What do you really mean?

Satire, Irony and Social Commentary

Key Terms that are Easy to Confuse!!!• Satire• Irony• Sarcasm• Hyperbole• Understatement• Parody• Pun

Satire

• A form of literature that uses irony, sarcasm, parody, hyperbole and other methods of ridicule and humor to criticize human institutions and human folly

• The purpose of satire is usually reform

• The satirist wants not to destroy but to repair or improve humanity or human institutions

Irony

A figure of speech in which the actual intent is expressed in words that carry the opposite

meaning

Three Types of Irony

• Verbal – when what is said is the opposite of what is meant

• Situational – when the appearance of things is opposite to the reality

• Dramatic – when what a character says or thinks is not what the reader, audience or other characters knows to be true

Verbal Irony

Nicole’s boyfriend shows up in ripped up jeans and a stained t-shirt. With a smirk, she says, "Oh! I see you dressed up for our date. We must be going to a posh restaurant."

      

Situational Irony

Marielle is a contestant on Jeopardy. The final Jeopardy category is Music Theory. When given the answer, “This famous composer wrote Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony?”…she answers, “Who is Bach?” Sadly, Marielle loses all of her money.

Marielle’s poor performance on Jeopardy is Situational Irony, because the reality of the event/occurrence is much different from the appearance or what is typically expected. Since Marielle is a talented flutist, we would expect her to answer that question correctly.

Dramatic IronyWhen watching Jerry Springer, the audience knows that Kayla has been brought on the show to find out that her good friend Elly has been in a secret love affair with her boyfriend.. However, Kayla does not know that she is going to learn this harsh truth….she thinks she has won a free makeover! This dramatic irony adds to the suspense and humor of the show.

                             

Dramatic Irony

Have you ever seen a horror movie that has a killer on the loose? You, and the rest of the audience, know that the teenagers should not go walking in the woods late at night, but they think a midnight stroll would be romantic. Needless to say, the teens become the next victims.

Activity: With the people sitting near you, brainstorm an example

of each of these three types of irony. It can be something you have seen or read, or your own

unique example.

Sarcasm

• A bitter or cutting speech, intended to wound a person’s feelings. It comes from a Greek word meaning to tear flesh

• Sarcasm is an example of verbal irony (although verbal irony does not have to be sarcastic)

SarcasmNick’s mom comes into the TV room and discovers him watching South Park instead of practicing his speech, as he was sent to do a dozen minutes ago.  Pointing to the screen she says, "Don't let me tempt you from your duties, kiddo, but when you're finished with your serious studies there, maybe we could take some time out for recreation and rehearse your speech.”

Hyperbole (Overstatement)

A figure of speech that employs exaggeration in order to make the actual meaning of the

moment clearer

Hyperbole (Overstatement)Mrs. Morrison congratulates the class on successfully completing their persuasive speech. When she asks certain students how it went, Lauren says, “My speech was so great I could run for President of the United States!”

Yusef says, “I used more rhetorical devices than Aristotle!”

Corey says, “I was a rhetorical genius!”

Understatement

A figure of speech in which what is actually meant is expressed by lessening or negating

the full significance of the moment

UnderstatementMrs. Morrison hands out an assignment sheet for the Ultimate Speech Final, a 60 minute speech that must be memorized. When the students ask her if the final exam will be difficult she says, “Oh, it won’t be too bad.”

“Alyssa is not too bad at swimming."  ==> 

She's quite a good swimmer.

“Alex doesn’t have the world's neatest handwriting."  ==> 

He has pretty messy handwriting.

Parody

An imitation of the style of an author or work for comic effect and ridicule

Original Marlboro Ad

Parody

PUN: the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in

sound but different in meaning; a play on words

“Punny” ExamplesI wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.

He drove his expensive car into a tree and found out how the Mercedes bends.

To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

There was once a cross-eyed teacher who couldn't control his pupils.

When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.