Satire
Directions: Start at the top. Be sure to review "Characteristics of Fairy Tales" and "Glossary of Satirical Terms." Complete the activities under "Review Questions" and "Writing Satire Directions."
Hopefully, this story can also be dramatized in class. 
Definition
A literary work that ridicules its subject through the use of techniques such as exaggeration, reversal, incongruity, and/or parody in order to make a comment or criticism about it.
Note: Main Satire Page: Satire This is the Short Version.
Review Questions
What makes a fairy tale a fairy tale?
What are the characteristics of the genre (fairy tales)?
Go to Fractured Fairy Tales to enjoy making three short fractured, satirical tales as a warm-up to your own satirical story.
Fractured Fairy Tales
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/fairytales/
Characteristics of Fairy Tales
1. A fairy tale begins with "Once upon a time..."
2. A fairy tale happens in the long ago.
3. A fairy tale includes fantasy and "make believe."
4. A fairy tale includes a "Good" character versus an "Evil" character.
5. A fairy tale usually includes royalty, such as a beautiful princess and/or a handsome prince.
6. A fairy tale may include magic with giants, elves, talking animals, witches, or fairies.
7. A fairy tale has a problem that needs to be solved.
8. A fairy tale often requires three tries to solve the problem.
9. A fairy tale has a happy ending: "They all lived happily ever after."
10. A fairy tale usually teaches a lesson or has a theme.
Glossary of Satirical Terms
Four Techniques
Exaggeration
To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen.
Incongruity
To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings.
Reversal
To present the opposite of the normal order (e.g., the order of events, hierarchical order).
Parody
To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, or thing.
Writing Satire Directions
Goal:
Create your own satirized fairy tale using the elements of fairy tales and the techniques of satire.
1. Think of a fairy story to satirize.
Review the list of common fairy tale characteristics-- how might the elements might be used in satire. For instance, a satirized fairy tale might focus on the role of the hero to comment on how unrealistic the character is. Share with the class.
Remember that satire has the overarching goals of commenting on or criticizing society. Again, you might call this commentary an underlying lesson or an unwritten moral. What will be your moral for your interpretation of the fairy tale?
Identify three to five specific things from your fairy tale that you have chosen, and then pair those things with ways they might be used in satire.
Create a list 3-5 specific things to satirize and include specific details and references to your stories.
Summarize the series of events that will take place in your revised version of the tale. These summaries will simply be notes that you can refer to as you work further. Parts of the summary may be used in the final version, but it’s mostly likely that the notes will serve more as a loose outline for the work.
2. Review the literary elements of character, setting, conflict, and resolution to create your story:
3. Use these online sights to fine-tune your ideas from (1)-- Remember to print your work:
Try the Plot Diagram Interactive, to outline the structure of your fairy tale. Print. You may want to try the Story Map Interactive also.
Try the “Character Map” in the tool for multiple characters for your story (e.g., the heroine, the villain, the hero). Print.
Complete the Literary Elements Map. Print the graphic map.
Resources:
Tales of Wonder
http://www.darsie.net/talesofwonder/
Surlalune Fairy Tales
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/
Grimms Fairy Tales
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimmtales.html
Google Links Fairy Tales
http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Folklore/Literature/Tales/Fairy_Tales/
Note that this site includes links to a variety of fairy tale resources, so carefully select ones that are fairy tales, not resources.
Fractured Fairy Tales
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/fairytales/
Practice writing your own fractured tales.
Literary Elements Resources:
Literary Elements Map Interactive
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/lit-elements/
Plot Diagram Interactive
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/plot-diagram/
Story Map Interactive
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/storymap/index.html
NCTE/IRA Standards
1 - Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of
themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to
respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment.
Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate
texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their
knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their
understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context,
graphics).
6 - Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and
punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss
print and nonprint texts.
8 - Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases,
computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate
knowledge.
11 - Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of
literacy communities.
12 - Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for
learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).