ABSTRACT
In the life of many a satirist there occurs an early disturbance — a severe disappointment or a tragic event. Most satirists display a facetious attitude in their teens or earlier. The young satirist learns that the easiest way to find satiric material is to look for discrepancies between what people say and what they do. Men usually grow more conservative as they grow older. There are biological, social, and economic reasons for this, and most satirists, like most other writers and most other people, follow this pattern. A middle-aged satirist is likely to consider his own future prospects at a time when strength may fail and money is scarce. It is not enough to say that a satirist became a satirist because he had problems. In almost every case, the satirist showed satiric tendencies and temperament before misfortunes befell him.
