Less Than Zero Satire

This novel was set during the post war period, this was a time when independence and rebelling against parents and law was more important than doing the right thing, during these times of independence, and teenagers needed friendship more than anything else.

In his article “If We’re Gonna Have Guns, Let’s Get ‘em Out in the Open--Or Else,” Mike Royko utilizes a satirical tone to express how he feels the gun law passed in Kennesaw, Georgia is a childish and impractical one. This law, which was passed in the early 1980s, requires all citizens to have a gun and ammunition in their homes. The first example demonstrated is the utilization of diction. In his article, Royko uses words such as “obvious,” blazing away,” and “meet his maker” which expresses a childish and satirical attitude toward the subject. This shows that Royko didn’t take the Kennesaw gun law seriously and felt that it was a childish and impractical one. Another technique used was a the contradictory statement, “That might surprise

In this text, Miss Sasagawara is revealed to be a ballet dancer and an educated woman who owns “lots and lots of books” (29). However, she is subjected to social alienation when her outer appearance and her behavior

Both The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Empties by Jess Row are apocalyptic stories that describe the state of human civilization after the annihilation of civil society. Whereas in The Road civil society is destroyed and remains defunct after the apocalypse, The Empties tells of a people who are able to bounce back and reestablish their society. Many people today live their lives aimlessly, squandering their time day by day, partaking in life’s pleasures, and living for their own selfish reasons. McCarthy and Row bring attention to the selfishness and self-absorption that plagues today’s teens by showing two different possible scenarios following an apocalyptic event, resulting from a fundamental difference

Oppression is something that all humans are faced with at some point in their lives. No matter how large that oppressing force may be, it is sure to have an effect on those in its path. Zora Neale Hurston, and Celeste Ng are two authors who wrote about how their characters live in the face of hardships and both show a dramatic change in their characters from beginning to end. Hurston writes about a young woman, Delia, living in the 1920’s dealing with an abusive husband in her short story “Sweat.” Ng’s novel Little Fires Everywhere follows two families living in a prim and proper town in Ohio in the 1990’s. Throughout these works, the characters are consistently challenged by cruelty of the powerful forces surrounding them, but more importantly,

There are two people in this world: those who can deal with life’s challenges and those who cannot. “A Wall of Fire Rising” by Edwidge Danticat recognizes this predicament in the shantytowns of Haiti in 1991. Freedom has a different meaning for everybody and can be attained in different ways. As referenced by Guy, the hot air balloon is the key to freedom. Guy and his wife, Lili, have different perspectives on freedom and what life should be.

Social media is addictive. Tweet - #Addicted. Facebook – Like my selfie. Snapchat – Snap me. I found myself on a painful and destructible path that consumed my life, without realising that I too was playing that game of seeking external validation through social media. I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel and realised - We should start living in the real world. We should banish living in virtual reality and become interactive with people again.

With the advancement of poverty in the United States it is time to solve the homeless situation. Thousands of Americans are homeless and taking up space on the city’s streets. A simple solution to this problem would be to allow the homeless to reside in landfills. They would be able to sort through the waste to find appropriate cardboard boxes to live in. This could also be used as a form of employment allowing them to sort through recycling to improve the environment. It is also a statistical fact that many Americans throw away food that goes untouched. Not only would they have a permanent residence of their choosing but this also insures that they would have plenty of food to maintain their strength to sort trash.

Often heralded as the world’s greatest nation, the United States is also considered home to the world’s greatest authors. Reputable authors such as Fitzgerald, Twain, and Steinbeck remain relevant even through the washing waves of time. One such timeless author, Ray Bradbury, ventured the hazardous path of taboo to write of change. Through his novels of innocent youths evolving into children enlightened beyond their years, Bradbury utilizes the motif of time, innocence, and the philosophical movements of existentialism, transcendentalism, and romanticism to describe catastrophic events the American culture could face if existing destitute judgments continue to prevail. Ray Bradbury dared to reveal his voice.

The decade of hip-hop is what some may call it. Tupac, Naz, Biggie Smalls, as well as other artists, were major contributions. Not only for the people who are trying to find their footing, but Buck as well. Throughout the book various lyrics were embedded in order to create a better understanding for its readers. In addition, this book is based upon a 90s lifestyle within Philadelphia, which included drugs, gang activity, crime, hip-hop, and havoc. Malo was directly in the center of everything, the girls, the fights, the guns. His experiences shed light towards what it’s like to as an African American individual living in or near the hood. Not everyone realizes what people go through while living there, but now it gives some readers an image of what goes on. Though times have changed, not all previous feelings

In each book, the main protagonists Andy from Generation X, Clay from Less Than Zero, and White Mike from Twelve attempt to free themselves completely from their parents’ influence. They are all failed by society and by their parents and crave an identity different from that of their parents. They all fail with this endeavor because they are not properly prepared for the life they set out to live. The parents of these children had more than other parents but still bring their children into an imperfect world. The children are the victim while the parents are the

Bret Easton Ellis's dark and violent burlesque of America in the 1980s is taken to

Through critical analysis, historical research, and textual evidence, a study on Kurt Vonnegut’s background will be conducted in order to display the effects that the era in which he lived had on his writing.

The turbulent societal changes of the mid-20th Century have been documented in countless forms of literature, film and art. On the Road by Jack Kerouac was written and published at the outset of the counter-culture movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This novel provides a first-hand account of the beginnings of the Beat movement and acts as a harbinger for the major societal changes that would occur in the United States throughout the next two decades. On the contrary, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a Hunter S. Thompson novel written in 1971 provides a commentary on American society at the end of the counter-culture movement. Thompson reflects on the whirlwind of political and social activism he experienced and how American society had

Satire is a specific classification of writing that occasionally makes utilization of realistic and performing expressions with the aim of scorning society into self-change. With social criticism being its fundamental objective, it uses dark sarcasm as its primary device to get the point across. Satire impacts people to reconsider themselves so as to alter senseless thoughts and behaviors. Different techniques are utilized in delivering the satirical impact, those of which use wit as their primary weapon. These methodologies mix the acing of matching unimportant and authentic matters as one joke, demonstrating compliment yet meaning the contrary to show ambiguity, and asking rhetorical questions. Moreover, the creator may downplay an issue keeping in mind the end goal to move the group of audience towards the genuine significance of the theme, antagonistically; distortion is utilized to bring down the effect of an issue to its lesser quality. Aggregately, these procedures are practiced to draw out the human follies and vices in society. In Molière 's Tartuffe and Jonathan Swift 's article A Modest Proposal, both diagonally condemn and criticize human conduct and the discernment we have towards others. Through a comedian conveyance, these creators offer an understanding past the apparently self-evident, and expect to enhance this flawed custom of one sidedness as opposed to disposing of it.