Lesson Plan: Satire A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift What is satire? OED Definition A poem or (in later use) a novel, film, or other work of art which uses humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize prevailing immorality or foolishness, esp. as a form of social or political commentary. Frequently with on, of, against. In other words, satire is a way of making us realize how ridiculous human behavior can be, particularly with regard to specific issues. It can be more effective at times than simply pointing out the silliness, because... **Foolishness and Fault Satirical techniques and what they do Exaggeration proves how far it is from a rational standard of behavior i.e. a parody Irony deliberately describing things in such a way that they become different from the actual meaning describing silly things as though they are reasonable Juxtaposition and incongruity includes the shocking What makes satire effective? That it is on some level (truly, on some level) believable Alec Baldwin as Trump is as recognizable to the public as Trump himself A Modest Proposal (Ask how many people have actually read the assignment--likely not very many, and we might have to read it in class--if not, read an onion article) Political context--lots of people are writing treatises about how to solve real problems; Pope takes it upon himself to write a satirical treatise addressing a big problem (so, we already know he is satirizing the form, consider above) What is being satirized? Treatises Solutions that sound confident but are really silly The advantage the rich takes of the poor People's behavior to the poor and to each other Treatment of children The unfeelingness of the era The idea was suggested by Barbarians and is presented as reasonable--implies that conditions and inclinations in England are already barbaric Americans Catholics Take five minutes to look back through this document and find all the "truths" Pope presents hidden in the satire Look back at Exaggeration, Irony, Juxtaposition Assign each group a thing to look for Specific instances: Juxtaposition/Incongruity: placing something ridiculous next to something real as though they are equal: Top of page 5 "Thirdly...a new dish..." A good satire suggests a real solution to the problem: The real solutions on page 6, beginning "Therefore" End with that last line--key information. Satire Packet New Yorker Cartoons Headlines from The Onion: Idiotic Tree Keeps Trying to Plant Seeds on Sidewalk CIA Realizes It's Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years Public Outraged As Price of Fast-Depleting, Non-Renewable Resource Skyrockets Child Bankrupts Make-A-Wish Foundation with Wish for Unlimited Wishes World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100 Percent Desperate Vegetarians Declare Cows Plants Scissors Defeats Rock Full Onion Articles: https://www.theonion.com/pope-francis-considering-female-deacons-1819563236 https://www.theonion.com/historians-reveal-thousands-of-immigrants-were-forced-t1830711903 https://politics.theonion.com/betsy-devos-argues-issue-of-guns-in-schools-should-be-f1823702688 SNL Skits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAG37Kw1-aw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP025m9-orE
