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mattzerella-sticks · 5 years

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Park Your Car in My Gay-rage

Castiel moved out West so he could live freely and with pride. However an anonymous act of bigotry chips away at his faith that he can live life without facing prejudice. And with each repair shop that turns him down the cracks keep growing. Why would Singer's Auto be any different?

Will his car ever be fixed? And could a certain mechanic restore more than just his car?

(Link to ao3)

Castiel slumps against his car, snapping his cell phone shut in frustration. Banging his hand against the hood he grumbles out a string of expletives as he gives up hope. Meg, leaning against the hood, drums her fingers on the closed Yellow Pages while watching him.

“So,” Meg says, “it a bust, too?”

He sighs, tapping his phone on his forehead. “More than that. The mechanic laughed me off after I told him what I needed and had a few choice opinions to tell me.”

Meg’s lips purse, and she steps back onto the sidewalk to stare at the rough scratches across her friend’s beige paint. The word was interrupted by the open driver seat’s door, but when closed all together the crude artist spelled out ‘FAGGOT’. “Maybe he knew the jackass who did this…”

Castiel ignores her, chewing on his lip. “How am I going to get this fixed…? I can’t drive around town like this.”

“And I’m sick and tired of looking through that thing,” she jerks her thumb at the offensive phone book, “Do you ever think searching for stuff will be easier? Like, I don’t know… all these names and numbers stored somewhere and it’d only take a few seconds to find exactly what you’re looking for?”

Frown slashed heavily across his face, Castiel turns to glare at her. “What the hell are you talking about?”

She shrugs, “I don’t know… digging through that reminded me of this girl I went out with a couple’a times. Total geek, spent at least two dates going on and on about those huge, clunky computer things. Think she lived in an Internet Café… wait a minute!” She digs into her leather jacket pocket and pulls out her phone, flicking it open and clicking away.

He hops off his car, stepping closer out of curiosity. “What are you doing?”

“I just remembered,” she starts, not even looking at him, “she mentioned how she works at this garage –“

“Meg, we’ve tried all the garages in the area –“

“C’mon, trust me,” Meg continues, “place has to be good if they hired a lesbian.”

Castiel rolls his eyes. “Forgive me if I don’t trust straight men’s views on lesbianism.” At that Meg stops staring at her phone to shoot Castiel a flat look. He hisses out a breath and runs tired fingers through his hair. “Sorry, I’m just tired and frustrated about all this… why is it so hard to find somebody for a body job?”

“Because unfortunately most people today are ignorant, Clarence,” Meg tells him, holding her phone against her ear, “And we’re not going to see any real change for years… maybe not until we’re all old and shriveled and grey.”

Huffing, Castiel crosses his arms against his chest and spins on his heel. He lets Meg talk to his back, done with their bleak conversation. Still, a part of him agrees with her opinion of the future for those like them. It wasn’t too long ago Castiel was trapped in his old hometown in Illinois, looking over his shoulder every weeknight to make sure no one followed him home. Fearful that one day his face would be a blip in the newsreel, another name to add to the wall like Matthew Shepard.

“I moved here to escape all that,” he mumbles to himself, “but apparently hatred can grow anywhere… even in California.”

Meg hops onto his back, interrupting his musings. She chokes him, forcing him to twirl her around until Castiel can pry her arms off of him. After wheezing in a good-sized breath, he asks what that was about.

“They’d be happy to take a look,” Meg says, “Free of charge!”

Castiel blinks at her. “What?”

“I told you this was a good place, Clarence. Hurry up though, they’re not gonna keep the shop open for you.” She rattles off the directions, having to repeat herself once Castiel shakes away the dazed look in his eye. “…And when you get there you’re supposed to ask for Dean,” she finishes, “Dean Winchester.”

“Why?”

“Guy overheard us talking and said he’d take care of it personally.”

“But… why?”

She shrugs, “Who knows, but he’s waving his fees. Don’t look a gift mechanic in the mouth, my gorgeous unicorn.” Meg pockets her phone and skips backwards, waving goodbye.

“Wait,” Castiel follows her, “you’re not coming with?”

“Band practice,” she says, “I’ve gotta swing over to my place and pick up my bass. You’ll do fine!” With a loud smack of her lips she disappears behind a corner, off on her own way.

