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(2016
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2016 (index to #2 samples) #2a: Short Essay (Favorite Passage) |
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Eric Howell
A Pioneer of Irony and Satire (2a)
Savages we call them, because their Manners differ from ours, which we think the
Perfection of Civility. They think the same of theirs…
The Indian Men when young are Hunters and Warriors; when old, Counselors; for
all their Government is by Counsel of the Sages [wise elders]; there
is no Force there are no Prisons, no Officers to compel Obedience, or inflict
Punishment…
…The good Missionary, disgusted with this idle Tale, said, What I delivered to
you were sacred Truths, but what you tell me is mere Fable, Fiction and
Falsehood.
[12a] The Indian offended, replied, My Brother, it seems your Friends have not
done you Justice in your Education, they have not well instructed you in the
Rules of common Civility [civility = civilized behavior]. You
saw that we who understand and practice
those Rules, believed all your Stories: Why do you refuse to believe ours?
Throughout the semester no other work has stood out so vividly or provoked such
intriguing thoughts while leaving a lasting impression upon my mind as Benjamin
Franklin’s Remarks Concerning the Savages
in North America. Through his colorful use of irony and satire Franklin
provides readers with an innovative way to challenge the social fallacies
brought on by the more traditional and religious thinking of the time, which
dominated the fledgling country before the Enlightenment Era. Franklin’s playful
tone and the use of devices such as reversal or inversion allow him to critique
the fragile, dominant religious culture without coming off as a brash heretic as
well as showing a different perspective of Native Americans.
Franklin went against the more traditional grain, breaking away from the
captivity narratives of the time by implementing an illustration of pluralism
between natives and colonist, which ironically depicted the so called “savages”
as possessing more civil characteristics and values than their Euro-American
counterparts. Tactfully, Franklin points out the freedoms associated with Native
American government by acknowledging that “…there is no force, there are no
prisons, no officers to compel obedience, or inflict punishment.” Describing the
Native’s council in such a manner, Franklin alludes to the same hopes and
freedoms colonists want from British rule.
Through the use of satire, Franklin points out the closed-minded nature of
religion when describing the meeting of the Natives and the Swedish minister. As
the minister became disgusted in the Native’s creation story, denouncing it as
mere fiction, Franklin sheds light on the thinking of the time and how this
narrow minded thinking is a hindrance in the progression of civilization. The
Native in the story voiced his disdain by pointing out the “superior”
civilization by stating the missionaries lacked “the rules of common civility.”
The failure to see the similarities while focusing on the differences is a
breeding ground for unjust and uncivilized characteristics, which seemingly
still haunt civilization to this day.
In
modern times, Franklin is associated as the face of the one hundred dollar bill,
however, when digging deeper we can associate him as the leading face of the
Enlightenment. Through the devices of his writing, Franklin proposed truth and
fallacy, in a manner in which was completely different than his contemporaries.
His use of irony and satire made these truths easier to digest thus spreading
enlightenment and progressive thinking.
