Satire, Allegory, and FableAnimal Farm

Satire Although satire is

usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon and as a tool to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society.

Satire is a genre of literature (and sometimes graphic and performing arts) in which issues, concerns, and shortcomings are ridiculed, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, and society itself, into improvement.

Examples of SatirePolitical Cartoons

http://www.cagle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/day-gun-control.jpg

http://paulocoelhoblog.com/images/image-of-the-day/Borgman.jpg

http://viz.cwrl.utexas.edu/files/LoweDADT.gif

Memes/Imgur (and to a lesser extent Reddit…I guess)

http://imgur.com/gallery/8PemBxO

http://imgur.com/gallery/xz9G0IL

SNL’s Weekend Update

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YPHvBKaGGQ

http://actualfunnypictures.com/category/funny-television-pictures/ http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

The Daily Show & The Colbert Report

http://t.qkme.me/3qadpu.jpg http://t.qkme.me/3tmc6o.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJJEPYCgkQo

IronyExpressing meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Stop_Defacing_Signs.jpg

Allegory A story, poem, or

picture which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3iXy-I2PEg

http://www.utopiaanddystopia.com/images/utopiaanddystopia/Animal_Farm.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZcuZan6hXEY/TM_QDsRs99I/AAAAAAAACRY/HQWnVzVKUNw/s1600/1.jpg

Fable

Fable is a literary genre. Fables feature animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities such as verbal communication), and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be stated directly.

http://aesop.magde.info/images/DDailyIllustr.jpg

The Goose with the Golden EggsOne day a countryman going to the nest of his Goose found there an egg all yellow and glittering. When he took it up it was as heavy as lead and he was going to throw it away, because he thought a trick had been played upon him. But he took it home on second thoughts, and soon found to his delight that it was an egg of pure gold. Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon became rich by selling his eggs. As he grew rich he grew greedy; and thinking to get at once all the gold the Goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find nothing.

The Dog and the ShadowIt happened that a Dog had got a piece of meat and was carrying it home in his mouth to eat it in peace. Now on his way home he had to cross a plank lying across a running brook. As he crossed, he looked down and saw his own shadow reflected in the water beneath. Thinking it was another dog with another piece of meat, he made up his mind to have that also. So he made a snap at the shadow in the water, but as he opened his mouth the piece of meat fell out, dropped into the water and was never seen more.

The Trees and the AxeA Man came into a forest, and made a petition to the Trees to provide him a handle for his axe. The Trees consented to his request, and gave him a young ash-tree. No sooner had the man fitted from it a new handle to his axe, than he began to use it, and quickly felled with his strokes the noblest giants of the forest. An old oak, lamenting when too late the destruction of his companions, said to a neighboring cedar: "The first step has lost us all. If we had not given up the rights of the ash, we might yet have retained our own privileges and have stood for ages."

Relevance to Animal FarmAnimal Farm is part satire, part allegory, and part fable. Keep these terms and genres in mind as we begin to read the novel over the coming two weeks.