Manny

In the day to day life of the “Modern Family”, Manny is a key character who utilizes being a round character, contrasting foil, and subtle sarcasm to convey humor.

Manny is not who many people think he is. His character has many dimensions making him a round character. Manny treats almost every member of his family differently. When Manny is around his mother he is a sweet naïve child who is looking for love. But, when he is around Luke he is a daring kid who is trying to act twice his age. I think Manny is most like a real person in the show. He varies his personality from scene to scene as many people do in real life from situation to situation.

In contrast to Manny’s complex but often slightly feminine and sensitive personality, on the contrary Jay his stepfather is nothing like him. Jay is a manly man who finds himself having trouble relating to Manny. This relationship is often used to make a comic effect. These characters can be considered a foil because they contrast each other. Manny’s complex personality complicates this foil though because in certain situations when not around his mother he displays behavior that would be more characteristic of Jay. For example when they are at the track playing the horses Manny is found talking confidently and intelligently. Jay even admits that he is acting a little like himself.

Manny’s use of sarcasm is very subtle in the show and is often not picked up by the rest of the cast. When Manny talks to his mother he will take advantage of her stupidity and say things out of complete sarcasm. To let the audience know he is not just stupid himself or naïve he will often wink or nod at the camera or explain himself when they cut away to the individual interviews. This aspect of Manny’s character is what produces the most comic effect. He also uses this sarcasm when with Luke. He realizes Luke is not as smart as he is so he says things that can be taken multiple ways. Luke being naïve also interprets Manny in a denotative way. Instead of how Manny often expects to be interpreted.

A lot of people can easily relate with Manny because he is complex and good at manipulating people. Also, subtle sarcasm, contrasting foil between him and Jay, and the round characterization given to him, can be very funny and even lovable. 

A Day in the Life of a Gorilla

Everyday I wake up in the everyday struggle. I have to hustle to survive. People bread gorillas to protect us but now I have 15 kids. I have to fight everyday to help these little brothers out. People don't understand what its like to live in the jungle. There is no shelter and I always have to be on the lookout for crazy animals trying to eat me. Instead of giving us food people need to give us some shelter. Build me a house don't plant me a tree. The only reason we live in trees is because y'all never provide us with any real housing. The fact is I'm out of my prime. Back in my glory days hippos and hyenas would come through and I would teach them a lesson. Everybody in the jungle new not to mess with this tribe. But these new gangstas are coming up through the jungle. They just don't care they run around like they don't have a care in the world. They could care less whether they live or die. But once these 15 little monkeys grow up I'll be able to retire as the head gorilla. I don't want to die fighting like my father. I want to spend my later years in a stick hut with my women. Now that's the day in the life of a gorilla.

A Swift Analysis

Stefen Winfield

4/4/12

Period E

Swift Analysis

            A proposal is an idea that is to be considered and possibly accepted by others. Depending on the validity of the proposal it will or will not be taken into account. Ireland in the 1700’s was plagued by famine and poverty. A well-known writer decided it was his turn to contribute by creating a proposal to cure his country of poverty and starvation. In this tale of absurd theories in A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift utilizes subtle black comedy, constructive absurdity, and biting sarcasm to resolve the problems of overpopulation. 

Black comedy is the juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements (in writing or drama) to give a disturbing effect. Swift’s proposal is full of black humor. He uses things that would be considered grotesque to convey humor. He assures that, “Infant’s flesh will be in season throughout the year.” The consumption of infant’s is very dark, but Swift uses word play and a creative vocabulary to make these dark statements seem reasonable. Just the fact that he talks about eating babies makes the essay very dark and morbid. Throwing morals to the wind Swift request that, “We should soon see an honest emulation among the married women, which of them could bring the fattest child to the market.” It is obvious that no women would bring her own child to market. It also sounds dark because he is talking about women giving away their own children so others can eat them. Clearly Swift has a complete disregard for morality showing black comedy in many instances. He views are very frank and to the point, even if the point seems completely backwards too many.

Absurdity describes pieces of literature that are ridiculously incongruous or unreasonable. This entire piece is based off this definition of absurdity. Swift uses absurdity to the extreme to create a comic effect. He says, “The constant breeders, besides the gain of eight shillings sterling per annum by the sale of their children.” This is a very absurd statement because he is suggesting that the children that are being sold are only worth eight shillings. He also is valuing wealth over human life. With no regard for morals Swift declares that, “A good fat child…will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat, when he hath only some particular friend, or his own family to dine with.” Swift tries to convince his reader by included tidbits of nutritional information and seemingly logical explanations. 

