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This lesson gives students background information on Jonathan Swift, a conceptual introduction to satire, and background knowledge on Gullivers Travels, especially Part 4. Its a good lesson to use before A Modest Proposal too.\r
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Below is the outline of the slides used in the lesson:\r
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Jonathan Swift, Satire, and Gullivers Travels Lesson\r
Biography of Swift\r
Satire—Definition and Examples\r
Background of Gullivers Travels\r
Connections to the Project\r
Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745\r
Born in Ireland of English, Anglican parents\r
At a time when tensions between England and Ireland were high for political and religious reasons\r
Conflicts with the English government over his familys politics after the English Civil War and over his writing \r
Had a great sympathy for the Irish—became somewhat of a member of both cultures\r
Became the Dean of St. Patricks Cathedral in Dublin\r
Satire\r
A literary form (poetry, prose, or drama) that exaggerates tendencies to make people laugh as a form of protest\r
Uses humor as a weapon\r
A more enlightened form of sarcasm\r
Can be subtle or blatant, and can be serious or silly\r
Examples of Satire\r
How Satire Works\r
Literal Satire: looks, feels, seems just like realistic art, but little things are exaggerated to show how ridiculous they are\r
Unrealistic Satire (like Gullivers Travels): fantastic places and unrealistic settings serve as metaphors for the world we live in\r
When people laugh, they are more relaxed and willing to engage with a speaker or artist\r
When people see things that arent them but who do the same things they do, they can look at those things more objectively\r
Gullivers Travels\r
Travel narrative—Lemuel Gulliver goes to four places:\r
Liliput—the land of the small people\r
Brobdingnag—the land of the giants\r
Laputa—the land of the scientists\r
The Land of the Houyhnhnms—talking horses who have more reason than men\r
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Gullivers Travels\r
Liliput—Swift makes fun of peoples pettiness; for example, two political parties fight furiously over which end of an egg should be cracked\r
Brobdingnag—By encountering giant humans, Gulliver shows us just how disgusting people are\r
Laputa—The scientists of Laputa are so busy with all of their imaginary learning that their wives go astray\r
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Gullivers Travels\r
The Land of the Houyhnhnms\r
In comparison to humans, horses seem very wise, just, and reasonable—so much for the Enlightenment\r
Gulliver comes to identify with the horses and not the Yahoos—a race of human-ish creatures that have all of humanitys worst qualities\r
What is a human? What is an animal? Are humans all that great?\r
Connection to the Project\r
Swift shows us slavery, racism, and genocide, and he asks us questions about all of them\r
He makes us question the Enlightenment and the very idea of civilization and who is civilized\r
Like many Enlightenment thinkers, he realized that Europe needed to humble itself\r
Lesson Completed—Good Job\r
I have provided a read-along for this\r
Be prepared to write about satirical s in the selections from the book that I have given you—like a metaphor, whats the tenor and whats the vehicle, and whats Swifts purpose for the satire?