Castiel waits a beat before he actually leaves. He starts the engine, idling some more to switch out the CD in the drive, so instead of blasting Indigo Girls he could drive to the music of the Cranberries. Skipping until he reached ‘Zombie’, Castiel nods his head along as he begins his journey over to Singer’s Auto Repair.

It wasn’t too confusing following Meg’s directions. Halfway through her second explanation Castiel realized he was familiar with the route. He’s driven that way countless time to visit a small bookstore he loves. The only one he’d been able to find that stocks trashy romance novels of more diverse backgrounds. Perks of living near West Hollywood, Castiel always knows where to go to find shops catered to others like him.

But he would have remembered seeing a car garage there.

Rounding the final corner, Castiel slows down and crawls along the street, head swerving left and right while ‘Yeat’s Grave’ plays on. After passing his bookstore, he spots a faded sign a few storefronts down.

“How have I never seen this before?”

Unassuming from the front, with faded brick and rusted steel, Bobby’s Auto Shop sits next to a leather shop and spans all the way to the corner. A single rainbow flag hangs from a pole jutting off the side of the building. Castiel pulls into an open garage, parking near the front and cutting the music off before the next song could begin. He steps out of the car and looks around.

There are at least five vehicles stationed inside the building at the moment. He sees one hefted up on a lift, a burly man inspecting it from below. Across from him two other mechanics argue over the exposed engine of a truck, long hair pulled back into tight ponytails. At a lounge area a black couple share a bag of chips.

Looking to the other side at what Castiel expects to be only a blank wall he spies a cluttered corkboard.

Castiel walks away from his car and over to it, scanning the different fliers tacked on. Notices for events like poetry readings and charity brunches to raise funds for AIDs research. A picture of a drag queen hangs next to an ad selling a lounger with a few of the tabs ripped off. There’s even a poster for Meg’s band, ‘The Demon Queens’ that he recognizes, having done the design for them.

“You find something you like?” a rough drawl from behind startles him. Castiel spins, coming face to face with a man who shouldn’t look so handsome streaked with oil. He stares into sparkling green eyes, the color only highlighted by the dark marks on his cheeks. The mechanic smirks, cocking one brow higher than the other. “You all right there?”

“Yeah-yeah-yes,” Castiel clears his throat, “Yes I am, sorry I… what did you ask?”

He chuckles, running dirty fingers through his light brown hair, coloring it darker. “You here for some work?”

Castiel nods. “I’m supposed to ask for a Dean… Winchester?”

Mechanic’s gaze widens, glancing back at Castiel’s car before returning to him. “You’re Meg’s friend?” he asks, grinning.

“Yes…?”

“Hmm… not what I was expecting,” he says, holding a hand out, “I’m Dean.”

Castiel flushes, cursing his luck. Of course the only mechanic who would work on his car would be the man who stepped off the set of a calendar shoot.

Pretty boys have always been Castiel’s weakness. From high school when he first understood where his attractions laid to now, something about them makes his brain shuts down. His tongue works against him and sweat pours out from everywhere; thoughts bottleneck behind the embarrassing urge to blurt out ‘you’re pretty’. Castiel ceases to function normally when presented with a pretty boy.

It’s been an uncomfortable amount of time where Dean’s hand hangs in the air. Castiel realizes it when the smile on his face slowly starts to fall.

He jerks his hand out in a panic, latching onto Dean’s with as relaxed a face he can force. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dean.” His handshake is tight and fast, quickly pulling away as if burned.

Feeling something wet coating his palm Castiel prays Dean didn’t notice his sweat. However looking at it he belatedly remembers Dean’s hands were covered in oil.

“Shit,” Dean says, “Totally forgot to clean up… that’s my bad.”

“It’s fine,” Castiel tell him, “I’ve had worse… my hands are usually messy and covered in whatever.”

“Really? Like what?”

“Paints, clay… those types of things.”

“You an artist?”

“On my days off.”

Dean motions for Castiel to follow. He does. “You do any galleries?” he asks.

Castiel frowns, “I’ve been in one or two, but never on my own. Don’t have the money to afford a space.”

“If you ever do, feel free to advertise here,” Dean says, stopping by a large sink, “As you already know we have a place for a poster or two.”

“Duly noted.” He waits for Dean to turn on the faucet, letting him run his hands under the stream first. Once he finishes Castiel half-heartedly scrubs at the oil. There wasn’t much on his hand, and making any effort to wash it away wouldn’t fit with the cool façade Castiel tried to keep.

