Satire is defined as “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.” While holding this definition, satirical literature can often be categorized as either Horatian, Juvenalian, or Menippean. 

In “A Modest Proposal”, by Jonathan Smith, the use of satire is overly evident. The satire in this piece correlates well with Juvenalian satire. Swift shows his disagreement of the opinions of institutions of the Republic and uses “A Modest Proposal” to attack them. He also uses the work to abrasively ridicule society. He begins by talking about the common problems in Ireland such as poverty and overpopulation, which is normal among satires. His statement of the problems is heavily ironic, because he then proceeds to suggest eating children of poverty as a solution to the problems.  He does this because the Irish government continues to talk about how the problems in their country must be fixed, while not giving any solutions. This follows the ideas of Juvenalian satire because Swift is indirectly attacking his government organizations by knowingly suggesting an unethical solution. The degree to which Swift seems to support his solution provides the work with a lack of humor. While humor is not necessary in satire’s, it is common in many examples. Swift also uses tools such as apophasis to support exaggerating his solution. Swift does this when he says “I believe no gentlemen would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, I have said, will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat, when he hath only some particular friend, or his own family to dine with him.” He says this suggesting the idea is completely ethical and is solely beneficial. However, the idea itself is actually absurd and would most likely be condemned as evil by the general public. Finally, Swift ends by saying “Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, ‘till he hath at least some glimpse of hope, that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice.” By saying this, Swift assures the reader that he has no intention of selling or eating children, and that the piece was written in order to mock the Government about their lack of solutions. Also by stating this, Swift takes one last jab at the Government by basically saying that no man can claim his solution bad until they themselves suggest a better solution. Overall, “A Modest Proposal” follows the guidelines of satire very closely, while lacking humor, and is a classic example of the Juvenalian style of satire.

In “I am sorry that I didn’t write a comedy piece”, by Wendy Molyneux, the use of satire is also employed. Molyneux uses a more Horatian approach to satire rather than the Juvenalian that Swift used. Horatian satire is playfully criticizing some social vice through gentle, mild, and light-hearted humor. It is commonly used to ridicule the dominant opinions of a population. Molyneux goes to great extent to make her statements blatantly sarcastic. She states, “I walked into my closet, which is gigantic because women love to wear lots of expensive clothes and shoes all the time, …”. By saying this she is saying that this is probably how Christopher Hitchens thinks of women. This style of satire is different from Swift’s because it is far more obvious and self-mocking. Molyneux also pointed out a common modern day female stereotype by saying “Stop signifying so loudly guys, I’m watching Grey’s Anatomy. Saying this implies that all women are especially concerned with watching their episodes of Grey’s. Later, Molyneux says “I guess my humor deficiency is one of those womanly crosses I have to bear, along with P.M.S., making seventy cents on the dollar, and paying for my own rape kit.” Molyneux hits more of the modern female stereotypes by poking fun at herself. She goes on exaggerating her point by saying “I only say things like: ‘What are numbers.’” She says this to further continue her attempt to highlight the ignorance of what she is actually saying. Molyneux is saying all of this to point out the idiocrasy of comments made by Christopher Hutchinson about the lack of comedic skills that woman possess. She follows a more Horatian style of satire rather than Juvenal by using mild self-humor to ridicule common female stereotypes.
