of caring for beggar children on the mother. This is a result of the makeup of Dublin’s street beggars—mothers and many small, unkempt children. It is false to believe that he is not a moralist.

Obviously, poverty-stricken mothers and their children disturbed him, but is that because of their drain on an already weak Irish economy or because these deplorable human beings actually tugged at his heart strings and bothered him enough that he felt the urge to write about it? He calls his writing a “modest” proposal—another play on words. In no way is this modest suggestion, but rather an alarming, vivid picture of cannibalism meant to elicit action regarding this social problem.

Reference

Swift, J. (2011). A modest proposal in R. J. Diyanni (Ed.), Fifty great essays. (pp. 296-303). London: Longman.

Jonathan Swift was considered one of the greatest satirists of the 17th century. This author was not shy about ironizing religion, politics, and various topics that were taboo in society. For this reason, a current, untouchable topic of human orientation was taken as the subject of satire. Nowadays, the issue of gender predisposition and sexual preference is considered sensitive, so imitating the great satirist, this theme was chosen. Throughout the work, a technique called coup d’état is traced. Its essence is to change this or that position.

Referring to the work “Modest Proposal,” which is built entirely on the coup, irony, and evil satire of the contemporaries of the time, work was done on a similar pattern. The work depicted a world where homosexual relationships are considered the norm and heterosexual preferences are considered obscene and wrong (Kelting). A similar point was made in Swift’s work, in the part where the author tries to reassure the reader that children under the age of 12 are not a saleable commodity to eat. The work used techniques of exaggeration, such as in the part where the parents began a serious conversation with the main character after he kissed the girl.

The device of irony, which Jonathan Swift was so fond of, is noticed in the part where the girl scratched her knee and began to cry, while the other one urged her on with the words, “Come on, come on up! Girls don’t cry.” (Swift). Usually, these phrases refer to boys who risk expressing their displeasure or pain through tears (Swift). At the same time, the satire mocks a moment about society’s non-acceptance of a different orientation, in a moment where Molly’s character had to run around six bakeries to find an establishment that agreed to put a male and female figure on a cake. The mockery here is not intended as malicious mockery but rather as an occasion to draw attention to a problem that, in reality, does not negatively affect society in any way. The aim of the piece is to show how silly gender prejudice is about a person’s orientation looks (Swift, “A Modest Proposal, by Dr. Jonathan Swift”). After all, the community would not become dramatically “perverted” or “wrong” if gay marriage were legalized in most countries of the world.

Because the work is written in the style of Swift, it is not without a mockery of religion. In the part where the main character accepts Molly’s heterosexuality, he is willing to associate with her until she sins. If Molly is not acting impulsively, then it is not a sin. At this point in the work, the “illogicality” technique was used, the point of which is to combine incongruent things. Because heterosexuality is something wrong in this world, religion can interpret attraction to the opposite sex as a sin. Although satire seems to be a rather cruel genre in relation to what it mocks, it is a necessary genre. Through satire, one can draw attention to apparent problems, taboos that one is used to turning a blind eye to, and cruel topics that, unfortunately, are the norm in our lives. In the end, even if it doesn’t solve the problem, satire allows us to laugh at it to our heart’s content, which makes life a little easier.

Works Cited

Kelting, Edward. “Am I the Ibis or the Snake? Totemism, Satire, and Community in Juvenal Satire 15.” TAPA, vol. 149, no. 2, 2019, pp. 419–53.

Swift, Jonathan. A Modest Proposal and Other Writings. Alma Classics, 2019.

“A Modest Proposal, by Dr. Jonathan Swift.”Gutenberg.org, 1729, Web.