Satire-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
Let's
face it. A large majority of us, myself included, do not undertand satire
at first glance (or second or third or fourth glance). Although difficult,
satire is used in our everyday lives, and can be very effective in opening
people's eyes about different themes. That is, if they understand
it.
I'll admit, satire is a very effective literary device to use if you want to get an important message across. But it also can create some problems. Let's take the articleNewest GOP Attack on Women: Just Say No To Tampons that was posted just before the 2012 presidential election. The article was posted on the website freewoodpost.com, a website known for satire. The article says that Governor Romney was looking to ban tampons. He is even quoted to have said, "It is unnatural for a woman to insert a foreign object into her body for the sake of stopping the menstrual flow. I, as well as several others seek to eliminate the sales of such objects. Women should let nature take care of itself the way that our Almighty Creator intended." Now, this seems like an impossible task, but many American took this to be true. Twitter blew up with tweets from people such as "Hey Romney why don't you sit in your own blood and filth for a few hours and tell me why tampons should be illegal" and "if romney bans tampons i will menstruate on his face" just to name a few. Although it would have been very interesting twist to the presidential debate, this article was published mainly to criticize how absurd Romney's "war against women" was.
I'll admit, satire is a very effective literary device to use if you want to get an important message across. But it also can create some problems. Let's take the articleNewest GOP Attack on Women: Just Say No To Tampons that was posted just before the 2012 presidential election. The article was posted on the website freewoodpost.com, a website known for satire. The article says that Governor Romney was looking to ban tampons. He is even quoted to have said, "It is unnatural for a woman to insert a foreign object into her body for the sake of stopping the menstrual flow. I, as well as several others seek to eliminate the sales of such objects. Women should let nature take care of itself the way that our Almighty Creator intended." Now, this seems like an impossible task, but many American took this to be true. Twitter blew up with tweets from people such as "Hey Romney why don't you sit in your own blood and filth for a few hours and tell me why tampons should be illegal" and "if romney bans tampons i will menstruate on his face" just to name a few. Although it would have been very interesting twist to the presidential debate, this article was published mainly to criticize how absurd Romney's "war against women" was.
Another example of Satire in our everyday lives is the novel The
Hunger Games. Unbeknownst to many, The Hunger Games is
not just a story about teenagers fighting to the death. It also has a
deeper message that is enhanced by the author, Suzanne Collins', use of satire.
The novel dives into the corruptness and over-extravagant lifestyles of
those who live in Hollywood, which parallels life in the Capital. The
novel also criticizes how controlling the US government is with it's
portrayal of the gamekeepers. Those who don't live in the Capital and aren't
Gamekeepers are seen as being so unworthy that they must be possibly
chosen to fight to death. Suzanne Collins' satirization of modern society
is very accurate, and has really opened the eyes of many. Yet still some people
don't understand the satire in the novel, and more or less think that the
novel's purpose is to promote fighting as entertainment. A mother
criticized a school for allowing students to read the nove,saying , “Twenty-four children are
pitted in a life-or-death struggle with each other. The reason? Entertainment.
That’s sick….You guys don’t want Columbine, but you’re putting forth material
that will totally desensitize the children to murdering other children." Clearly
this woman did not understand the satire in the novel, and the lessons that
could be taught from reading the book.
The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is well known for having satire throughout it. Mark Twain,
being the literary genius that he was, knew that he had to creatively critique
society without offending anyone, so he turned to satire. After all, he
probably knew that most people would not understand that their society was
really being made fun of, and he would still be able to talk about
sensitive subjects such as slavery and racism. From the very beginning of
the novel, Twain satirizes how corrupt Christian society is by
including Miss. Watson. Although she is supposed to be a good Christian
by treating other's the way that she would want to be treated, she owns slaves.
He also uses satire when the Granderfords and the Shepardsons are
introduced. The families are fighting to the death over nothing.
This criticizes how irrational people of society can be when
they get angry. Again Twain uses satire with Tom Sawyer, who always talking
about murdering and killing people like real robbers, but ends up just
pretending. This is bringing up the fact that many times people say that
they are going to do something, but are too coward to do anything. Through
these uses of satire, Twain is able to get his point across about society while
still being witty creating a well developed plot.
I think that we can all agree that satire extremely difficult
to understand. It is often misinterpreted or just simply
overlooked. However, when used correctly, satire is extremely effective
in criticizing society in a humorous and funny way.
Although satire is difficult to understand, our lives are way
more difficult as seen by this extremely accurate video!
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