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Examples Of Saturday Night Satire

Decent Essays

Saturday Night Satire
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind reception it meets with in the world, and that so very few are offended with it” (Jonathan Swift, Preface to “The Battle of the Books”). As a literary genre, satire is generally marked by efforts to challenge thinking in its readers, to expose errors and vices in a comical way. Jonathan Swift is regarded as one of the greatest satirists, and is specifically known for his work “A Modest Proposal.” The purpose of this work was to bring attention to the problems being experienced by the people of Ireland. The ultimate goal was to force the British to put in place reforms that would solve the problems the control of the British had caused. He uses satire and irony to suggest an …show more content…

However, satire is still a method of writing being published today in order to express opinion and concern to political leaders. A modern work of satire is Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Updates.” This recurring skit consists of a summary of everything happening around the world during a given week. These news events are approached in a mocking and entertaining way that draws attention and can open the viewer’s eyes to the way their political officials are handling issues, or not handling issues. This essay will explore how these two examples of satire compare to each other and to the definition of a satire.
“A Modest Proposal”, written in 1729, introduces an idea “for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public.”(Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal”) It explores the idea of fattening your

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