AP Language and Composition Name _______________________ Date ______
Mr. McKnight
Satire: Homework Assignment
Satire is in fact a variable and pervasive idiom or mood of criticism or censure, designed to reform or damage somebody or some group of people. It usually has some target. The most noticeable means to this end is the exercise or attempt to provoke humor in some form. The provocation of satiric laughter is, in short, never innocent. To laugh with a satirist is to laugh against someone else in some way. – Source Unknown
1. View 15-20 minutes of television that is likely to contain satire. Streaming video clips of many shows are available through Hulu, YouTube, and network sites (such as Comedy Central); select SNL skits are also available on the NBC website.
2. Write a thorough, detailed paragraph response, in which you address the following questions:
Describe the example and then explain how it is satirical. That is, what individual, group, institution, or human characteristic is being ridiculed or scorned? Why? how does the example make this ridicule clear or expose this folly? Identify specific techniques that are used, with examples. If it is a parody, what is being parodied, and how? What is the tone of the satire—is it more Horatian or Juvenalian? Is there an implied reform? Is the satire effective?