Week 1 Assignment
We can assume that most satirical pieces of work employ the use of irony, sarcasm, as well as exaggeration. These strategies are used to prove the speaker’s argument or point of view on a certain controversial subject, such as Ken Byron’s view on homosexual marriage. Byron used examples from his everyday life to show his annoyance and disgust towards this idea of homosexual marriage. And Johnathan Swift used examples from his everyday life as well, and also exaggerated the circumstances of poor children and their parents. Both of these essays are sarcastic and contain irony in order to fulfill the purpose of persuasion and getting people to understand and agree upon the speaker’s point of view. In both of these pieces the speaker’s convey tones of annoyance and disgust that are used to show the extreme feelings that many people may have towards a subject, and this is done to both exaggerate and encourage people to change their lifestyles. As for the context found in most pieces of satire, it is assumed that most of the subject matter is controversial and is being written because it is a controversial topic, such as gay marriage and children being burdens. Stylistically, it can be assumed that most satirical pieces of work will be in the form of an essay or letter, such as these two here so that the speaker can directly identify and audience. Moreover, the purpose of satire is to point out a wrong in society through the use of irony, sarcasm, and exaggerations with the hope of a change to occur.
Authors have chosen this type of communicative act because it is much more effective than coming right out and saying, “You are wrong.” It instead works to show why a person has a deficiency while at the still time showing great amounts of wit and sarcasm, in order to change society in some way. It makes the author look more intelligent as well as making them more persuasive. Also, with most of the satirical pieces being either poems or letters, this...