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Use three texts Including Animal Farm by G. Orwell George Orwell In Animal Farm, Jonathan Swift with A Modest Proposal and Ben Elton BBC television series Black Adder adopted a satirical approach to explore the flaws of characters in their particular society. Orwell wanted to alert the world to the growing menace and hypocrisy of Communism, Swift was passionate about his native Ireland and used satire to expose the callousness of the British parliament in ignoring the lions dying of famine in Ireland.
Ben Elton purpose was more universal to hold ourselves up to reveal the folly and greed of those who seek to rule over most of us, particularly the Generals in World War 1. Orwell uses a deceptively simple allegory, a narrative of farm animals usurping their human owner, to caution the world about the clash between Idealism and human nature In a system scalar to Communism which over time loses Its checks and balances, namely the right to remove a leader we don’t think Is good for us. Animal Farm reflects the actual events and the leaders of the Russian Revolution in the aftermath on this little farm.
By reducing them to pigs, it reduces the leaders of the revolution in stature and enabled people to see their real characters. The pigs in Animal Farm resemble the characters of the Russian Revolution; Old Napoleon is Karl Marx, Snowball the ill-fated Trotsky. Orwell directs his satirical attack through irony. Just before his death, Old Major warns the animals against mankind “All men are enemies… We must not come to resemble him… Al animals are equal. ” However, as the novel progresses, we see the gradual change, which takes place In the pigs.
At first, the pigs reserved the apples and milk for themselves, under the Justification “of keeping the pigs In good health”. The pigs begin to develop more humanistic qualities, such as living In the farmhouse, sleeping in beds and eventually carrying whips and walking on two legs. This is extremely ironic; as it conflicts with the original laws, set by Old Major, one of which was ‘*we must not come to resemble him (mankind)”. The irony reaches its peak towards the end of the novel, where Old Major’s doctrines are completely reversed.
All of the seven commandments were breached, and subsequently altered one by one. Orwell Inserts the concept of totalitarianism Into his novel, through the use of satire. In Animal Farm, Mr. Jones, and the pigs are depicted as totalitarians, however with different Justifications. Mr. Jones believes that humans’ dominance over animals Is the natural order, and thus runs the farm accordingly. The pigs run the farm with the lain that they are fighting for animals against humans. Rowel’s principle point is on the oppression of the individual and invariably the lower classes.
A Modest Proposal written by the prolific pamphleteer, Jonathan Swift is also a satire even more biting than the novel Animal Farm. Unlike Rowel’s animal fable, Swift adopts a completely different medium, to mirror the flaws of society, using an economist’s pamphlet to ridicule the oppression and exploitation of the Catholic Irish peasants by the English Protestants. In a response to the flaws of society, Swift promoted the idea of fattening Irish babies to sell on the meat market, much like piglets, “A young health child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome food. This odious comparison (of babies for food) certainly meant to horrify and disgust the readers. It becomes indubitably clear that this cannibalistic commercial venture is anything but “modest”, introducing an understatement of epic proportions. In a fashion similar to the exploitation of the common animals by the unscrupulous adders of Animal Farm, Swift alludes to the factorization of the Irish proletariat by the English landowners through absurd logic and black humor in “This food will be very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to children. As such, through the effective use of sarcastic comparisons and ironic exaggerations in his shocking proposal where he ultimately professes, “l have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny’, Swift asserts his ability to expose the flaws of society in order to evoke change. The creators of Blockader also use satire to poke fun at the men in command during wartime.
The film series ‘Blockader goes forth; explores the ideas of Justice and injustice together with equality and inequality. Ben Elton uses skits that are set on the Western Front during the First World War to reflect upon the conditions of soldiers and officers during battle, as well as developing the theme of the futility of war. This can be extended to all notions of hierarchy, during the 1st world war, where the landed gentry were invariably in command.
The great discrepancy between the soldier’s living standards and those of their most senior officers provide insights into a hierarchical society, which uses the underclass essentially, to fight its battles. The central irony pivots on the idea that they were totally inept and that this ineptitude led to the death and wounding of probably millions of soldiers, resulting in lives being undervalued. In the final episode of the series, “Goodbye,” Field Marshall Hag is playing with toy soldiers. This is saturating the general’s perspective of warfare, and apart from it