There are many instances throughout history of writing being used as a format to bring about societal change. A diverse range of forms have been used from pamphlets, educational articles, nonfiction books, and an abundance of other compositions. Another popular genre used to incite societal change is the genre of satire. Satire is often applied in such a way that it instigates change by drawing attention to the faults in people, objects, or systems. Two examples of satire that are written to achieve a change in their specific societies are “I Am Sorry That I Didn’t Write A Comedy Piece” by Wendy Molyneux and “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift. As Charles A. Knight said in “Satire, Speech, and Genre,” “In a society, the recurrence of certain discursive properties is institutionalized, and individual texts are produced and perceived in relation to the norm constituted by this codification.” This codification refers to the genre of satire, and both “I Am Sorry…” and “A Modest Proposal” are examples of the individual texts that are created to try to bring forth change to such institutions. 

In my opinion, “I Am Sorry…” serves as a textbook example of satire since the piece achieved the overall goal of being a bold statement to ridicule Christopher Hitchen’s article “Why Women Aren’t Funny” that was published in Vanity Fair Magazine and attempt to abolish this stereotype that women can’t be humorous. True to the title of Hitchen’s article, he made the bold statement that women aren’t funny. Molyneux, who is a female comedian herself, took offense and wrote this article as retaliation. In “I Am Sorry…”, Molyneux uses an excessive number of stereotypes about women in a humorous way to criticize Hitchens statement that women can’t be funny. Throughout Molyneux’s text different conventions of satire, such as hyperbole, understatement, irony, sarcasm, innuendo, incongruity, and self-depreciation, can be recognized. There is a large amount of self-deprecation throughout the article which is demonstrated through the caricature of the protagonist, who seems to be the author herself. She presents herself using all the worst negative stereotypes of women thrown together to show how absurd the generalities of women can be when portrayed through an extreme manner. By using all of these negative stereotypes, the author attempts to construct a character that is the embodiment of all the inaccurate stereotypes of women. Through the existence of this character and her actions throughout the piece, the genre of satire is created. Hints of sarcasm can be seen underlying all the statements made by the author, but are shown more strongly during certain parts. For example, one of these prevalent examples of sarcasm is when Molyneux makes the statement, “But 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” (I Am Sorry…). This sentence has a sarcastic edge to it because the author isn’t actually okay with having to deal with “those womanly crosses”. Each of those examples are negative things that women have to deal with because of the inequality between the genders.  Incongruity reigns throughout by the chaotic way the protagonist jumps quickly from one action to the other. By switching rapidly between topics, the author keeps the audience aware and engaged, as well as provides a tone that fits the stereotype the author is trying to create for the protagonist. Innuendo is demonstrated when Molyneux says, “And then after they eat dinner, I hope they’ll eat something else. If you know what I mean. Get it? Eat something. I mean dessert” (I Am Sorry…) This statement is an innuendo because underneath the supposed innocent reference to dessert, the author was also referring to a sexual act. This innuendo continues to support the frivolous character that the author is attempting to portray as the protagonist. The piece, as a whole, serves as an example of irony because the protagonist is supposedly attempting to write a comedic piece by a woman, yet the article itself is a comedic piece by a woman already. 

The piece by Molyneux used many of the highlighted conventions to explicitly call out Hitchens in “I Am Sorry…”. By calling out Hitchens, she is bringing to light her personal belief that Hitchens is wrong in his opinion of women in comedy, and therefore the piece becomes a distinct attempt to point out this specific issue that is present in society. Because “I Am Sorry…” is written in such a way that the author never plainly states her intent to prove that women can be humorous, it must be inferred that this was her intention, but this is again another aspect of the genre. In satire, it is not supposed to be clearly stated the purpose behind the piece, but through clever writing the intention is made obvious. Our understanding of the genre is affected by the way Molyneux composed the piece using a wide variety of satirical conventions, therefore becoming an excellent example of satire itself. Her primary use of self-deprecation and sarcasm throughout the piece allows Molyneux to use herself to demonstrate the ridiculous premise that all these stereotypes about women are true. By using herself to make this statement, Molyneux uses the genre of satire in a personal way. By identifying this specifically, it furthers one’s understanding of satire because satire is often used to expedite one’s own political agenda. By Molyneux bringing herself into the piece it makes this convention of satire more prominent. She is morphing a version of herself into a ridiculous character that any person could identify as entirely two-dimensional and unrealistic. Therefore, by Molyneux by using herself to create this fictional character disproves Hichens. “I Am Sorry…” easily accomplishes all the objectives put forth by the author and perfectly matches the conventions of the satirical genre at the same time.  

