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Submitted by afaegurl00 on April 22, 2008
Category: Social Issues
Words: 1314 | Pages: 6
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As Robert Harris stated in “The Purpose and Method of Satire,” satire is "a literary manner which blends a critical attitude with humor and wit.” In order for a satirical piece to be successful it must contain a variety of characteristics. Among these include irony, sarcasm, ridicule, wit, criticism, and exaggeration. The literary works, “A Few Words About Breasts: Shaping Up Absurd,” by Nora Ephron and Real Women Have Curves by Josefina Lopez contain many of these characteristics. Both of these works are similar in the sense that they both criticize and ridicule different aspects of physical appearance, yet the situation and outcomes are slightly different.
Real Women Have Curves is a 2002 American movie whose plot revolves around Ana Garcia, a Mexican-American teenager living in an East Los Angeles barrio. With encouragement from her teacher, Ana has dreams of attending Columbia University. However, before achieving her goal she must try to balance her mother’s traditional view of women with her own contemporary ideas while dealing with self-image issues. Her mother wants her to work in the sweat shop like the rest of the family in order to help support them. Throughout the play Ana is constantly criticized and ridiculed by her mother about her heavy weight. For example, at her graduation party someone offers Ana a piece of cake, and Ana’s mother responds by saying, “Can’t you see she’s bigger than the cake!” This is a true example of ridicule because Ana’s mother embarrassed her in front of others. From this example, it is understood that exaggeration is a common technique used in satirical pieces.
“A Few Words About Breasts: Shaping Up Absurd” has a very similar theme as Real Women Have Curves. However, most of the ridiculing in this literary work comes straight from the narrator herself. Nora Ephron is distressed by her lack of chest and constantly criticizes others for what they have and she doesn’t. I can...
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