“Y’know,” Dean starts, hands hidden in a fluffy towel, “when Charlie told me about you, I thought you’d look a hell of a lot different.”

Castiel skews his head to the side. “How so?”

“Well I figured you’d be a girl,” he shrugs, “friend of an ex from Charlie, nine out of ten it’d be another lesbian or at least bisexual…“ Dean tosses the towel to Castiel, “egg on my face, right?”

He catches it haphazardly. “More like oil.” When Dean’s brows pinch together, Castiel mock wipes at his face with the towel.

“Really?” Dean whines, “You probably think I’m a slob.” He hurriedly splashes some more water on his face and snatches the towel back.

“Honestly?” Castiel says, “I don’t know enough about you to form an opinion.”

Dean looks up from the towel and smiles, dimples clear on his freckled cheeks. “We’ll have to fix that, then.” Before Castiel can overthink what that means Dean walks away and over to his car, Castiel racing to keep up. “So someone marked up your car?”

He sighs, “Yeah… I woke up the other day to find that – that word scratched on the side along with some… other things.” Castiel doesn’t dive in to the details of the torn up rainbow flag outside his apartment and the already painted over slurs carved onto his door. “That’s what I get for celebrating the first day of Pride, I guess.”

Dean frowns, running a hand across his car’s ugly scar. “You know the person who did this?”

Castiel shrugs. “Suspicions… but nothing concrete enough to make a claim or file a report.”

“If it were me I’d do more than that. Bastard would be walking with a limp – if at all – if they messed up my Baby.”

The threat brings a smile to Castiel’s face. He straightens out of the curled up posture he fell into. “Your ‘Baby’?”

“My car,” Dean explains, turning to him, “older model in black. A ‘67 Chevy Impala.”

“I must confess… I don’t know that much about cars.”

“Really?”

“I don’t quite know the model of my own car let alone what an Impala looks like.”

“That’s a damn shame,” Dean tells him, “Going your whole life without knowing what true beauty is? I’d take you out to see her now if I didn’t have to park so far away today.”

“You don’t have your own parking?”

He shakes his head. “Usually I snag a spot on the block but by the time I made it out of bed they were all taken. So I’m about three down in front of this deli. Anyway…” Dean kneels down again, inspecting his car closely. “This shouldn’t be tough… probably have it ready by tomorrow if nothing comes up.”

“Are you sure?” Castiel asks, “If you have other clients waiting –“

“Nah I finished up my last appointment for the day already. Don’t stress about it.”

“That’s very nice of you,” he says, “all the other places I tried wouldn’t help me and here you make it sound so easy…” Then, Castiel remembers what Meg told him. “And for no pay? I don’t mind, I have the money –“

Dean reaches out for Castiel, grabbing his wrist to stop him from taking out his wallet. “I insist. I’m always looking for ways to give back to our community.”

Castiel smiles, his skin burning from Dean’s touch. “Our – ah… our community?” he starts, “do you mean that in a friendly neighborhood sense or…”

He rolls his eyes. “In a rainbow way.”

“Ah.” Castiel glances around the garage, gaze unable to land on any one point for long. “I was wondering… this is a very progressive garage.”

“Has been since the beginning,” Dean tells him, leaning against Castiel’s car, “Bobby’s been a staple here for a long time ever since he and his wife Karen moved in years ago.”

“Bobby?”

“Bobby Singer, the big ol’ boss of this place,” he explains, “He and Karen came here when things got dangerous for them back where they used to live.”

“Why was that?”

Dean launches Castiel back into the past, where a newly married Bobby and Karen were being threatened nearly every night when one of the women in Sioux Falls discovered Karen hadn’t always been called Karen. Gangs of men hung out in front of their house, dumping cigarette butts on their lawn. Every time they went out they were watched and followed, confronted on the days when people had a little more confidence than normal. Any room they entered became so silent a cough could shatter glass. Neither Bobby nor Karen was willing to move at first, until the first rock was thrown through their window. They packed their bags and left in the early morning, not stopping until their car broke down in California.

Bobby pushed it all the way to the closest garage. “It was closing,” Dean says, “And the only one there was the owner – and he didn’t see why he should help. So Bobby grabbed a box of tools and set to work. Halfway through fixing his own car, someone pulled up and asked Bobby to look under his hood. He did and made the engine purr. Owner saw and demanded Bobby give him the money from that. Made a deal and bought the place with what was left of their savings.”

