Literary Elements (8.13)AllegoryParableParodySatire

AllegoryA story that has two meanings – literal and symbolic

ParableA type of

allegory (an allegory of ideas)

A fable or story with a moral

The Boy Who Cried Wolf (an Aesop Fable)       

There once was a boy who kept sheep not far from the village. He would often become bored and to amuse himself he would call out,"Wolf! Wolf," although there was no wolf about.     

The villagers would stop what they were doing and run to save the sheep from the wolf's jaw. Once they arrived at the pasture, the boy just laughed. The naughty boy played this joke over and over until the villagers tired of him.     

One day while the boy was watching the sheep, a wolf did come into the fold. The boy cried and cried,     

"Wolf! Wolf!"     

No one came. The wolf had a feast of sheep that day.

Parody An imitation of an author or artist’s style for humorous effect.

SatireA literary work that makes fun of human follies, weakness, or vices.

Subject The Satire/Parody Criticism Being Made

Television news SNL’s Weekend UpdateThe Daily ShowThe Colbert Report

Identification of human flaws and vices related to politics, entertainment, and current events.

Newspapers The Onion The biasness of major news outlets.

Horror movies Scary Movie Exaggerates techniques used by horror movies to scare audiences.

Spy movies Austin Powers Sexism towards women. Ridicules escapes by the spy and stupidity of the evil villain.

Politicians and politics

Political cartoons The policy decisions and personality traits of elected officials can be flawed.

Musicians and music videos

Songs by Weird Al Yankovich

The excess of modern musicians.

Simplicity and immaturity of the lyrics in modern music.

Persuasive Devices•Bandwagon•Loaded words•Testimonial•Name calling

•Plain folks •Snob appeal•Misuse of statistics•Transfer

BandwagonEverybody’s doing it.If you want to be cool, jump on the “bandwagon” and do it to.The implication is that you must join in to fit in.

Loaded words or glittering generalitiesuses appealing words and images to sell the product.

use of great sounding but meaningless words

the opposite of name calling

Testimonial A famous personality is used to endorse the product

Name callinglinks a person, or idea, to a negative symbol.

Arouses prejudice through labeling

“In Georgia, one Republican candidate for governor, Karen Handel, said the other [Nathan Deal] needed to “put on big boy pants.”

“Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum recently referred in a statement to his Republican rival for governor as ‘career fraudster Rick Scott.’”

Nothing about the

issues.Just… the “insults.”

Haslam Commercial

Plain folksThe suggestion that the product is a practical product of good value for ordinary people.

Snob AppealThe suggestion that the use of the product makes the customer part of an elite group with a luxurious and glamorous life style

Misuse of StatisticsMaking up, confusing, or using statistics out of context enhance the message

“GARDASIL also helps protect girls and young

women ages 9 to 26 against 70% of vaginal cancer cases

and up to 50% of vulvar cancer cases.”

TransferWords and ideas with positive connotations are used to suggest that the positive qualities should be associated with the product and the user

Olive Garden Kays

How many techniques

can you spot?

Logical Fallaciesappeal to fearpersonal attack {ad hominem}false dilemmafalse analogyslippery slopenon sequiturfalse authority

Appeal to fearTrying to scare people into support or action

ADT commercial

False AuthorityUsing a biased, incredible, or suspicious authority to support a case

Dr Pepper Commercial

Slippery slopethe assumption that something is

wrong because it could lead towards something that is wrong.

• "Allowing abortion in the first week of pregnancy would lead to allowing it in the ninth month."

• "If we legalize marijuana, then more people will try heroin.“

• "If I make an exception for you then I'll have to make an exception for everyone."

Non Sequitor “It doesn’t follow”

Q: How was the dinner I cooked you?

A: Well I just love how you set the table so beautifully.

False Dilemma The “either/or” argument makes it appear that there are only two options when there are actually more options.

Look, you are going to have to make up your mind. Either you decide that you can afford this stereo, or you decide you are going to do without music for a while.

False Analogy

Black is to white as hot is to warm.

Setting up a false

comparison in the

attempt to prove a point

Because my English

and my mom are both

female adults in my

life, my teacher should

was my dirty laundry

for me.

personal attack {ad hominem}• Diverting from the argument or issue by personally attacking the opponent

• aka name calling

"Von Daniken's books about ancient astronauts are worthless because he is a

convicted embezzler."

Rhetorical Devices in SpeechRhetorical questions where the

speaker poses a questions but does not expect a response

Parallelism and repetition repeating key words and phrases for effect

Analogies, metaphors, and similes the speaker creates a comparison to make a point

Hyperbole the speaker exaggerates to intensify his point