Guest Blogger: Nishant N.

So far, during the third quarter of our AP Lit course, we have covered satire. More specifically, we have been identifying different types and reading many examples, including articles from "The Onion," Candide, and most recently Rape of the Locke. In this blog post I thoought I would share some thoughts on Rape f the Lock. First, however, I think it would be appropriate to look at the format of the poem.

Rape of the Lock is a satire that utilizes mock-epic style poetry. Mock-epics are high burlesque, taking trivial subjects in a serious manner. Rape of the Lock displays several of the common characteristics of epics. The poem takes a long time to describe all of her hair-care products, or her warfare. It also gives a history of the hairpin, which has been passed down from generation to genertion in Belinda's family. The rest of the characteristics the story has are a dream warning, supernatural forces, guardianship of protagonist, hero, setting, action, and style.

Although this poem is centered around Belinda's hair, the poem actually takes shots at the aristocratic society. This is evident just from the description of Belinda's life. She gets up at around noon everyday, spends a long time on her appearance, then proceeds to the court to play cards; this is the life a useless person who contributes nothing to society. It is interesting that he also attacks the queen, a figure of the highest authority. It makes me wonder what sort of changes Pope was trying to bring about. Was he trying to get the nobles to become more active? Perhaps he was trying to eliminate the entire aristocratic society? It is a bit of a stretch, but could Pope be an early advocate of Socailism? All of these questions came up in my mind while I was reading; I seemed unable to come up with an answer I was satisfied with. Perhaps a bright peer could enlighten me.

Symposium Wrap-up

Final burning thoughts you didn't get a chance to speak to during the symposium? Here's your opportunity; make it good!

Guest Blogger: Brian R.

For the past week or so we have been reading Candide, by Voltaire, which is a book that is short in length, but brings forth a long list of philosophical arguments. It is a novel that makes us consider, among other things, whether or not life is even worth living. It also is a perfect example of Menippean satire, and attempts to indirectly target optimism and epicurean philosophy using techniques like caricature, with Candide, and irony, such as when the only time Candide can actually marry Cunegonde is when she is an ugly witch, and through these techniques he aims to change the readers’ view on sources of evil and philosophy. So there you have it, I made a genius statement, now let’s move past that “obstacle” move to deeper better things.

First I would like to analyze how Candide is a perfect example of Menippean satire. The novel is most certainly chaotic, and seems to criticize everything, all elements of Menippean satire. To begin with, the narrative pace is ridiculously fast. In the first five chapters, Candide is forced to leave his hometown, is attacked and tortured by Bulgars, escapes the Bulgars having been whipped 2000 times, and sets sail to Portugal, where a historic earthquake kills thousands and his mentor, Dr. Pangloss, is hanged. The pace moves so quickly that it seems like Candide’s entire life is full of chaos and disorder, which indeed it is. Also, the novel criticizes a whole lot of things in society, as opposed to other forms of satire, where only one thing is targeted. Voltaire attacks philosophy, religion, government, optimism, and love, just to name a few. Essentially, the novel is a perfect example of Menippean satire because of its crazy, helter-skelter style of demeaning the main elements of everyday life.

Reading Candide also made me wonder what view on philosophy Voltaire himself held. In the novel, he criticizes Epicurean, Manichean, and Monotheistic philosophy. Personally I think that Voltaire has an eclectic and mixed viewpoint on the world. He clearly despises the ideas brought forth in the Epicurean way of thought, since most of Candide is spent attacking those beliefs. He also criticizes complete pessimism, in the character of Martin, who is very unhappy with his life even though he seems to have more of a grasp on the concept of the source of evil. I think that Voltaire is fairly Monotheistic, but he certainly is willing to attack organized religion. He seems to believe that when we worry about philosophy, unfortunate things happen to us. Of course, he does right a book on philosophy, so that wouldn’t seem to be very logical. I think though that he wanted us to see how silly it is to worry about the sources of evil, to accept that evil is in our lives, and move on. At the end, when Candide is happiest forgetting about philosophy and working in the garden I think reinforces this theory.

Overall, the novel Candide is a biting criticism of the world Voltaire lived in. It is chaotic, ironic, and very deeply philosophical.

Fans of Kristen Chenowith might recognize her from this production photo on Leonard Bernstein's opera of Candide (she's Cunegonde, that's the simpleton Candide with her). Can you tell who's going to come bursting on stage in the next few seconds?

Guest Blogger: Asel K.

Asel Kul.

There are three different types of beliefs when it comes to the question "where does evil come from?"; epicurus, manichean, and monotheist. epicurus is the belief that god is benevolent and omnipitent and all is for the best. Humans cannot critisise god or god's plan nor can they fully understand his greater work. Alexander Pope wrote "An Essay On Man" with this belief, writting about how humans have their place in the world and that every missfortune happens for a reason, for the greater good. The second belief is manechean, also known as dualism, which is focused on the idea that good and evil are fighting an eternal battle with no ending. The idea of the yin-yang harmony, that there's a little bit of good in evil and a little bit of evil in good. The third reasoning is monothist a belief that there is a powerfull God but humans have free will and are able to make their own decisions. We haven't come across manichean yet, but we have read epicurus and monotheist works.

Right now we are reading Candide by Voltaire, a story about a young man's adventures through a missfortune filled life. Voltaire satarises Pope's Essay on Man by compressing every possible horrible phenominom into Candide's life and by including the character Pangloss who is an epicurus pholosopher. Pangloss believes that all missfortunes happen for a better world "all is for the best. For if there's a volcano at lisbon, it couldn't be anywhere else. For it's impossible for things not to be where they are. For all is well" (pg 30). At the beginning of the story, Candide innocently believes Pangloss and the idea that everything is for the greater good, but throughout the book the monothist belief is introdused through other characters and their own personal stories. After Cunegonde told Candide of her missfortunes since the attack of the Bulgars, she said that she no longer believed in Pangloss' theory that everything is for the better world. This put even more doubt into the philosopher's theory because when voyaging to the new world, Candide says "We're going to another world, it must be the one in which all is well" (pg 41). Candide no longer accepts the world given to him in Europe and believes that he can find a better one in the Americas, therefore using free will and transitioning from epicurus to monotheist.