In the essay, “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, Swift uses the genre of satire to make a political statement about the state of poverty in Ireland. In Ireland during the early 1700s, when this essay was written, much of the country lived in poverty and famine was widespread among the overflowing Irish population. Swift recognized the two issues of overpopulation and poverty. In attempt to draw attention to these issues, Swift wrote the satirical essay that proposed the blasphemous idea that the country use the neglected poverty-stricken children as a source of food, which both would help to solve the overabundance of people in the country, as well as help to feed the starving poor. This scenario to solve the country’s problems that the author sets up is an example of menippean because is satirizes the social and political suffering of the Irish people, while criticizing the government for not stepping in themselves and assisting their people. The essay drastically uses the convention of understatement by trivializing the proposition of cannibalism and the murder of young children to feed the Irish population. Swift proposes that the children “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 cloathing of many thousands” (A Modest Proposal). By using understatement, the author is in a sly, downplayed way denouncing the Irish government. He is basically saying that Ireland is so indifferent towards the country’s poor children already that the government might as well good ahead and purposely kill the children so that at least their deaths would be going towards a purpose rather than the unnecessary deaths that occur when the children starve to death. The satire also uses travesty when Swift treats the death of thousands of children to feed the country as a simple sacrifice to serve the greater good of the people of the country. By minimizing the impact the deaths would have, Swift draws attention to the seriousness behind why the solution would be proposed in the first place. 

The overall premise that such a solution would even be suggested serves the purpose that Swift was trying to achieve through his “A Modest Proposal”. By his treatment of his proposed answer in such a trivial way, the author is able to actually achieve his goal which is to oppositely shine a light on the ignored issue of poverty and overpopulation in the country. This trivial attitude about the severity of the proposed solution is created through the conventions of menippean, understatement, travesty, as well as the casual tone that the author constructs. The piece in this way accomplishes its goal as a piece of satire, which is to illuminate the social and political situation in Ireland. The essay serves to mock the government and its choice not to actively work to solve these issues. 

The two satirical pieces are very different for many reasons, yet both work in the same way to achieve similar goals specific to the time period and environment their respected authors live in. “I Am Sorry” by Molyneux works to disprove the social stereotype that women are not funny which is significant to the author because she herself is a female comedian in the 2000s. “A Modest Proposal” by Swift attempts to draw attention to the situations of extreme poverty and overpopulation of Ireland during the 1700s because that is the time period and home country of the author himself. In this way, both satires are working towards a specific social goal. Both fit the criteria for satire, but have very different tones. Molyneux’s tone is sarcastic by her creation of a caricature that is so far removed from reality that it draws notice to the ridiculous idea that all those stereotypes for women are true. Swift’s tone is nonchalant and casual towards and an extreme proposition and therefore draws notice to the extremity of the situation since such a solution would be proposed. Conventions of satire are seen in both satirical pieces, yet Swift’s piece strongly displays the conventions of menippean, understatement, and travesty, which Molyneux’s piece showcases the conventions of hyperbole, understatement, irony, sarcasm, innuendo, incongruity, and self-depreciation. Although, the works go about achieving their social goals with different aspects of the satirical genre, both fit the criteria for the genre and achieve their purpose.  
