Society today looks down on laziness and criticizes those who choose to stay home and do nothing rather than go out and be productive. Christopher Morley, writer of the essay “On Laziness” (1920), makes points about how living the lazy life can lead to a happy human soul. You might question, is he being true to his words or is it simply just satire? With the use of irony, humor, and sarcasm, Morley gently criticizes the lives of indolent people to persuade his audience towards the opposite path in life. Morley begins his essay with a sense of irony, claiming that he himself is “too indolent to write an essay on laziness.” This ironic starting sentence serves as a sign to the reader that Morley’s essay will include hints of satire. Automatically,
The Perils of Indifference speech by Elie Wiesel is one that is well crafted and that sends a strong message to the audience. Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust, addresses the issues of the 20th century in his speech while at the same time explaining the dangers of indifference. Wiesel’s appeals to his audience, as well as his strong message and arguments are what make this speech so effective.
The use of ironic imagery discharges an emotive, personal tone which in turn persuades the reader to empathise with Hughes as he was "dumbfounded afresh" by Plath.
In the article “ The Busy Trap” Kreider tries to convince readers to chose time over money. He makes numerous points including how boasting about busyness takes the form of a complaint. He insults those who voluntarily take on obligations by remarking that they are obsessed with always being occupied. However, the basis for such a conclusion is founded on only a few examples of individuals who were negatively affected by the burden of work. In Kreider’s opinion it is wasteful to be busy all the time because life is too short to work more than 5 hours per day and not spend enough time in one’s happy place. What is your happy place? Picture it and stay there for a while letting your thoughts flow. Notice that your thinking becomes more positive and somewhat out of reach. Next, imagine a life with minimal stress that includes little to no work and much enjoyment; now you 're floating back to reality because that type of life is not in the grasps of most. Similarly, Kreider writes his article as if most people have plenty of time to waste, and to enjoy themselves, as he has. Kreider’s overall point that people keep themselves busy to escape the feelings of emptiness is both ignorant and a reflection of his narrow perspective of the world. His opinion that people feel apprehensive when not working, along with the fact that most people wouldn’t be content living the lifestyle Kreider is promoting, plus his support towards the propositions of full unemployment and a
Notwithstanding the self-centered connotation of my statement, I believe I have the best hobby in the world. There is, in a matter of fact, no other activity in which I show such devotement and passion as this one. If I could get paid for accomplishing it, I would be an impressively hardworking employee. Nevertheless, I would never feel like I would work. Literally. Because that is what my avocation is defined by, not working. To my mind, procrastinating is undoubtedly the most relaxing occupation ever created, since it simply consists in turning our backs to any labor, effort or responsibilities. However, its positive effects on one’s mind aren’t the only advantages it brings to a person. Actually, I can strongly state that it drastically improves one’s academics. In Gerald Graff’s article Hidden Intellectualism, the author explains how his passion, American football, has as well developed his intellect. He indeed describes it as “full of challenging arguments, debates, problems for analysis, and intricate statistics” (398). So how can procrastination as passion improve one’s work-ethics? Some advocates of early and well organized working would argue that procrastinating only leads to educational delay and that laziness is a vice that should be banned in our society. However, these romantic critics are too dogmatic in their provincial ideology. Procrastinating is extremely beneficial to our studies in a large variety of ways. To begin, it stimulates our imagination.
This essay by Jeff Jacoby illustrates an authors use of ironic sarcasm otherwise known as satire to defend and illustrate his platform on his position. Jacoby uses in this essay verbal irony (persuasion in the form of ridicule). In the irony of this sort there is a contrast between what is said and what is meant.
For example, the author discusses a ‘lite’ dog food and how the most positive part of the meal was that it didn’t make her fat (313). There is also a small amount of irony in the essay through the idea of a taste-testing going on, although it is not the pleasant experience of its connotation. The effect of this hilarity creates a stronger contrast between the subject of the essay and comedic tone of the writer.
“On Laziness” by Christopher Morley, is a contradictory essay written using an ironic diction. Morley shows how being lazy is a beneficial characteristic, and how the carefree lifestyle is theoretically improving the lives of many different people. He achieves this by using his style of irony and satire, which made the essay especially effective.
“He was finally free, but there was no joy in his heart. He thought there never would be again”. This quote stated by Elie Wiesel from his speech, “The Perils of Indifference”, refers to the day Elie Wiesel got liberated from the Holocaust when he was young. The Holocaust was just one of the many horrific tragedies that occurred during that century. In hopes of changing the future for the better, Wiesel decides to deliver a speech about helping the victims of injustice. He gives this speech intended for the President, Mrs. Clinton, members of Congress, Ambassador Holbrooke, Excellencies, and friends hoping that they will make positive changes for the future. By using rhetorical strategies such as anaphora, rhetorical questions, and ethos, Wiesel tries to help the victims of injustice and prevent future tragedies from happening.
Irony is used in many different types of texts for the purpose of teaching us a lesson. We experience irony in our lives through our own encounters as well as through texts and media. There are three types of irony: situational, verbal, and dramatic. Each type has a way of teaching us an important lesson, although some are more common than others. In the Poem “The Old Man’s Lazy” by Peter Blue Cloud, irony is used throughout the text, allowing us to learn from the characters’ mistakes.
This essay defends laziness. I love Morley’s use of irony and satire to get his underlying point across. It offers a perspective
The opportunities that NHS provides and would provide me if I was to be accepted are vast. NHS would provide me an extra element I would be able to add to my transcript to help me get into a university that I would like to join. I believe that if I were to join NHS it would greatly help me get into that college and that program. NHS would not only help me get into college but it would also recognize the effort I put into my school work and my sports. I have always taken the hardest and the most rigorous courses and excelled at them as well.
In Christopher Morley’s satirical piece, “On Laziness”, Morley attempts to convince his readers to take time for reflective thinking instead of just continuing through their effective, restless lives. He achieves this purpose through redefinition, irony, details, as well as his concrete assertions.
Morley begins his essay by mocking idle people and he acknowledges that he wouldn’t write the essay on laziness then he goes on to write the essay. Moreover, he uses irony to make fun of idle people and he begins with irony in an attempt to be humorous. Morley begins with ironic statement “to-day we rather intended to write an essay on Laziness but were too indolent to do so” (Morley, paragraph. 1). This warns the reader that he is too slothful to write an essay about being lazy. Based on his statement one would describe the tone is sarcastic because he is mocking laziness in the first paragraph. In the other hand, the author also uses ironic statements to ends his essay. Conversely, he says, “writing on this congenial topic has roused us up to quite a pitch of enthusiasm and
Morley supports his claims under a foundation of satire and exaggeration. At first glance, Morley’s whole essay may seem conceivable. Strange, but conceivable. His opening paragraph describes how he himself is a lazy individual and using this observation, presents the rest of his essay in the same sluggish manner. He insists that, “he intended to write an essay on laziness, but was too indolent to do so. The sort of thing we had in mind to write would have been exceedingly persuasive. We intended to discourse a little in favour of a greater appreciation of Indolence as a benign factor in human affairs.” Morley can be seen as a victim of the very thing he is presenting to his audience. He becomes a salesman
Though the way he uses irony is dark it is effective. It made people think more about their own lives and on the materialism in their world at that time. Incidentally, the essay leaves you with the thought of what the real effects of ownership and property are.