Political Satire & Popular Culture The Butter Battle Book H B

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The Butter Battle Book
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Political Satire & Popular Culture
The Cold War was a decades-long struggle for global
supremacy that pitted the capitalist United States against
the communist Soviet Union. Although there are some
disagreements regarding when the Cold War began, it is
generally conceded that mid- to late-1945 marks the
time when relations between Moscow and Washington
began deteriorating. This deterioration ignited the early
Cold War and set the stage for a dynamic struggle that
often assumed mythological overtones of good versus
evil. (www.nps.gov)
CULTURAL CONTEXT
Dr. Seuss’ The Butter Battle Book was written during the Cold
War era, and reflects the concerns of the time, especially the
perceived possibility that all life on earth could be destroyed
in a nuclear war.
The Butter Battle Book was once removed from the shelves
of public libraries during the Cold War because of the
book's position regarding the arms race.
A National Review article finds it plausible that the rejection
of the book stemmed from Seuss' promotion of a theme of
"moral equivalence," where the difference between the Soviet Union and the United States was
equivalent to a disagreement over the proper side on which to butter bread, presumably in addition to
the theme of the arms race and mutually assured destruction. (National Review Online)
DEVICES IN SATIRE
Propaganda is a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some
cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its
most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience.
Exaggeration To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes
ridiculous and its faults can be seen.
Caricature is the exaggeration of a physical feature or trait. Cartoons, especially political cartoons,
provide extensive examples of caricature.
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Burlesque is the ridiculous exaggeration of language. For instance, when a character who should use
formal, intelligent language speaks like a fool or a character who is portrayed as uneducated
uses highly sophisticated, intelligent language.
Incongruity To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings.
Particular techniques include oxymoron, metaphor, and irony.
Parody To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, or thing in order to ridicule the
original. For parody to be successful, the reader must know the original text that is being
ridiculed.
Reversal To present the opposite of the normal order. Reversal can focus on the the order of events,
such as serving dessert before the main dish or having breakfast for dinner. Additionally,
reversal can focus on hierarchical order—for instance, when a young child makes all the
decisions for a family or when an administrative assistant dictates what the company
president decides and does.
Watch the “Butter Battle Book” film and record examples that you
note of satire in the text and images.
TEXT REFERENCE
Marching band & song to
encourage Yooks/Zooks
HISTORICAL REFERENCE
Communist Propaganda
SATIRICAL TECHNIQUE
Parody
What does the film/book say about war? Is it effective? To what extent can it solve a specific issue?
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Gulliver’s Travels
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Jonathan Swift had a lot of cause to despise people, because he had a somewhat disastrous public life.
Swift was an Irish clergyman who regularly came to London to participate in the political and literary
scene under Queen Anne. While Jonathan Swift began life as a Whig (Britain's liberal party in the
eighteenth century), he eventually became a prominent Tory (a member of England's conservative party).
Tories favored royal authority and the national church (Anglicanism). The Tories also opposed increased
power for the Parliament, the English equivalent of the American Congress. Swift
may not have believed as strongly in the divine right of kings as some dyed-in-thewool Tories (as you might guess from his satire of kings in Gulliver's Travels). Still, he
did generally side with political conservatives on the issues of the day.
Everything seemed to be going relatively well until George I took the English
throne in 1714. With George came a strongly pro-Whig Parliament. The Whigs
were the political enemies of the Tories, and Swift found himself up a creek without
a paddle. Facing the end of his political life, Swift headed back to Ireland, becoming
dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. This feud between the Whigs and the
Tories provides the primary political material for Gulliver's Travels – for more
specifics, check out our "Character Analysis" of the Lilliputians.
Swift completed Gulliver's Travels in 1725 and published it through London printer
Benjamin Motte in 1726. Swift wrote to Motte under an assumed name, Richard
Sympson, to arrange the novel's printing. Motte was so concerned with being
charged with treason for publishing Gulliver's Travels that he tried to tone down the
political content of several parts of the novel (source). The fact that Swift couldn't even use his own
name when planning his book's publication, and that the publisher tried to censor its content, gives us a
sense of exactly how offensive Gulliver's Travels must have been when it was written.
Outraged that Motte rearranged his original text, Swift finally sent Gulliver's Travels to another press for
printing. The 1735 edition, printed by George Faulkner in Dublin, restores the novel in its complete form
and includes a nasty little letter supposedly from "Captain Gulliver" criticizing the 1726 edition's
changes. But even Motte got a happy ending: Gulliver's Travels sold out its first printing in 10 days.
Everybody read it, and now here we all are, ready to get to the nitty gritty of Lemuel Gulliver and his
travels. (www.shmoop.com)
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Big Endians and Little Endians
PASSAGE FROM GULLIVER’S TRAVELS
Besides, our Histories of six thousand Moons make no mention of any other
Regions, than the two great Empires of Lilliput and Blefuscu. Which two mighty
Powers have, as I was going to tell you, been engaged in a most obstinate War for
six and thirty Moons past.
It began upon the following Occasion. It is allowed on all Hands, that the primitive
way of breaking Eggs, before we eat them, was upon the larger End: But his
present Majesty's Grand-father, while he was a Boy, going to eat an Egg, and
breaking it according to the ancient Practice, happened to cut one of his Fingers.
Whereupon the Emperor his Father published an Edict, commanding all his
Subjects, upon great Penaltys, to break the smaller End of their Eggs.
The People so highly resented this Law, that our Histories tell us there have been
six Rebellions raised on that account; wherein one Emperor lost his Life, and
another his Crown. These civil Commotions were constantly fomented by the
Monarchs of Blefuscu; and when they were quelled, the Exiles always fled for
Refuge to that Empire. It is computed, that eleven thousand Persons have, at
several times, suffered Death, rather than submit to break their Eggs at the smaller
End.
Many hundred large Volumes have been published upon this Controversy: But the
books of the Big-Endians have been long forbidden, and the whole Party rendered
incapable by Law of holding Employments. During the Course of these Troubles, the
Emperors of Blefuscu did frequently expostulate by their Ambassadors, accusing us
of making a Schism in Religion, by offending against a fundamental Doctrine of our
great Prophet Lustrog, in the fifty-fourth Chapter of the Brundrecal (which is their
Alcoran.) This, however, is thought to be a meer Strain upon the Text: For the
Words are these: That all true Believers shall break their Eggs at the convenient
End: and which is the convenient End, seems, in my humble Opinion, to be left to
every Man's Conscience, or at least in the power of the Chief Magistrate to
determine.
Now the Big-Endian Exiles have found so much Credit in the Emperor of Blefuscu's
Court, and so much private Assistance and Encouragement from their Party here at
home, that a bloody War has been carried on between the two Empires for six and
thirty Moons with various Success; during which time we have lost forty Capital
Ships, and a much greater number of smaller Vessels, together with thirty thousand
of our best Seamen and Soldiers; and the Damage received by the Enemy is
reckon'd to be somewhat greater than Ours. However, they have now equipped a
numerous Fleet, and are just preparing to make a Descent upon us; and his
Imperial Majesty, placing great Confidence in your Valour and Strength, has
commanded me to lay this Account of his affairs before you.
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Historical References in the Endian Passage
TEXT REFERENCE
HISTORICAL REFERENCE
England and Little-Endians
England and the Protestant
English
Blefuscu and Big-Endians
France and the French Catholics
Emperor who publishes edict to
break eggs on the small end
Henry VIII
Emperor who loses his life
Charles I
Emperor who loses his crown
James II
Law forbidding Big-Endians from
holding jobs
The Test Act of 1673*
SATIRICAL TECHNIQUE
*a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil
disabilities on Roman Catholics and Nonconformists. The principle was that none but persons professing
the Established Church were eligible for public employment, and the severe penalties pronounced against
recusants, whether Roman Catholic or Nonconformist, were affirmations of this principle. In practice
nonconformists were often exempted from some of these laws through the regular passage of Acts of
Indemnity.