Cats Cradle Essay
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Jonathan Swift has suggested that "Satire is a sort of
Glass, wherein Beholders do generally discover every body's Face
their own; which is the chief reason...that so few are offended
with it." Richard Garnett suggests that, "Without humour, satire
is invictive; without literary form, [and] it is mere clownish
jeering." (Encyclopaedia Britannica 14th ed. vol. 20 p. 5).
Whereas Swift's statement suggests that people are not offended
by satire because readers identify the character's faults with
their own faults; Garnett suggests that humour is the key element
that does not make satire offensive. With any satire someone is
bound to be offended, but the technique the author uses can
change something offensive into something embarrassing.
Stephen Leacock's Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich is
a nonthreatening, humorous, and revealing satire of the moral
faults of upper class society. The satire acts as a moral
instrument to expose the effect money can have on religion,
government, and anything within its touch. Writing about such
topics is hard to do without offending people. Leacock's
technique combines money with humour, and accompanies his moral
message with ironic characters; their exaggerated actions, and a
constant comical tone to prevent readers from being offended.
Leacock's utopian world is filled with humorous labels that
represent the "Plutonian's" personalities. "Ourselves Monthly"; a
magazine for the modern self-centered, is a Plutonian favourite.
To fill their idle days, the Plutonian women are in an endless
search for trends in literature and religion. Without the
distractions of club luncheons and trying to achieve the "Higher
Indifference", the women would have to do something productive.
Readers that identify themselves with the class of people the
Plutonians represent would be embarrassed rather than offended by
Leacock's satirical portrayal of them.
"The Yahi-Bahi Oriental Society" exaggerates the stupidity
of the Plutonians to a point where the reader laughs at the
character's misfortunes. The con men give ridiculous prophecies
such as "Many things are yet to happen before others begin."
(Leacock 87), and eventually take their money and jewelry. The
exaggeration increases the humour while the moral message is
displayed.
The characters of the novel are ironic in the sence that
they percieve themselves as being the pinicle of society, yet
Leacock makes the look like fools. For someone who prides
themself on being an expert on just about everything, Mr.
Lucullus Fyshe's (as slimmy and cold as his name represents)
perceptions are proven false. Mr. Fyshe makes hypocratic
statments about ruling class tyranny, while barking down the neck
of a poor waiter for serving cold asparagus.
Leacock exposes the whole Plutonian buisness world to be
fools by the their encounter with Mr. Tomlinson. A man who knows
live-stock; not stock market, is percieved as a finacial genius.
When Mr. Tomlinson replies that he does know about an investment,
the Plutonian reaction is:
"He said he didn't Know!" repeated the listener, in a
tone of amazement and respect. "By Jove! eh? he said
he didn't know! The man's a wizard!"
"And he looked as if he didn't!" went on Mr. Fyshe.
(Leacock 47)
After Mr. Tomlinson is discovered to be a plain farmer, and his
fortune falls, the Plutorians are seen eating their words:
"Now , 'I said , for I wanted to test the fellow, `tell
me what that means?' Would you believe me, he looked
me right in the face in that stupid way of his, and he Between Friends essay Strengths Of Foreign Policy essay A System Of Beliefs essay
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1959.
Leacock, Stephen. Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich.
Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1989.
Works consulted
Allen and Stephens. Satire, Theory and Practice. ed. Allen and
Stephens. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing
Company,Inc., 1962.
MLA Style
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Looking around my living room, I see my greatest friends of my
life are all around me on my book shelves. Every book I lift off
the shelf pinpoints a time in my life. They represent all the joy,
sorrow, and laughter felt in my life. The large, shiny red poetry
book my father read to m
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