Satire and Social Critique Flashcards

Grade 12 · English · Flashcards

12 flashcards on satirical techniques, key texts, and the vocabulary of social critique in literature.

Flashcards

Satire: Use of humor, irony, and exaggeration to expose and criticize human folly and societal corruption.
Irony: A contrast between what is said and what is meant, or between appearance and reality.
Hyperbole: Extreme exaggeration for emphasis or comic effect.
Understatement: Presenting something as less significant than it is — the gap creates irony.
Allegory: A narrative in which characters and events represent abstract ideas or historical figures.
Parody: Imitation of a text or genre that exaggerates its features for comic or critical effect.
Horatian satire: Gentle, witty, playful satire — named after Roman poet Horace; targets folly rather than vice.
Juvenalian satire: Harsh, bitter, morally outraged satire — named after Roman poet Juvenal; Swift is its English master.
A Modest Proposal: Swift's 1729 essay ironically proposing that the Irish poor eat their children — a savage critique of British colonialism.
Animal Farm: Orwell's 1945 allegorical satire of the Soviet Revolution — pigs who overthrow the farmer become the new oppressors.
Doublespeak: Language that obscures or reverses meaning — 'All animals are more equal than others' is the classic literary example.
Candide: Voltaire's 1759 satirical novella dismantling Leibnizian optimism through a naive hero's relentless suffering.