Satire

Satire


Satire is a literary term which uses sarcasm or the denouncing of human vice and folly. Satire is used practically everywhere, as an example of criticism. A good example of satire is Taylor Mali's, "The impotence of Proofreading". From the very title, one can spot the satire. In the paper, Mali discusses the importance of proofreading ones work, and how people rely spellcheckers to correct mistakes. In his first paragraph, a number of errors are obvious, "You work very horde on a paper for English clash And then get a very glow raid (like a D or even a D=)". The satire comes into play when he states that he purchased a spellchecker and now uses it on his work. Although he has a spellchecker, and puts it to use, "So I got myself a spell checker and figured I was on Sleazy Street. But there are several missed aches that a spell chukker canąt canąt catch catch.", the amount of mistakes in the paper, and failed job of his spell checker, does not hide the fact of his inability to spell. "Massive Flow of Bullshit Continues to Gush from BP headquarters", is an article from the Onion which talks of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "As the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico entered its eighth week Wednesday, fears continued to grow that the massive flow of bullshit still gushing from the headquarters of oil giant BP could prove catastrophic if nothing is done to contain it.", the satirical remark of referring to the oil spill as "bullshit" explains the Onion's feeling towards this crisis. They believe the government is not doing the best they can, treating the situation as a minor problem for the nation, and must face the facts, by trying a lot harder than what they're presently doing. By criticizing the government, "We're looking at a truly staggering load of shit here," said Rebecca Palmer, an environmental scientist at the University of Georgia, who claimed that only BP has the ability to stem the flow of bullshit and plug it at its source. "And this is just the beginning—we're only seeing the surface level bullshit. It could be years before we sift through it all and figure out just how deep this bullshit goes." and poking enough fun at them, they hope to push the government enough, forcing them to correct a problem they caused.

Mark Twain's, "Advice to Youth", includes six points which Twain believed youth should follow. The six points consist of obeying ones parents, being respectful to superiors, going to bed early, the good and bad of lying, handling firearms, and the selection of books. As he goes about explaining each point in detail, the satire is more than obvious. When it came to obeying parents, Twain stated one should obey them only when around, "Always obey your parents, when they are present", by only listening to parents when under their watch, the youth feeds the parents' belief of "knowing better" and gets a kick out of it, when they're away from parents doing as they wish, as if tricking parents. As to being respectful to superiors, Twain suggest that one should respect others, even if a stranger. Now if this, or any, person offends you, you are allowed to get even and hit them, "simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick". If the person did not attend to offend you, then you may apologize, but try your best to avoid violence. Satirical it is, how Twain tells youth to avoid violence, and yet allows them to throw bricks at anyone who offends you purposely. Going to bed early, and waking up early is another piece of advice Twain gives. Larks are the little brown birds, in which their chirps are the first thing we hear every morning. They're up with the sunrise, and people usually look


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© Dariles Castillo 2010