Satire

Often, writers want to expose to us an issue that they think is morally unacceptable in our society. There are many methods they can use, including: threats of punishment, stern moral lectures, persuasion, and satire. Satire tries to take a clever and humorous approach to bring about reform in society. It can be found in any form of media, including: literature, artwork, music, television, movies, and theatre. Satire is effective because it exposed ridiculous elements of society, but does so comically without directly offending anyone. Satirical writers often make light of something serious, exaggerate, something trivial, use unclear (dual) meanings, and make sarcastic statements. Huck Finn and An Honest Proposal are two great examples of satirical writings.

Mark Twain uses many satirical tools in his writing to get his point across. Throughout the play you get a sense of playfulness and adventure on Huck and Jim's raft ride down the river.

The cover of the first edition of Adventures of Hu...

Illustration of Jim and Huckleberry Finn, by EW Ke...

mark twain Category:Mark Twain images

This is a huge understatement of the situation, in that Jim is facing a life or death situation. The feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons is satirical because it lets us see how many times we do things only because it's how it has always been done.

An Honest Proposal is a satirical literary work about how to solve the famine problem. His solution is basically to eat the children. His proposal is obviously sarcastic, but it addresses a problem in an eye catching way. For many people this type of writing is much more effective than a lecture, boring persuasion, etc.

Satire encourages people to think again about themselves and their beliefs. Most importantly it shows people their own flaws from a safe distance. People feel removed enough from the literature that they feel as tough they are in on the joke, rather than the butt of...