HONORS 220 – FINAL PROJECT

For your final project you will produce an extended piece of analysis of a major work of satire OR create your own satire using the techniques we have explored this semester.  If you choose to create a satire, you must accompany it with a commentary explaining its essential features (target, strategies and devices, etc.).

Creating a satire.  What you do and the techniques you use are up to you.  You should clear the idea with me first.  I will be happy to help with advice as you get started.

Analyzing a satire.  This can be a book, a play, or a film OR the work of a single practitioner of the satiric art in several works (typical themes, targets, attitudes, style, and techniques), OR a typical target of satire (education, religion, politicians, big business, the "upper class," intellectuals, technology, etc.) and how it is treated in different eras or by several satirists. Your purpose will be to analyze how the satire works or how the satirist deals with specific targets or how the target is dealt with by different satirists.  Do do this you will need to put the work (or satirist, or target) in the context of the satires and satirists we have examined in this course. Do some comparison; let your reader know you are well-informed about the subject of satire and can view it in deep focus, in a broad perspective.

Read the essays from your text -- "Satire in the Age of Political Correctness," "Women Satirists," and "African American Satirists" for ideas that you can apply in your analysis. Be sure to reference one or more of these commentaries on contemporary satire in your paper.

Due April 21               Length: 8-10 pages

 

Books to consider:

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22
Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, Sirens of Titan, Slapstick
Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One

Jane Austen, Emma

Richard Russo, Straight Man
Carl Hiaasen, Skin Tight, Native Tongue, Tourist Season, Striptease
Christopher Buckley, Thank You For Smoking
Molly Ivins, Shrub: The Short Happy Life of George W. Bush, Bushwacked: Life in Bush’s America
Jon Stewart, America (The Book)

Dave Barry,  Dave Barry Slept Here, A Short History of the U.S.; Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys
Jane Smiley, Moo
Terry Southern, Candy, The Magic Christian
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

 

                                   Movies to consider                                                           Plays to Consider