Satire in my life? Nah, that's not my style.
Except that I'm wrong, which, as my husband surely would say, never happens. (You can almost hear the sarcasm, right?)
Turns out my life is full of satire. I don't know enough about this country's political pundits to lambaste them as Jon Stewart does in this satire about satire, but after fifteen years of marriage, I know my husband pretty well and let's just say that he's an easy target. (Notice how I'm leaving myself out of that equation? Momma didn't raise no dummy.)
Here's a fairly typical example: My husband, Stanley, doesn't spend his loose change so it winds up in his pockets. If he makes it home before I do, it doesn't take much for me to trace his activities through the house. All I need to do is follow the little piles of loose change that have fallen out of his pocket. Drove home from work? Yep, there's a nickel the driver's seat in the car. Chilled out on the couch? Oh yeah, one quarter and two dimes sliding between the cushions. Changed into more comfortable clothes? There's a telltale pile of nickels and pennies on the top of the dresser. Forgot to check the other pocket? Without fail and that's the change I find at the bottom of our washing machine. Needless to say, if I didn't spend a little time picking up all his loose change, our house would have filled up like a little piggy bank years ago.
After fifteen years of marriage, these things start to become a little... tedious. Now when I find a dime in the washing machine, or on the floor next to the washing machine, or on top of the washing machine, or in the dryer, I make sure to share my euphoria (notice the sarcasm) with Stan. Our exchange usually goes something like this (except it's usually dorkier):
Me: Honey, the washing machine is producing dimes again.
Stan: Already.
Me: I know, imagine my surprise.
Stan: Wow. We're really getting our money's worth out of that appliance.
Me: Yeah, and here I thought money didn't grow on washing machines.
Who among us likes to hear criticism about our habits? Right, millions of us. (Sarcasm, again.) And how much fun would I be as a wife if I nagged my husband day and night about everything little thing he did wrong? He's such a generous guy that I'd probably get sick of myself before he would, but my point is that I can get my message across and get him to laugh at the same time by utilizing satire. He gets a reminder to check his pockets for change (since we once paid a $400 repair bill to fix our washing machine after a dime worked its way into the cogs and wheels and wreaked all sorts of havoc internally) and I don't sound like the Wicked Witch of West. Win-win.
Twain does much the same thing in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, only he takes on social issues of much bigger magnitude. Even so, Twain and I are in exactly the same spot. We need to say something and we need to say it in a way that doesn't alienate our audience. I love my husband. He's an awesome guy. I don't want him to think any less of himself because he forgot to check his pockets for change, again. Likewise, Twain knows that he'll never win the ear of the South when it comes to the topic of slavery unless he treats them with a little respect (regardless of whether they deserve it). By telling a funny tale, Twain gets to shine a spotlight on some reprehensible human behavior that packs a pretty big punch in terms of a moral. And because no one is waving a pointy finger in their faces, there's a chance that his message about racism just might hit home with its intended audience.
My sources:
Satire comes in many guises including sarcasm, ridicule, irony, and parody. I tried to incorporate a couple into my blog post. You'd have to be blind to have missed my many sarcastic comments. (Wow. I can't stop.) And, obviously, my mini-drama illustrated the satire that one might find in literature.
I couldn't find a way to smoothly incorporate a parody, but here's a YouTube video that brilliantly parodies Apple's iPhone ads:
There was no way was I going to ridicule any of my readers for their ineptitude, but if you want to learn a little bit more about this genre you can read about it here.
