The Coca-Cola Letters & A Modest Proposal Satire Examples

Irony. The persona is describing abortion as horrible murders against innocent children, yet the plan is also proposing murder, which is the opposite of what people expect.

". . .It will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering theri bastard children, alas! too frequent among us, sacrificing the poor innocent babes. . ." What satiric device is this?

Exaggeration. It is overstating the dedication to the solution in order to build suspense before revealing the proposal

". . .having turned my thoughts for many years" What satiric device is this?

Exaggeration (calling EVERY store in the U.S. that has the book in stock)

"Accordingly, we have instructed all our salesmen to notify bookstores that whenever a customer comes in and asks for a copy of Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher, they should request the sales personnel to make sure that what the customer wants is the book, rather than a Coke." What satiric device is this?

Understatement. Saying people would see this as borderline cruelty underexaggerates the fact that this plan would call for eating other humans too poor to care for themselves

"And besides, it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practce, (although indeed very unjustly) as a little bordering upon cruelty. . ." What satiric device is this?

They state the literal or almost literal (in business letters, the obvious maybe avoided with the language. but these quotes reveal what grove press is really trying to say (ridiculous to take quotes out of context and blow a minor situation our of proportion, and try to copyright phrases that have become part of our language))

"Further, 'games people play' has become part of our language" "One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding" What do these two quotes convey?

Irony (not sorry at all)

"I am sorry to say. . ." What satiric device is this?

Reductio ad absurdum (the basic premise is that the public may be confused due to the similar slogans. the exaggeration of that is the idea that anyone would mistake a soda for a book)

"I can fully understand the the public might be confused by our use of the expression, and mistake a book by a Harlem schoolteacher for a six-pack of Coca-Cola. . . those who read out ad may well tend to go out and buy a Coke rather than our book." What satiric device is this?

Exaggeration. Catholics aren't the only people having children in Ireland. Also, someone who may not follow your religion (such as the Catholic Irish compared to the Protestant English) is not a dangerous threat to your country.

"It would greatly lessen the number of Papists, with whom we are yearly over-run, being the principal breeders of the nation, as well as our most dangerous enemies. . ." What satiric device is this?

Irony, because the author is mocking how Coca-Cola wants a quick response from them

"Thank you for your letter of March 25, which has just reached me, doubtless because of the mail strike." The response this is from was mailed out on March 31. What satiric device is this?

Irony and parody (Ironic since the company isn't pleased at all with Coca-Cola. Parody because it is parodying the style of a business letter)

"Thank you for your letter. . . With all best wishes," What satiric device(s) is this?

Understatement. The statement portrays babies as something cheap and easy to care for, but that underexaggerates the fact that babies tend to be expensive to care for.

"The charge of nursing a beggar's child. . .to be about two shillings per annum, rags included." What satiric device is this?

Reductio ad absurdum. The basic premise is to resolve the overpopulation and poverty in Ireland. The exaggeration is to make the children benefit Ireland by eating them.

"These mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to emply all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants. . ." "Instead of being a charge upon their parents, or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall, on the contrary, contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing of many thousands." What satiric device is this?

Irony. Although the speaker believes selling your children would encourage people to marry, in reality it would tear the people apart instead.

"This would be a great inducement to marriage. . ." What satiric device is this?

Exaggeration (grove press most likely didn't conduct any of these, and is exaggerating the response they had to tease Coca-Cola)

"We have discussed this problem in an executive committee meeting and by a vote of seven to six decided. . ." What satiric device is this?

Verbal irony / sarcasm (same in this letter) since the publishing company is most likely not pleased with Coca-Cola

"We note with sympathy your feeling. . ." What satiric device is this in the context of the Coca-Cola letters?

Irony (Coca-Cola implied that Grover Press was using that phrase to copy and take business from them; in reality, the publishing company was quoting a review of their book)

"We were merely quoting in our ads Peter S. Prescott's review of Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher in Look magazine which begins 'Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher is the real thing, a short, spare, honest book which will, I suspect, be read a generation hence as a classic. . .'" What satiric device is this?

Exaggeration

"We will defend to the death your right to use 'It's the real thing' in any advertising you care to." What satiric device is this?

Almost a parody (it isn't fully a parody since these titles don't actually exist. however, it is parodying how Coca-Cola believes that they own a phrase used in daily language)

"You may recall that we published Games People Play, which became one of the biggest nonfiction bestsellers of all time, and spawned conscious imitations (Games Children Play, Games Psychiatrists Play, Games Ministers Play, etc.)." What satiric device is this?

Juvenalian

Is A Modest Proposal Horatian or Juvenalian satire?

Modest refers to the proposal being reasonable and rational; this proposal is the exact opposite of this. In addition, this proposal isn't a limited or small one at all.

What is the irony in the title of A Modest Proposal?