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Personification
Definition of Satire
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of satire, but satirists can take... read full definition
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of... read full definition
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians... read full definition
14. The Thinker
Explanation and Analysis—Raising Seth:
In "The Thinker," Anderson tells the story of Seth Richmond, a young man in Winesburg who has recently lost his father. In the aftermath of his passing, the Richmond family dynamic begins to deteriorate—Seth begins to act out, and Virginia, Seth's mother, finds herself unable to relate to her son. Anderson's depiction of the family dynamic, and particularly Virginia's vision of parenting as a cycle of small abuses, reads as a satire of the responsibilities of parenting and family dysfunction:
The truth was that the son thought with remarkable clearness and the mother did not. She expected from all people certain conventional reactions to life. A boy was your son, you scolded him and he trembled and looked at the floor. When you had scolded enough he wept and all was forgiven. After the weeping and when he had gone to bed, you crept into his room and kissed him.
Related Themes:
