Satires - Critical Lens

Many satires use irony and/or humor to entertain their audience while at the same time present a serious topic. The satires “The Little Girl and the Wolf,” and “The Princess and the Tin Box” both by James Thurber, use the literary techniques of irony/humor in order to expose a serious message. In “The Little Girl and the Wolf” Thurber changes the plot-line of the fairy-tale “Little Red Riding Hood.” In his “The Princess and the Tin Box” Thurber changes the princess’ actions than what the reader would’ve expected, applying situational irony. In the satire “The Little Girl and the Wolf,” by James Thurber, tells the story of a little girl visiting her grandmother’s house, but things turn out differently than what the reader expects. The story is about a little girl was in the woods carrying a basket of food to her grandmother’s house. On the way, she encountered a wolf, who asked her what she was doing. When he found out she was on her way to her grandmother’s house, he waited there, dressed as the old woman. On the little girl’s arrival, she realizes that the wolf is posing as her grandmother and shoots him dead. “The little girl took an automatic out of her basket and shot the wolf dead.” Thurber uses humor because he follows the same story line of the famous tale “Little Red Riding Hood,” but instead of the little girl being attacked by the wolf, she kills him. Thurber also expresses a serious message because little children nowadays are exposed to more violence than they should ever be. Thurber’s satire “The Princess and the Tin Box,” a princess has to choose one of five princes to marry, based on their gifts. Four princes bring fancy and shiny things, but the poor fifth prince brought some useless rocks. “She examined it with great interest and squealed with delight, for all her life she had been glutted with precious stones and metals...” By adding this into his satire, Thurber forces the reader to think that the princess will choose the dirty