Satirical Essay Analysis
The Mosquito Satirical Essay Analysis
When you think of a mosquito, you think of an annoying pest, or an insect that ruins picnics. In the short essay “The Mosquito,” by Stephen Leacock, the mosquito is used to satirize someone else’s thoughts/ideas. This satiric essay is an excerpt from the book On the Front Life of Life: Stephen Leacock: Memories and Reflections, 1935-1944. Leacock focuses on the mosquito and uses it to mock/criticize Vilhjalmar Stefansson thoughts. This essay contains some humorous and satiric elements which makes this essay an excellent and effective example of satire.
Normally in a satiric essay, there is an intended audience; a group, an individual or a system that is targeted. In this case the intended audience is one man by the name of Vilhjalmar Stefansson. Research has led to believe this, because in the book My Discovery of the West (by Stephen Leacock), Leacock had written that he had received an angry letter from Vilhjalmar Stefansson. Stefansson was very proud to be a Canadian and believed that North Canada was very beautiful; the objective of his letter, was to point this out to Leacock. Leacock, who had heard the story of an English settler nearby who was speaking of the mosquitos by the Great Slave Lake, got the idea to write “The Mosquito” showing an aspect of Canada’s “wildlife.” In his book he wrote, “What with coal oil and such things, we have killed off so many mosquitoes that we are beginning to run out of them and may have to send for more. It is good to know that if a real shortage comes the Great Slave [L]ake district can supply an adequate 'carryover'.” This was the beginning to the essay “The Mosquito.”
Leacock used many satirical techniques and other humorous elements to mock Stefansson’s mindset. Some of the elements used throughout the essay are sarcasm, hyperbole, exaggeration, irony, and litotes (understatements). For example he made a great understatement when he wrote that naturalists can easily fend off
When you think of a mosquito, you think of an annoying pest, or an insect that ruins picnics. In the short essay “The Mosquito,” by Stephen Leacock, the mosquito is used to satirize someone else’s thoughts/ideas. This satiric essay is an excerpt from the book On the Front Life of Life: Stephen Leacock: Memories and Reflections, 1935-1944. Leacock focuses on the mosquito and uses it to mock/criticize Vilhjalmar Stefansson thoughts. This essay contains some humorous and satiric elements which makes this essay an excellent and effective example of satire.
Normally in a satiric essay, there is an intended audience; a group, an individual or a system that is targeted. In this case the intended audience is one man by the name of Vilhjalmar Stefansson. Research has led to believe this, because in the book My Discovery of the West (by Stephen Leacock), Leacock had written that he had received an angry letter from Vilhjalmar Stefansson. Stefansson was very proud to be a Canadian and believed that North Canada was very beautiful; the objective of his letter, was to point this out to Leacock. Leacock, who had heard the story of an English settler nearby who was speaking of the mosquitos by the Great Slave Lake, got the idea to write “The Mosquito” showing an aspect of Canada’s “wildlife.” In his book he wrote, “What with coal oil and such things, we have killed off so many mosquitoes that we are beginning to run out of them and may have to send for more. It is good to know that if a real shortage comes the Great Slave [L]ake district can supply an adequate 'carryover'.” This was the beginning to the essay “The Mosquito.”
Leacock used many satirical techniques and other humorous elements to mock Stefansson’s mindset. Some of the elements used throughout the essay are sarcasm, hyperbole, exaggeration, irony, and litotes (understatements). For example he made a great understatement when he wrote that naturalists can easily fend off