Description
The purpose of satire is to criticize something of which the writer disapproves, usually in hopes of
bringing about a change. Satire criticizes by saying what it doesn’t mean or by saying much more
than it means. It blends a critical attitude with humor and wit. Usually, modern satire attacks a
group, an abstraction, an injustice, or a prejudice. What is the advantage of using satire instead
of criticizing a situation or problem head-on and straightforwardly? The main advantage to using
the satirical approach is that it grabs attention and provokes thought. And it is fun. Everyone
hates to be preached at; everyone enjoys a nice “mind game.”
How does satire work? By reducing to the ridiculous whatever it chooses to attack in one or more
of these ways:
1. It may grossly exaggerate (as Orwell does in 1984 by taking totalitarian control
beyond its 1949 level).
2. It may playfully reverse the facts (as Swift does in the fourth book of Gulliver’s
Travels, when men (the Yahoos) are beasts and horses (the Houyhnhnms) are
intelligent, rational, and virtuous creatures).
3. It may transfer the situation to a different area where its ridiculousness will be more
apparent (as a writer annoyed by excesses of time and motion studies in a
government bureau once did when he applied the same principles of the efficiency
experts to the equipment and conduct of a symphony orchestra)