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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
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Used Car Salesman :
In Chapter 7, which primarily consists of speech by unnamed speakers who represent everyday, ordinary farmers from Oklahoma and the car-dealers who attempt to swindle them, Steinbeck offers a biting satire of car-dealers, whom he presents as unscrupulous and greedy:
What you want is transportation, ain’t it? No baloney for you. Sure the upholstery is shot. Seat cushions ain’t turning no wheels over [...]
Like to get in to see that one? Sure, no trouble. I’ll pull her out of the line.
Get ’em under obligation. Make ’em take up your time. Don’t let ’em forget they’re takin’ your time. People are nice, mostly. They hate to put you out. Make ’em put you out, an’ then sock it to ’em.
Cars lined up, Model T’s, high and snotty, creaking wheel, worn bands. Buicks, Nashes, De Sotos.
Here, Steinbeck presents the perspective of a stereotypical used-car salesman, who wants to make a good deal and is willing to cheat his customers. The salesman uses slick reasoning to sell low-quality cars, admitting that the “upholstery is shot” in one car, but nevertheless insisting that this is no big problem, as this flaw won’t prevent the car from driving. His goal is to sell a car at the highest possible price, regardless of its true value.
When speaking to customers, his tone is friendly and obliging. Later, however, he acknowledges his own manipulative techniques. “People are nice, mostly,” he notes, and “they hate to put you out.” Therefore, he makes his customers feel obliged to him by spending a lot of time with them and then pressuring them to make a deal. The salesman, then, is willing to take advantage of the good and honest nature of others for his own personal gain. Through his depiction of this unnamed salesman, Steinbeck satirizes the car dealerships and other businesses that he believes exploited the desperation of the migrants who were trying to start a new life.