“And he turned it into this,” Castiel says, “I wish I knew about Singer’s sooner… would have saved me a lot of guff whenever I needed my oil changed.”

“I’ll admit we can do better in advertising,” Dean shrugs, “Mainly we rely on word-of-mouth… although we did get a lot of customers after Benny namedropped us in one of his shows.”

“Benny?”

Dean jerks his thumb over towards the burly man from earlier, chatting with the previously bickering mechanics by the truck. “He’s a drag queen. Performs over at the Roadhouse every Wednesday as ‘The Vamp’. I mentioned he should promote the garage in his act one night when I was helping him do his make-up.”

Castiel recalls the picture of the drag queen he saw pinned to the cork board, notices the similarities between the figure captured and the one in front of him. “Is everyone who works here a… um, on the rainbow?”

“More or less,” Dean shrugs, “Jo – the blonde – been on Estrogen for two years, has her first round of surgery coming up in a few weeks. Dorothy doesn’t conscribe to the binary but they still identify as a lesbian…” He swings his finger over to the lounge area. “Max is as gay as the next guy but his sister Alicia’s our token straight.” Turning back to face Castiel he says, “And Charlie you already know only goes for chicks.”

“And you?”

“Me?” Dean chuckles, “Why I’m bi as fuck!”

Castiel laughs as well. “Are you trying to collect all the letters?”

“Like queer Pok��mon,” Dean nods, earning another round of snickers. “Nah, we all kinda drifted together. Jo and the Banes twins lived in the area – Jo’s mom actually owns the Roadhouse. But the rest of us… Bobby took under his wing in one way or another.”

Storm clouds brew in the timbre of Dean’s voice, the shiny jewels of his eyes losing their luster. Castiel feels the temperature between them dip low by tens of degrees. Whatever Dean doesn’t say must weigh heavily to flatten the good mood he was in.

It’s a familiar burden Castiel knows all too well.

“Do you know what my name means?”

Dean blinks, thrown off by the sudden shift in topics. “Uh… no –“

“It’s a bastardized version of an angel’s name,” he explains, “Cassiel. They thought the extra ‘s’ was too… feminine. But I was born on a Thursday and…” Castiel trails off, grimacing.

“Religious family?” Dean asks.

He nods. “My dad was heavily involved with our local Church.”

“So when you…”

“It was not a fun time,” Castiel says, “I didn’t go home for the first two years after I left for college but… we learned not to speak about it. Although every now and then my mother sends me pamphlets for seminary school.”

Dean barks out a rough laugh, biting his lip. A brief, charged silence stands between them where Castiel can’t breathe. He nearly backs away, tells Dean that it’s okay. They’re strangers – all he needs is a body job, not a life story. But then he sucks his lower lip under his teeth and starts.

“My dad caught me fooling around with another boy when I was sixteen,” he says, “And after the punches kicked me out on my ass. Joke’s on him, though, because I managed to snag the keys to the car. Drove around for the first year seeing the sights until I found my way to Bobby’s. Picked up shifts part-time until he noticed me sleeping in my car. Cuffed me on the head and told me to take the spare room in the apartment above.”

“Karen didn’t mind?”

“Karen died years earlier,” Dean smiles ruefully, “Cancer. But she would’ve done the same thing. Wish I could’ve met her, though, heard she made killer apple pie.”

And in that moment, Castiel finds himself wishing he had the chance as well. Dean talks about his family with so much love he wants to meet them all, or at least here him tell more stories about them. Knowing that this group of people have found each other and are happy gives Castiel more hope for the future for people like them.

Dean Winchester’s gravitation is too powerful to resist, and Castiel falls into his orbit happily.

A set of squeaky wheels interrupts their conversation, an older man in a trucker’s cap rolling up to them. “Winchester,” he barks, “I don’t pay you to stand around and flirt. Git to work on this poor boy’s car!”

They break apart, both their cheeks bright red. Dean hangs his head, rubbing his hands against his coveralls. “Right away, Bobby.”

Bobby shakes his head, leaving them. “Idjits…”

Castiel shuffles his feet, wringing his hands together. He waits until the other man is far away before speaking again. “So… that’s Bobby.”

