Why is satire used in literature

Satire is a literary device for the artful ridicule of a folly or vice as a means of exposing or correcting it. Satire utilizes tones of amusement, contempt, scorn, or indignation towards a flawed subject with the hope of creating awareness and subsequent change. For example, one of the most well-known satirical literary works is brave new world by Aldous Huxley.

This includes religion, monogamy, social equality, and the blessing of childbirth. In the novel, these conventions and institutions are turned upside down such that the characters embrace drug culture, social class separation, casual sex, and governmental control. Huxley satirizes contemporary society in order to expose for the reader its arbitrary and often hypocritical moral structures. Many common forms of media, art, and entertainment reflect satire, including movies, magazines, newspapers, novels, poetry, short fiction , drama , and even visual art.

Satire can be overt or subtle, but it is prevalent throughout history and in popular culture. Here are some common and familiar examples of satire:. Many television programs are based in satire. They appeal to audiences with their combination of scrutiny, humor , and criticism of politics, popular culture, social conventions, human nature, media, and even television itself. Here are some examples of satirical television programs:. One way to get a better understanding of the craft, purpose, and effect of satire is through the words of satirists themselves.

Juvenalian satire tends to be more bitter and dark, expressing anger and outrage at the state of the world. A famous example of Juvenalian satire is by another eighteenth-century writer, Jonathan Swift. A Modest Proposal is a prose pamphlet that initially appears to be a serious, well-intentioned attempt to suggest a solution to what was a major problem at the time: the impoverished state of Ireland, due in no small part to absentee English landlords who owned a lot of Irish land but re-invested very little of their profits back into the Irish economy.

A Modest Proposal is thus an angry denunciation, not just of the rapaciousness of the English landlords and their lack of care for their Irish tenants, but also of the kind of bureaucratic mindset that becomes so enamored with its own problem-solving that it forgets that real humans will be affected by its plans.

A modern example of Juvenalian satire would be the parodies of contemporary advertising done by groups like Adbusters, in which they peel away the shiny veneer of advertising to show the heartless greed that lies underneath most corporate capitalism.

Menippean satire is reserved for prose works that still resemble the original connotation of satire as a miscellany, or containing multitudes. While technically the life story of the eponymous narrator, the novel is far less interested in any kind of linear plot than in accumulating incidents, characters, and materials that gently mock and comment on the absurdities of what was then modern life and love.

Regardless of which type of satire is being deployed, it must take aim at a target that is larger or more powerful than the author. Otherwise, instead of satire we have mere cruelty or bullying. It is distinguished from Horatian satire by the more hostile tone it takes towards its subjects. For this reason, it's often used in more serious political writing. George Orwell's Animal Farm is a Juvenalian satire that isn't particularly funny. It ridicules communist governments for their total lack of equality.

Though Alec Baldwin's portrayal of President Trump on Saturday Night Live can have its lighter moments, the bulk of his satire pointedly criticizes Trump, perhaps with the intent of shaming the president into altering his course or of mobilizing citizens to work against Trump's goals and policies.

Menippean satire is less common than Juvenalian or Horatian satire, though it's the oldest type of satire. Menippean satires target mindsets or worldviews instead of targeting specific people. There is considerable overlap between Horatian and Menippean satire, since both often target people's stupidity or vices rather than targeting specific people, though the tone of Menippean satire is often harsher, like Juvenalian satire.

Literary Devices Used in Satire Satire often depends on other literary devices to help it achieve its effect. Verbal irony refers to the use of words to express something other than their literal meaning. This type of irony depends on a disconnect between what is said and what is meant or what is true—so satirists often use irony to suggest that a speaker is too much of a fool to understand a situation or, worse, a liar.

Imagine if a public official told a group of citizens, "There's nothing to worry about! This would make for an effective satire of a government's careless response to a natural disaster.

