A Modest Proposal: Jouvenalian Satire

“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face, but their own” (Swift). Jonathan Swift, a satirical writer during the eighteenth century, made an excellent metaphor revealing that satire is written in such a way that the author exposes only what they want the reader to know. This same metaphor will reign true even today in modern satirical writing within the structure, tone, and what the writings are used for; dependent upon the point of view, I personally choose juvenalian satire for being more effective in more ways than horatian. The main comparison in modern day or eighteenth century satire is whether they are horatian, which are meant to be light-hearted and witty, or if the satire is considered …show more content…
Meanwhile the juvenalian satirists like political cartoonist Bob Gorrell are tackling Jonathan Swift's perception of satire. Gorrell structures his cartoons to be funny, but to be informative as well, just like Swift's “A Modest Proposal.” An example of Gorrells work would be “It’s A Deal!” conveying that if America were to create a deal with Iran, war will cease; but as pictured above, Gorrell believes otherwise. Gorrell is this liberal with most all of his political cartoons. Another example of his liberal thinking would be “Obama Over Budget.” This political cartoon is the opinion of Gorrell on the massive amount of government money that President Obama is just sporadically spending on countless endeavors. A final example of the juvenalian style of Gorrell would be the modern relation of “The Black Lives Matter!”. Gorrell is bringing out the social issue that broke out in Baltimore, Maryland, in earlier 2015. Gorrell is poking fun at the hastag of Black Lives Matter while the underlying meaning that police officers, public safety, and private property mean nothing. Therefore Gorrell, while being satirical in tone he still conveys his point to the viewer with a earnest