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Complete the satire worksheet provided using the following terms below.
ASSIGNMENT: Select passages from your reading that exemplify five of the different literary
devices that Twain uses to create humor and/or satire.
Use the attached sample as your guide. Follow MLA format and provide a bibliography at the
end of your paragraph.
Pride and Prejudice Satire Terms Analysis Model Entry
Text: I feel myself called upon by our relationship, and my situation in life, to condole with
you on the grievous affliction you are now suffering under, of which we were yesterday
informed by a letter from Hertfordshire. Be assured, my dear Sir, that Mrs. Collins and myself
sincerely sympathize with you, and all your respectable family, in your present distress, which
must be of the bitterest kind, because proceeding from a cause which no time can remove. No
arguments shall be wanting on my part that can alleviate so severe a misfortune; or that may
comfort you, under a circumstance that must be of all others most afflicting to a parents mind.
The death of your daughter would have been a blessing in comparison to this (Austen 286).
Analysis:
In this passage, which follows Lydias embarrassing elopement with Mr. Wickham, Mr. Collins
intention to sympathize with the Bennet family is overshadowed by his actual tendency to insult
them. In the first few lines of his condolence letter to Mr. Bennet, Mr. Collins claims he
sincerely sympathizes with the Bennet family, but he makes it very clear he is writing only out
of obligation due to their relationship and his situation in life as a minister. He also states
that his motives in writing are to condole the family, but the letter continues on to be extremely
negative and harshly critical of so severe a misfortune. That he would admit to writing out of
obligation, and proceed to criticize the family, is incongruous with the practice of sending
condolences. His diction is out of place, too: he calls Lydias elopement an affliction, a word
more aptly used to described dreaded disease, not a wayward daughter. And though he calls the
Bennets a respectable family, Mr. Collins clearly feels Lydias elopement has tarnished the
familys name forever and does not hide his disdain. He even goes to the extent of wishing Lydia
had died rather than shame the Bennet family in this way, revealing how highly he regards
social status, custom, and respect. Calling Lydias death a blessing reveals how utterly
misguided and insensitive Mr. Collins is hardly the comforting minister he has billed himself to
be. He clearly values social appearances more than family bonds. By juxtaposing these
inconsistent assertions, Austen reveals the hypocrisy and artificiality of Mr. Collins true
character. Throughout the book, Austen uses characters like Mr. Collins to suggest that people in
her time were obsessed with appearances and social customs, while human kindness and
empathy were devalued.
MLA:
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: Penguin Classics, 1813. Print.