SATIRE BITES BACK
It is also possible to break out of realism through satire, and this is the
focus of Exercise 2b which asks you to rewrite your passage in a satirical
mode. In satirical writing the author is usually making a comment about
society: he or she is critiquing that society by ‘sending it up’. There is often
a sense that the characters are ‘types’, that they represent certain strata of
social behaviour. Satirical writing is characterised by exaggeration, incon-
gruity and deflation. In Example 2.11, my original passage is rewritten in
a satirical vein. Through rewriting, the passage becomes a satire on food
and contemporary society:
Example 2.11: Satirical rewriting
She was worshipping in the mirror, when the worm inside her
stirred. She hobbled from the bedroom on her high-rise backless
heels. A higher power was directing her. Her nostrils started to
dilate before she opened the door.The high crept up on her: it was
a Yoplait just like the one in the ads. She intoned the jingle like a
mantra. Then she seized the door, grabbed the Yoplait, and with
a mixture of guilt and pleasure voraciously licked the lid.Here we have a portrait of a person caught between two contemporary
religions: beauty and food. The passage satirises both by exploiting religious
metaphors, and by depicting the woman’s behaviour in an exaggerated way.
There is an abundance of incongruity—she is trying to be elegant but she
hobbles. There is a pun on high, playing on the verbal connection between
religious higher powers, and the euphoria which can result from taking
drugs. The piece points to contemporary society through the reference to
high-rise buildings. These buildings tend to symbolise alienation and lone-
liness in our society, and their attendant psychological problems.
We also feel that the woman is a certain ‘type’. We are less interested in
her as an individual than as a representative of a particular category of
behaviour. In addition, the point of view has changed from the original
passage: the narrator is more distant from the subject matter.
A good example of satirical writing is this extract from White Noise by
Don DeLillo, about an American university which includes a Hitler
Studies department:
Example 2.12
There is no Hitler building as such. We are quartered in Centenary
Hall, a dark brick structure we share with the popular culture
department, known officially as American environments. A curious36 The Writing Experiment