Friday, January 14, 2011

The whole lesson is below.

WU (1/14) Read the passage below (it’s several paragraphs into chapter 19).
  • Identify one of Voltaire’s satirical targets here.
  • Name one technique Voltaire employs to further his satire.
  • Finally, what is Voltaire’s message about his target?
"Yes, sir," said the negro, "it is the custom. They give us a pair of linen drawers for our whole garment twice a year. When we work at the sugar-canes, and the mill snatches hold of a finger, they cut off the hand; and when we attempt to run away, they cut off the leg; both cases have happened to me. This is the price at which you eat sugar in Europe. Yet when my mother sold me for ten patagons on the coast of Guinea, she said to me: 'My dear child, bless our fetiches, adore them for ever; they will make thee live happily; thou hast the honour of being the slave of our lords, the whites, which is making the fortune of thy father and mother.' Alas! I know not whether I have made their fortunes; this I know, that they have not made mine. Dogs, monkeys, and parrots are a thousand times less wretched than I. The Dutch fetiches, who have converted me, declare every Sunday that we are all of us children of Adam—blacks as well as whites. I am not a genealogist, but if these preachers tell truth, we are all second cousins. Now, you must agree, that it is impossible to treat one's relations in a more barbarous manner“(40 [or chapter 19]).

Write a paragraph in which you explain how one or more of the devices you noted contribute to the satirical point you pinpointed.
Your paragraph should begin with a clear topic sentence (or sentences) like:
  • Through [some technique], Voltaire attacks [his target], saying that [his specific point].
  • In this passage, Voltaire mocks [his target]. By [some technique], he demonstrates [his specific point].
  • By [some technique], Voltaire emphasizes [his specific point about his target].
Bonus: Avoid the verb “uses” and all of its synonyms (e.g. utilizes, employs, etc.)

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