Rhetorical TermsWeek 3 – Working with…

• Satire - A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. Good satire, often humorous, is thought provoking and insightful about the human condition.

Satire

Irony - The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant. The difference between what appears to be and what actually is true.

Irony

Allegory• Allos (other) ory (related to) - An extended narrative

where characters, events, and setting have a related symbolic meaning, often representing abstract qualities

• Many satirical pieces of literature are written as allegories (Animal Farm is a great example of an allegory that is also satire: a bunch of pigs who represent corrupt politicians)

• Descriptive writing that greatly exaggerates a specific feature of a person’s appearance or facet of personality

• “A caricature is putting the face of a joke on the body of a truth” – Joseph Conrad

Caricature

Colloquialism

• Co (with) loqu (speech) ism: Words or phrases used in everyday conversation, especially those that are specific to one region (dialect). Colloquialisms create informal language.

ColloquialismExamples:• "So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their

senses.... That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children.“ Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird 

• “The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; Ah wis jist sitting thair, focusing oan the telly…” Irvine Welsh Trainspotting

Hyperbole

• Hyper (over) bole (throw): Deliberate exaggeration in order to create humor or emphasis

• If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times!• Why does a boy who’s fast as a jet take all day and

sometimes two to get to school?

Understatement

• Technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended.

• After a firefighter saves a baby from a house fire: “Just doing my job!”

• “I have to have this operation. It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.” – Catcher in the Rye

Litotes• From the Greek word for “plain.” A special type of

understatement; litotes asserts a point by denying the opposite

• “Today is a good day to not get dumber” (compare with “Today is a good day to learn something new”)

• “My teacher did not fail to confuse the heck out of me as usual” (compare with “My teacher confused the heck out of me today”)

• “She did not possess the potential to be unfriendly” (compare with “She talks all the time to everybody”)

Oversimplification• When a writer obscures or denies the complexity of

something

• With just a little bit of light reading, you ought to be able to read Shakespeare’s Hamlet in an afternoon.

• Since the new president took office, the economy has been improving - obviously he is doing a good job and is an asset to the nation.

Parody and Invective• Para (beside) ode (song) – Satirical style that mimics

another work through imitation and exaggeration. Parodies can be mildly humorous and gentle in their satire, or they can border on invective.

• Invective – Verbally abusive attack