Download Babbitt Activities - Humanitas 11 Period 2

Babbitt Activities
From A Glossary of Literary Terms by M.H. Abrams
Satire: A literary art of diminishing a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking toward it
attitudes of amusement, contempt, indignation or scorn
It may use laughter as a weapon but its aim is not to amuse. Satire is usually justified by writers
as a corrective of human vice and folly.
Three types of traditional satire:
Horatian satire – the character of the speaker is that of an urbane, witty, and tolerant man of the
world, who is moved more often to wry amusement than to indignation at the spectacle of human
folly, pretentiousness, and hypocrisy, and who uses a relaxed and informal language to evoke a
smile at human follies and absurdities - sometimes including his own.
Juvenalian satire – the character of the speaker is that of a serious moralist who uses a dignified
and public style of utterance to decry modes of vice and error which are no less dangerous
because they are ridiculous, and who undertakes to evoke contempt, moral indignation, or an
unillusioned sadness at the aberrations of men.
Indirect Satire – this is in the form of a narrative instead of direct address, in which the objects of
the satire are characters who make themselves and their opinions ridiculous by what they think,
say, and do, and are sometimes made even more ridiculous by the author’s comments and
narrative style.
Irony exists when there is a conscious discrepancy between what is said and what is intended.
Verbal irony is a statement in which the implicit meaning differs from that which the speaker
ostensibly asserts. Such an ironic statement usually involves the explicit expression of one
attitude or evaluation, but with the implication of a very different attitude or evaluation. Another
way of stating this is that the speaker’s implied or intended meaning is a reversal of the surface
statement, because there are clues in the circumstances that alert the reader to the real intentions.
Structural irony occurs in a work when the author introduces a structural feature which sustains
the duplicity of meaning. One common device of this is the use of a naïve hero whose simplicity
leads him to persist in putting an interpretation on affairs which the knowing reader – who
penetrates to and shares the implicit point of view of the author – is able to see through.
Dramatic irony involves a situation in a play or narrative in which the audience shares with the
author knowledge of which the character is ignorant: the character acts in a way grossly
inappropriate to the actual circumstances, or expects the opposite of what fate holds in store, or
says something that anticipates the actual outcome, but not at all in the way that he means it.
Babbitt’s World
Good
Bad
Elements of Propaganda or Advertising techniques (bandwagon, glittering generalization,
testimonial, slogans) – find an example of at least one propaganda/advertising technique Babbitt
uses in his speech to sell his claim.
{Slogan – a word or phrase used by a political party, business, etc. to get attention or to advertise
a product
Platitude – dullness or triteness of ideas, things said. A trite or obvious remark – one uttered as
though it were fresh or original}
What is Babbitt trying to sell?
What are Babbitt’s complaints about the college professors?
Re-read the definition of satire. What is Sinclair Lewis satirizing in this novel?
next to
god of
course…
Babbitt
Unknown
Citizen
Short Essay: Due Wednesday – MLA format one paragraph with a TPR
Consider the literary audience and the real audience(you the reader) in Babbitt. Which of the
appeals Babbitt uses to support his claim are most effective for the literary audience (the
members of the Rotary Club) and WHY? Which of his appeals are most effective for conveying
Lewis’ satiric intentions to the real audience and WHY?
Review all of your handouts on Rhetorical Appeals and Devices to identify which appeals
support his claim most effectively depending on the audience and WHY those appeals work.