  Sarcasm characterizes everything this piece stands for. When Swift wrote this he wanted to poke fun at the problems taking place in Ireland. He insists that, “For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public.” Swift is being extremely sarcastic because he and everyone else know that children are needed to sustain human life and without children there is no future. But he implies that people like himself that find a way to make use of or get rid of children should be glorified. Sarcastically Swift sincerely vows that, “in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the publick good of my country,” he is doing this for the good of the people. The tone this piece is written in suggest are serious reaction, but with Swifts biting use of sarcasm this work is much more of a comedy. 

Though eating babies may seem like a strong nutritional decision, it is utterly immoral and illegal. So, for as long as people have been walking the Earth eating babies has never been an option to avoid poverty or starvation. But in Swifts “Modest Proposal” he addresses all negative aspects of his idea. He leaves any out the chance of any doubt. The only problem is the entire proposal is just a farce. Perfectly utilizing subtle black comedy, constructive absurdity, and biting sarcasm Swift resolves problems of poverty, overpopulation, and famine. Sometimes conventional wisdom must be thrown to the wind when reading literature with such a high level of sarcasm and satire. Though many may view this piece as dark and morbid it is meant to convey humor and bring light to a subpar situation.

           

Modest Proposal

Racism is tearing this country and many other countries apart. It has created genocide, widespread hate, and many other problems. Often racism can dictate people lives for the worse. As President of the Department of Racial Injustice Relocation Organization (DRIRO) I believe if we put a stop to racism then it will be much easier to solve the other problems of the world. So I have created a plan to put an end to racism as we know it.

            We plan to install video cameras in everyone’s household. Don’t worry we are not invading your privacy. We just want to see if people are being racist in their households. First time offenders will be upgraded to a head camera. They will be forced to walk around with a camera on their head for a 1 year period. After the 1 year period of good behavior they will go back to the house cam. But in the instance that someone continues to be racist with the head cam they will be sent to a corresponding country where they will work as slave. For example, a white supremacist would be sent to Niger, Africa to harvest bananas and clean feces for a local primate reservation. This was chosen because we figured the ropes of KKK members are perfect for carrying bananas. If you had a problem with Jewish people you would live in Israel as a sheep herder. In addition you will have a bar/bat mitzvah, and only be allowed to eat kosher. Because of the religious ignorance displayed by these people they will take weekly trips to Jerusalem. If you hate Asians you will be relocated to North Korea where you will be an equal with all the other Asians. Once they are in North Korea the DRIRO will have no control over what will happen to them. But I personally guarantee that they will be treated like crap while serving as a Asian slave. If you are a person that hates Latinos we are sending you to Columbia. You will work long hard hours as a slave for a drug cartel.

            We take a lot of pride in our work and believe with the right people behind it our plans will go great. Once these people are relocated the world will be a better place.

Literary Devices

Black comedy- "Infant's flesh will be in season throughout the year"

Absurdity- "The constant breeders, besides the gain of eight shillings startling per annum by the sale of their children,"

Blue Humor-"We should soon see an honest emulation among the married women, which of them could bring the fattest child to the market"

Thesis Statement-  In this tale of absurd theories in A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift utilizes subtle black comedy, constructive absurdity, and descriptive blue humor to resolve the problems of overpopulation.

Kiss and Tell Paragraph

     In this embarrassing tale of how a daughter's date is ruined by her parents in Kiss and Tell, Alain de Botton uses subtle characterization to convey the theme of humor. Isabelle finds herself trying to explain her parents situation to her boyfriend. In the process we learn about the humorous relationship they share. It is evident when shes says "This is prime argument territory for them, Mum will be asking Dad where he put the car park ticket and he'll get flustered because he'll just have dropped it into a bin by mistake", that her and her mother have little respect for her father. As the story progresses you realize the type of people her parents are. When her mother says, "Oh, well, it's very nice, pity you don't have the cleavage for it, but that's your father's fault", it shows that she is an extroverted person. Again it shows disrespect toward the father because usually the cleavage of a girl would not be linked to her father, but since the mother knows she will receive no resistance from the father with this statement she says it anyway. Lastly, when the father tries to defend his daughter from embarrassment in front of her boyfriend, "Don't mind her, bean, she's had a hard day", he is quickly shut down by his wife, "My day would be fine if I wasn't lumbered with someone who kept losing tickets to the car park". He submits to her once again and shows he really has no control over the relationship.