The satirical genre is an extremely effective tool to shed light on controversial topics. Dating back to the classical period, Satire sets out to improve behavior, problems and people through sarcasm and irony(Shmoop). Johnathon Swifts “A Modest Proposal” and "I Am Sorry that I Didn’t Write a Comedy Piece" by Wendy Molyneux both set out to improve issues in society. Both “A Modest proposal” and “I Am Sorry that I Didn’t Write a Comedy Piece” practice Juvenalian satire, “A Modest Proposal” uses verbal and situational irony whereas “I Am Sorry that I Didn’t Write a Comedy Piece” uses sarcasm, irony and exaggeration to convey her message. While both texts specialize in different forms of Juvenalian satire, both are extremely efficient in conveying their message.

“A Modest proposal” by Jonathon Swift is a satirical essay which provides a “modest proposal” to the crises surrounding the Irish in 1729. Swift lists a number of possible solutions to the problems surrounding British rule in the late 1720’s. Swift states that by eating children, the Irish could solve a number of problems, both economically and socially(“Study”). While providing a satirical and funny reasoning to real problems, Swift is able to engage the reader to actual problems. Within his work, Swift uses a satirical genre to portray his message. Satire is used by authors “to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual” (Literary Devices). A writer can point satirical essays to people, countries or anything, satires are usually used to point out stupidity or mistakes in society. Some examples of satire include verbal and situational irony, elements contained within these examples include, humor, irony and exaggeration.  Swift uses several key examples of irony in his work. The first being verbal irony, verbal irony is when a person says or writes one thing and means another. Verbal irony also uses words to portray a meaning that is opposite of the actual meaning (Literary Devices). Some examples of verbal irony in “A Modest Proposal” include, “Infants flesh will be in season throughout the year” and “I recommend buying these children alive”. So, when Swift uses these examples of verbal irony, he is not speaking about actually eating infants to improve society. Swifts verbal ironic tone is to portray outrageous solutions to real problems. By saying one thing and meaning another, Swift grabs the attention of the reader and points the reader into the direction of actually solving the problem at hand. For Swift and the Irish, these were economic problems, famine, overpopulation and distrust in the government. 

Furthermore, Swift also uses situational irony in several occasions. Situational irony occurs when “incongruity appears between expectations of something to happen, and what actually happens instead” (Literary Devices). The outcome is entirely different from what the audience is expecting, the purpose for this event is to allow the readers to distinguish realties and appearances (Literary Devices). Although examples of situational irony aren’t blatantly present within A Modest Proposal, I seemed to have found an example. During the beginning of the first paragraph, Swift explains his despair between the government, people and the economic and social situation of his country. At this moment, the reader would be anticipating an article on reasonable examples on how to improve the situation of Ireland, or “A Modest Proposal”. This is when the audience starts to assume the outcome, the first step in creating situational irony. Next, Swift moves in to creating “reasonable examples” on how to fix these problems, at this moment swift is using verbal irony, but is also creating a situationally ironic outcome. Now, the outcome the readers expected, is different from the actual outcome, creating situational irony and confusion for the reader. 

“I am sorry I didn’t write a comedy piece”, by Molyneux is a satirical essay describing the stereotypes of women. Molyneux starts by describing that she saw an article on a website asking women to submit more comedy pieces, Molyneux then describes stereotypical events in a “women’s” life. She describes her gigantic closets, binge watching of Grey’s Anatomy and elaborate dinners.  To describe her problems with her stereotypes of women, Molyneux uses irony similar to “A Modest Proposal” but adds an element of Sarcasm and humor. These elements aren’t seen in the lens text but still make up elements of a Juvenalian satire. 

Situational Irony is best used in Molynuex’s piece. Molyneux describes that she “must write a comedy piece” and her actions throughout the story, suggest that she is writing a comedy piece about women. But, instead of writing a comedy piece, her actions throughout the day were just her regular actions and not a comedy paper. This outcome was different then the intended action, which created situational irony and brought attention to the story. Molyneux and Swifts example of irony are both different but have the same intended actions. Both stories used an ironic and “funny” genre to bring light to real world issues, which is extremely valuable in my opinion. Next, verbal Irony is used quite often in “I Am Sorry I Didn’t Write a Comedy Piece”. Molyneux targets stereotypes by saying things such as “just as I sat down in my bay window (filled with pillows that I knitted myself while waiting by the phone for potential husbands to call)” and “I walked into my closet, which is gigantic because women love to wear lots of expensive clothes and shoes all the time. These two statements are similar to the verbal irony used in our lens text. Whereas in the lens text, Swift says absolutely outrageous statements such as eating babies and children, Molyneux uses exaggeration as her form of verbal irony. While Swifts statements shock the reader, Molyneux statements tend to be more on the sarcastic side, making the reader laugh or appear humors. Although these are both different ways of using verbal irony, they both accomplish the same goals and practice Juvenalian satire. 

Furthermore, Molynuex’s “I Am Sorry that I Didn’t Write a Comedy Piece” uses elements not used in the lens text, but are still aspects of Juvenalian Satire. Juvenalian satire focus on using irony, exaggeration and sarcasm to target problems in society. We see verbal and situational irony in the lens text but it lacks some prevailing elements of exaggeration and humor. We see these elements in Molynuex’s “I am Sorry that I Didn’t Write a Comedy Piece”. Examples of Humor and exaggeration include “twelve hours later after I had cooked, baked, cried, sewn a blanket for my hope chest, called a telephone psychic…, and then stayed up all night trying on all my clothes and shoes again” and “I cried big rolling tears that fell down onto my “Mrs. Stamos” T-shirt that I purchased off of eBay and photographed myself in for my eHarmony profile. Both of these are humorous and exaggerating texts that practice irony and satire similar to the lens text. Although different from the lens text, Molyneux still points out stereotypes of women, while using Juvenalian satire.

Johnathon Swifts “A Modest Proposal” attacked serious problems within society with outrageous, verbal and situational ironic statements. Wendy Molynuex’s “I Am Sorry that I Didn’t Write a Comedy Piece” expands on the lens text and illustrates stereotypes on women using techniques humor, exaggeration and sarcasm. Whereas both texts use the Juvenalian form of satire, they attack the form in different ways. But, both accomplish the main form of satire, which is illuminating a problematic topic and gaining attention. 
