I've been blogging about how to write in a more literary fashion. One kind of literature that has existed as long as literature has, back to Greek plays and possibly beyond, is satire. Satire is comedy, but it's not just that. It's a way to make a statement about something going on in the world in a way that engages the reader through humor. It twists an image of society like a funhouse mirror twists one's image when one looks inside. Satire is a useful literary device that should be used wisely.
As with Shakespeare's clowns and modern comedians, purveyors of humor can tell truths that others either don't notice or choose to overlook. According to Merriam-Webster's definition, "A satire is a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn." Shakespeare's clowns say what others don't dare, mocking the members of regular society, from the royals to the peasants. These clowns stand outside regular society and hold up a mirror to society to show, "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool" (As You Like It, Act V scene i). Satirists exaggerate events and characters to inspire laughter, which makes people feel and opens hearts and minds to a new perspective.
Satire takes something from the world and twists it until it's a ridiculous and extreme version, like a funhouse mirror flips, enlarges, and twists the images of children looking inside. There are many literary satires including Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest, Swift's Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, and Tale of a Tub, and Orwell's Animal Farm. These satirists make people laugh at themselves and their culture. The Importance of Being Earnest takes the upper crust of British society of the 19th Century and makes it ridiculously self-indulgent and narcissistic. Gulliver's Travels mocks the intellectuals as well as the uneducated. Tale of a Tub mocks religions as well as academic writing through an extended allegory. A Modest Proposal sends up the racism of the British for the Irish and transforms it into shock over suggestions of cannibalism as a solution. Animal Farm roasts the Russian Revolution of 1917, showing it as the transition as one form of tyranny for another. All of these use humor and extremes to illustrate issues with society.
In order to craft a satire, one needs to first look around at the world and find something that is causing a problem, something that needs to be exposed. Then, push it to its humorous extreme through a story. If you see a problem with your school, your town, or anything else, you could find a way to twist it and turn it into an over-the-top version of itself to communicate a message. What could you do with satire?
