Klosteman Satire Analysis

Use the guided analysis exercises within the lesson as a model for this part of the assignment.

1. Locate an example of satire. Copy and paste it here, making sure to note the source where you found it in a proper citation.

Many children grew up hearing stories about fairies and dragons. The stories involved a Knight in Shining Armor and a princess in need of being saved. The knight would then risk his life to save the princess in danger. These stories affected these kids and gave them imagination. Without some of these stories, kids would have grown up not having an imagination or dreams. Dreams gave kids joy and made them want to become a princess or a prince who slays dragons. In Shrek Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio make fun of fairytales through parody, irony, reversal and exaggeration.

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is truly a satire. In The Importance of Being Ernest, Wilde mocks the society in Britain, and the rules it followed in the 1800s. He uses satire in the description of every character and other themes like marriage, intelligence, morality, and lifestyle primarily aimed at the upper class of the time. At the turn of every page the use of satire proves again and again to be ideal when questioning the morals and values of people.

Chris Lilley's Summer Heights High is a highly controversial mockumentary that showcases 3 different over exaggerated characters. One of them is Jonah Takalua, a stereotypical Tongan delinquent. Many have praised his work, saying that it is a clever use of satire to convey important criticisms of today's society. However after learning about satire myself throughout this unit I have determined that Summer Heights High is an unsuitable and highly ineffective show for teaching satire in secondary school due to the high levels of crude language and stereotypical humour shown in Jonah that conceals the satirical techniques used. Jonah has been represented extremely ineffectively through the poor use of the satirical techniques of exaggerated caricature and ridicule which certainly have the potential to influence students negatively. Lilley’s social criticism of the view that all Polynesian students are seen as trouble makers, is lost by his overemphasis on the very behaviours he is satirising.

In Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut uses satire in the topics of war, aliens, fate and the reasons for life itself. In Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, the author uses many literary devices to bring across his point including black humor, irony, wit and sarcasm. He mainly uses satire throughout the book. Satire is a literary device found in works of literature that uses irony and humor to mock social convention, another work of art, or anything its author thinks ridiculous to make a point.

In Sea Oak, George Saunders applies satire to examine social classes. Specifically, he utilizes the narrator’s aunt, Aunt Bernie, to explain a valuable lesson: one should appreciate what they have by making the most out of it. It is essential for us to acknowledge what we have, on the grounds that one day it might be gone. Inside Sea Oak, Aunt Bernie experiences two lives: a before life and an after-life.

Molly Ivins once said, “Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.” She has been shown to be correct in many works, including A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens uses his position as an influential writer in Victorian London to call for change and reformation. He mindfully mocks the workings and current events of Victorian London, and he uses satire to call certain situations to light so that they will never be repeated. This can be seen through scenes in A Tale of Two Cities, where Dickens mocks the London judicial system, the French nobility, and The French Republic which formed after the revolution.

“How to poison the earth” by Linnea Saukko can be seen in two different aspects. The first one would be by looking at it in a literal way, in which it will make it a very harsh, inhumane and cold text. On the other hand, it could be seen as a satire, sarcastic and ironic text in which Saukko expects to catch the reader’s attention. Saukko exaggerates the sarcasm, and satire in her writing in order to make the readers realize and understand the main purpose of her essay, which is to warn readers about threats to the future of our planet.

Coco Fusco and Gomez-Pena’s satirical piece was designed to exhibit “[the] Western concept of the exotic, primitive Other[s]” and even implicitly demean how Westerners view the “Others”(143) . While Fusco’s live performance was the actual reactions of the audience, but Fusco’s video “The Couple in the Cage” had other factors that gave the watchers a different view of the satirical piece. But, Fusco does not examine the role of her editorial decisions which leading the watchers into her own bias views. Fusco could have used different editorial methods or even forgo any edits of her live performance avoiding any biases when viewers watch “The Couple in the Cage.”

There is a direct link in Book I and Book IV of the Once and Future King from the animation and adventure that Wart experiences to the fall of King Arthur’s reign. The shift is long and detailed but in the end everything ties together. Although at points the plot is grim, White throws in a little bit of satire throughout every book, for example in Book II when the Orkney environment is harsh but then it is contradicted by the behavior of Sir Pellinore, Sir Grummore, and Sir Palomides. In Book III, it is very descriptive and tedious with a darker tone, but then also is offset by Lancelot’s adventures. It is evident that the tone changes drastically from Book I to Book IV but what I noticed, is that the same themes and ideas are

Before the arrival of Claire Zachanassian, the town of Gullen was poverty stricken. When Claire visits the Gullen, she offers a substantial amount of money to the town—but only on the condition that the town amends its past failure by putting Ill to death. Claire considers Ill’s death to be "justice". As the play progresses, Claire's statement that everything, including justice, can be bought becomes evident (Durrenmatt 31). Initially, when Claire announces that she would pay $1 billion to the town for the death of Alfred Ill, the townspeople were horrified since doing something as immoral as murder for money would be inconceivable. Responding to Claire’s

In Either/Or, Kierkagaard sets up a contrast between a hedonistic aesthete, A, and an individual that sacrifices his personal pleasure for an ethical purpose, Judge Vilhelm. The fascinating aspect of Kierkagaard’s work is that he holds off making a moral judgment on which lifestyle is best; he represents the advantages and disadvantages of both and leaves it to the reader to determine which lifestyle is more desirable. This passage comes from the diary of the seducer, Johannes, who represents the hedonist; Johannes pursues aesthetic pleasures without considering the greater good of the society and the ethical ramifications of his actions. This letter reveals the narcissism inherent to Johannes’ ideas of aesthetic love. The story told in the “Seducer’s Diary” is essentially a modern telling of Pygmalion; through Johannes’s diary, we learn that Cordelia is partly Johannes’s creation.

During Russia’s transition to communism in the early 20th century, conflict and unease permeated every part of life. Nothing was stable and very little of what the Bolsheviks had fought for had come to fruition by the time the USSR disbanded in 1991. The “classless society”, which was to work together for the prosperity of everyone, never became a reality. In the end, the majority of Russia’s 20th century was an utter failure on a grand scale. However, there were many amazing products of the system do to the great importance of education in Russian culture. Priceless novels were written, timeless movies were made, and great scientific endeavors were realized despite the rigid control placed upon Russian persons by the government. In

What is satire? According to oxforddictionaries.com, 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.” This literary device is portrayed heavily in both the illustrations “Gin Lane” by William Hogarth and in “Untitled” by Paul Kuczynski. “Gin Lane” is basically an illustration by William Hogarth that depicts life in the gin shops and shows the negative effects the drink had on the people of London. It shines a light on the horrible circumstances London was under when gin was introduced to its people. “Unititled” is an illustration by Paul Kuczynski that represents how our current society