An anachronism is a person or thing that belongs to a time period other than the one during which a piece of writing is set. Satirists might use anachronism to demonstrate how out of touch a subject is with his or her society. For example, if the same public official in the example above told a 21st-century crowd not to worry because steamboats would come to rescue them, readers would understand that the implication was that officials were either too incompetent or too clueless to resolve the problem.

Parody is the imitation of a literary style for humorous effect. Satirical authors use parody to attack literary conventions and traditional forms of rhetoric, often by exaggerating the key characteristics of the genre until they seem ridiculous or nonsensical. For example, in the prologue to Miguel de Cervantes' classic novel, Don Quixote , Cervantes satirizes the pompous literary conventions in his contemporary Spain by creating his own over-the-top imitations of the elaborate poems that other authors commonly cited in the prologues to their works.

Other writers of the time cited such poems to impress readers and project a sense of authority, but Cervantes' parodies make clear that those other writers are merely pretentious and ridiculous. Understatement is downplaying something's size, significance, or quality. This device is useful to satirists because, like irony, it can often be used to portray a speaker as deceptive or foolish.

If a politician understates the severity of his or her actions e. Overstatement is the exaggeration of something's size, significance, or quality. This device can also be used to underscore a speaker's shaky grasp on the reality of any given situation. A politician might overstate the extent of his or her achievements "This was the best bill ever passed" , so satirists use the device to expose the disconnect between what someone says and the reality of the situation.

Juxtaposition is a literary device in which an author places two things next to each other to highlight the contrast between them. In satirical writing, juxtaposition is especially effective when the combination is unexpected. Grahame-Smith could be said to be using juxtaposition to satirize either the propriety of Bennet's society, the ubiquity of zombies in American popular culture, or both.

Malapropism is the humorous and usually unintentional use of a word in the place of a similar-sounding one. Because these speech errors have the potential to be embarrassing, satirists may portray people as fools by giving them malapropistic lines. Satire Examples You can find examples of satire in most art forms, because artists who are critical of their societies may wish to bring about reform or simply to entertain their audiences by mocking familiar people or institutions.

Satire in Literature There has been a long tradition of satirical novels that criticize and poke fun at all aspects of both society and humanity more generally. Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels In this example from Chapter Four of Gulliver's Travels , Swift satirizes the historically troubled relationship between Catholics and Protestants in England, recreating the conflict as a battle over the correct way to eat eggs: It began upon the following Occasion.

Additional Works of Satire in Literature Some additional famous satirical works of literature, and their targets, are: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Pre-civil-war Southern society, in particular its racism American Psycho Consumer capitalist American society of the s Animal Farm Communist in general and the Soviet Union in particular Arms and the Man Romantic ideals, particularly about love and war Candide Every powerful institution, from the Church to the military, of 18th century Europe Catch The U.

Ssome famous satirical movies and their targets are: Dr. Military Satire in Political Cartoons For centuries, cartoonists have used satire to raise awareness of political issues and to belittle people in positions of power. Satire in James Gillray's The Plumb-pudding in Danger Published in , this cartoon depicts the French emperor and British prime minister battling for bigger portions of a globe-shaped dessert. Writers can use satire for a variety of reasons: To bring attention to issues that might otherwise be overlooked.

To advocate for social reform. To provide insight into human weaknesses. To amuse readers by bringing powerful figures down a notch. To invite readers to reflect on their own weaknesses and shortcomings.

To mock literary or stylistic conventions. To make light of, or quell anxiety about, unpleasant situations by making them fun. Other Helpful Satire Resources The Wikipedia Page on Satire: A discussion of satire that focuses primarily on the genre's classical origins and role in politics. Canyon Crest Academy's List of Satire and Satirical Devices: Though some of the devices aren't fully fleshed out, this is a concise list of the most common literary devices used in satirical writing.

Culture Trip's List of The 15 Most Influential Political Cartoons of All Time: While Culture Trip doesn't specifically refer to these cartoons as satire, that's what many of these political cartoons are — the cartoons make light of public figures or societal norms.

List of Satirical Novels: An extensive list of satirical novels from Wikipedia.