LITERARY

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Clear Target: The students will learn to articulate more advanced literary elements new to the 10th grade curriculum unit.

ALLEGORY

When a character, object, or incident indicates a single, fixed meaning, the writer is using an allegory rather than a symbol. Where symbols have literal functions as well as multiple meanings, the primary focus in allegory is on the abstract idea called forth by the concrete object.

C. S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” is a good example of an allegory.

Aslan represents the figure of Jesus Christ.

The Stone Table refers to the stone tablets that Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai, according to the Bible.

The sea becomes a boundary between Narnia, the Earth, and "Aslan's country," or heaven.

PARABLE

A parable is a short tale that illustrates universal truth, one of the simplest of narratives. It sketches a setting, describes an action, and shows the results. It often involves a character facing a moral dilemma, or making a questionable decision and then suffering the consequences. Though the meaning of a parable is often not explicitly stated, the meaning is not usually intended be hidden or secret but on the contrary quite straightforward and obvious.

Parables are favored in the expression of spiritual concepts. The best-known source of parables in Christianity is the Bible, which contains numerous parables in the Gospels section of the New Testament.

The parable of “The Good Samaritan” is very well known.

PARADOX

The paradox as a literary device has been assigned as an unusual association of incompatible ideas for the sake of striking unconventional insight. It functions as a method of literary analysis which involves examining apparently contradictory statements and drawing conclusions either to reconcile them or to explain their presence.

“It is cruel to be kind.”

"Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good life, but in respect that it is a shepherd's life, it is naught. In respect that it is solitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very vile life. Now, in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in respect it is not in the court, it is tedious. As is it a spare life, look you, it fits my humour well; but as there is no more plenty in it, it goes much against my stomach." As You Like It, William Shakespeare

SATIREN O U N . A L I T E R A R Y M A N N E R W H I C H B L E N D S H U M O R W I T H C R I T I C I S M F O R T H E P U R P O S E O F I N S T R U C T I O N O R T H E I M P R O V E M E N T O F H U M A N I T Y

THE NECESSARY INGREDIENTS

Humor

Criticism, either general criticism of humanity or human nature or specific criticism of an individual or group.

Some kind of moral voice: simply mocking or criticism is not “satire.”

THE SATIRIC MANNER0 Ironic/Sarcastic

0 Either good natured criticism or bitterly cynical denunciation

0 Always opposed to pretense, affectation, and hypocrisy

0 More than a little bit prone to references to things society finds taboo or disgusting (bodily functions, sexuality, etc.)

SOME TOOLS OF THE SATIRIST

Direct satire – open mockingIndirect SatireParodyCaricature Exaggeration/Diminutization

HUMOROUSLY. THIS IS THE OLDEST AND, HISTORICALLY, MOST COMMON FORM OF SATIRIC WRITING.

S AT I R E T H AT S P E A K S D I R E C T LY T O T H E R E A D E R O R T O A C H A R A C T E R I N T H E W O R K

Direct Satire

Comedian Dennis Miller’s popular series of books, Rants, are an excellent modern example of direct satire.

THE DEATH OF COMMON SENSE

“You can't get in your car and not run into another idiot who pulls into the gas station with his fuel tank on the wrong side and then has to get instructions from a NASA team at Houston Control to figure out how to maneuver his car so that the tank is on the correct side. And you can't open a paper without reading about a mondo idiot who gets hurt or killed at a railroad crossing because they had to try and beat the train to get home in time to watch Charlene Tilton's salute to porcelain clowns on QVC.”

PARODY = A WORK OF LITERATURE THAT MIMICS ANOTHER WORK OF LITERATURE, USUALLY AS A WAY OF CRITICIZING IT.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Austin Powers

Scary Movie/Epic Movie

Gulliver’s Travels

Shrek

Young Frankenstein

REVERSAL…

0 When the satirist uses/describes the opposite of what people assume in order to make a point…

Consider the film “Bruce Almighty” or Ellen DeGeneres’s stand-up comedy, “Procrastinate Now” (pause for video clip)

Why are these examples of “reversal” satire?

CARICATURE = AN EXAGGERATED PORTRAYAL OF THE WEAKNESSES, FRAILTIES, OR HUMOROUS ASPECTS OF AN INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP.

Caricatures of the presidential candidates by Saturday Night Live cast members in ’03 actually changed the way that the candidates performed in public.

Video Clip – Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, Barrack Obama (rap)

EXAGGERATION = THE PORTRAYAL OF SOMETHING TRIVIAL OR UNIMPORTANT AS VERY IMPORTANT, USUALLY TO EMPHASIZE ITS TRIVIALITY. ** ZOOLANDER AND THE “FASHION WORLD”

DIMINUTIZATION = THE PORTRAYAL OF SOMETHING PERCEIVED AS IMPORTANT AS SOMETHING TRIVIAL/UNIMPORTANT TO SHOW ITS UNIMPORTANCE. **WEIRD AL’S AMISH PARADISE

0 "Amish Paradise"

As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grainI take a look at my wife and realize she's very plainBut that's just perfect for an Amish like meYou know, I shun fancy things like electricityAt 4:30 in the morning I'm milkin' cowsJebediah feeds the chickens and Jacob plows... foolAnd I've been milkin' and plowin' so long thatEven Ezekiel thinks that my mind is goneI'm a man of the land, I'm into disciplineGot a Bible in my hand and a beard on my chinBut if I finish all of my chores and you finish thineThen tonight we're gonna party like it's 1699

We been spending most our livesLiving in an Amish paradiseI've churned butter once or twiceLiving in an Amish paradiseIt's hard work and sacrificeLiving in an Amish paradiseWe sell quilts at discount priceLiving in an Amish paradise

"Gangsta's Paradise"

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of deathI take a look at my life and realize there's not much leftcause I've been blasting and laughing so long,that even my mama thinks that my mind has gonebut I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve itme be treated like a punk you know that's unheard ofyou better watch how you're talking and where you're walkingor you and your homies might be lined in chalkI really hate to trip but I gotta, locAs I Grow I see myself in the pistol smoke, foolI'm the kinda G the little homies wanna be likeon my knees in the night, saying prayers in the streetlight

been spending most their lives, living in the gangsta's paradisebeen spending most their lives, living in the gangsta's paradisekeep spending most our lives, living in the gangsta's paradisekeep spending most our lives, living in the gangsta's paradise

FORESHADOWING

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which an author indistinctly suggests certain plot developments that will come later in the story.

*Plot Spoiler: An example occurs in the film The Sixth Sense, in which scenes depicting the estrangement and lack of communication which occurs in the psychologist's marriage, and his alienation from the world because of his problems, are later seen as clues of much darker significance (so much so, that some viewers were led to see the film twice, in disbelief at how effectively they were misled by character interactions which could be interpreted in two completely different ways).

FLASHBACK

Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory.

Flashbacks are regularly used in the TV show “How I Met your Mother” to provide the viewer with more information.

In the Harry Potter series, flashbacks occur in the form on a magical device called a Pensieve. This allows characters to travel to the past.