Guest Blogger: Kristine Brown

This week in AP Lit we started the semester by learning about satire. There is so much more to satire than simply being funny. Satire by definition is a literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit. Unlike literature, which aims to instruct and please, satire aims to improve humanity and/or society. There are five parts to satire: target, type, approach, technique, and aim.

The targets of satire can be a place, person, type of person, or society and/or institutions. There are two main types of satire: horation and juvenalian. Horation is gentle, funny, and makes the audience realize how silly the problem being presented is. On the other hand, juvenalian is angry and arouses moral indignation through bitter attacks.

The types of satire are direct, the satirist speaks out directly against the target, or indirect, narratives which the characters make themselves look silly.
There are several techniques used in satire. High burlesque is when a trivial subject is treated in a very serious matter and low burlesque is when a serious subject is treated in a comic manner. Parody is a close imitation of a specific style and/or approach. Parody is not always satire. Caricature is the exaggeration of prominent features in a flat character and a lampoon is round character which ridicules itself. Other techniques include irony, litotes, hyperbole, song, poem, etc…

Finally, the aim of satire is to bring about change and improve the world. When analyzing a piece of satire, one must find the specific aim of the piece.
Now, apply the five parts of satire.

The Diet That Works

Range Rover Rachel is preparing to pray
She checks her mascara, her hair seems okay
She assembles her prayer-stool, it's upholstered with wool
Her brown shiny knees won't become at all dull

Places prayer stool on carpet, it was made in Iran
Many coloured but subtle, won't compete with her tan
You can buy them mail-order, or online from Habitat
She prays for her midriff - three ounces of puppyfat

''Kensington, Atkins, high protein or none?
I've tried every diet but the lard hasn't gone
I've bought special devices, focus workout on tummies
I've tried to stop eating by sucking at dummies.''

Didn't expect an answer, but a vision she's seeing
Thank God for body-hugging, guaranteed panty-line free, super-absorbent undies, Rachel fears she is peeing
''YOU WONDER,'' says God, ''WHICH SCHEME MAKES YOU THINNER?
THE HUNGRY AND HOMELESS - INVITE THEM TO DINNER.''
Copyright Peter Fairbrother

Next, identify the five parts.
Target: people obsessed with their appearance
Type: Juvenalian- author’s tone and God’s remark is bitter
Approach: Indirect- the target is never stated
Techniques: Irony- Rachel worries about three pounds while there are homeless, starving people. Caricature- Rachel’s obsession on her appearance is exaggerated
Aim: to show people they should stop worrying about their appearance and focus on serious problems such as world hunger .

Finally, use this information to create a GENIUS statement like:
This juvenalian piece of satire uses irony, poetry, and caricature to indirectly target people obsessed with their appearances to show people they should stop worrying about their appearance and focus on serious problems such as world hunger.
Using the five aspects of satire, you can analyze a piece of satire and understand its full meaning.

Guest Blogger: Senia Lee

For week 2 of 3rd quarter, satire is a literary art of ridicule we have been working on. We have talked about the different targets such as a place, person, type of person, society and/or its institutions. For example, the United States, Obama, picky eaters, and school. Also there are the types of Satire which include Horatian (Amused satirist that tries to bring a smile to the audience while helping them realize how silly they are), Juvenalian (Angry satirist who tires to arouse a moral indignation through bitter attacks), and Menippean (a chaotic, broad satire); which we have not worked on as much. We also talked about the approach whether the satire is direct or indirect. To help strengthen the satire, techniques such as Irony (verbal, situational, dramatic), Burlesque (either high or low), Parody, Caricature, and more, are displayed. In some cases, the aim of a satire is something I actually have a hard time figuring out from the other five components; probably because of confusing it with theme; in which it gives the idea about life that is revealed in a work of literature rather than how it is to bring about change to improve the world. We defined literature to instruct and please while a satire aims to improve humanity/human society.
We are starting to read Candide by Voltaire. Candide is being taught by a philosopher, Pangloss, who represents a early philosopher, Gottfried Leibniz. He preached about the importance of “optimism” that everything is for the best and that they are in the best of all possible worlds. It's is as though Voltaire has made an indirect attack in his satire against Leibniz's philosophy. We talked about how his simplicity leads him to some misfortune. “The next day, as they were leaving the table after dinner, Cunegonde and Candide found themselves behind a screen. She dropped her handkerchief, he picked it up; she innocently took his hand, and he innocently kissed hers with extraordinary animation, ardor and grace; their lips met, their eyes flashed, their knees trembled, their hands wandered. Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh happed to pass by the scree; seeing this cause and effect , he drove Candide from the castle with vigorous kicks in the backside” (Voltaire 19). From this, Candids act of simply love struck or act of foolishness in the Baron's matter, lead him to be kicked out of the castle. This part/paragraph of Candide's actions seems to be told in a more slower narrator pace rather than what happened after he got kicked out; it is perceived that his walk from the castle to his next location is shorter than is “simple actions” that lead to a misfortune. Other misfortunes such as beatings and syphilis are taking place while he still believes in his mind of belonging to the “best of all possible worlds”. So is he still saying that everything is for the best, even though he stumbles across trouble?

Satire Assignment

Find an example of satire. Post the link and a genius statement. 5 points.