“Yeah,” he huffs, “Bastard’s usually never this ornery… probably getting me back for walking in on him and his boyfriend the other night.” Dean scoffs, crossing his arms, “Not my fault Crowley didn’t lock the damn door…”

The past few minutes catch up with Castiel and he feels the awkwardness creeping back up his spine like a spider. “I… I should be going,” he stutters out, startling Dean.

“Really?” Dean asks, his frown confusing to Castiel’s already addled mind.

He nods, pacing backwards. “Thank you for your help and… and the talk.” Then before Dean could respond Castiel races out the garage door and doesn’t look back. Castiel makes it past the leather shop before he falls back against the storefront and gasps for breath.

“Castiel,” he mumbles to himself, “stupid… ‘and the talk’. Why can’t you talk to pretty boys without losing your head.”

He knocks his head against the brick latticework repeatedly, angry with how he blew his shot with the pretty mechanic. In between the heavy pounding she gives himself he hears a slight cough to his right.

Squinting an eye open Castiel sees Dean watching him with an amused grin across his face. Throwing himself away from the wall, Castiel turns to face him. “Dean?” he starts, “What are… what are you doing here?”

Dean steps closer, invading Castiel’s space. The smell of motor oil and cologne makes him dizzy. “You left in such a hurry, Cas, you forgot to give me your phone number.”

His heart skips over itself as a sunny ray of hope shoots across his chest. Clouds return to cover it when he remembers past garage experiences where mechanics needed it to reach him. He deflates. “Right, so you can tell me when my car’s ready.”

Dean juts his lower lip out, head bobbing as he considers Castiel’s statement. “Yeah for that, too.”

“Too?”

“Well I mean how else can I ask you out if I don’t have your number?”

A stone lodges itself in Castiel’s throat. “You… you want to ask me out… on a date?”

His eyebrows jump up. “I… I wasn’t misreading anything… was I?”

That spurs Castiel into action. “No, no! You weren't… I am… I’m interested.”

Dean relaxes, hand splayed against his chest. “Good, got nervous there for a second.” He looks to Castiel, waiting. “So…?”

They exchange numbers, Dean handing Castiel’s phone back with a wink and a promise to call later. Then he heads back to the garage to smooth out the scratches on his car.

Castiel stands there, outside the leather shop, too shocked to move. Somehow he gains control of his legs again and picks one up after the other.

When he makes it to the bus stop, Castiel pulls his phone out and stares at Dean’s number. Butterflies flutter in his stomach as the largest smile blossoms on his face.

It stays there all the way back to his apartment.

#Supernatural #Spn #Supernatural fanfiction #Spn fanfic #Dean Winchester #Castiel #Destiel #deancas #destiel fanfiction #deancas fanfic #bisexual dean winchester #tw: homophobic language

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emmagreen1220-blog · 6 years

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New Post has been published on Literary Techniques

New Post has been published on https://literarytechniques.org/caricature/

Caricature

What Is Caricature?

Caricature comes from the Italian verb caricare, which means “to load.” As a technique, caricature is defined by an exaggerated description of a person or thing, very often used in drawing and painting, usually with the aim of creating a comic or satiric effect. For example, in the image below, the caricature of Mr. Bean exaggerates his facial features, such as the eyes, nose, eyebrows, lips, and ears.

In literature, caricature can be used to exaggerate a character’s personality traits as well. For example, Charles Dickens is renown for the creation of uniquely eccentric characters by using this literary technique. Miss Havisham, one of the characters in Great Expectations, shocks the readers through her caricatural appearance, bordering on the grotesque: Imagine a fifty-something-old lady who was left at the altar some twenty years back and is still wearing her wedding dress, keeps the wedding cake on the table, with mice crawling in and out of it, and stopped all the clocks in the house at twenty minutes to nine, the time when she had received her fiance’s letter announcing her that he would not show up. Moreover, Dickens goes beyond physical appearance and uses caricature to define Miss Havisham’s purpose in life, that is, to take revenge on all men and make them suffer, regardless of whether these men happen to be represented by a nine- or ten-year-old boy, Pip.

ExamplesQuizFlashcardsWorksheets

Caricature Examples

Caricature in a Sentence

“His hair was long and encompassing as a cape that would cling to his ankles when the wind became more than a breeze, making him fall flat on his flat nose.” – We can hardly imagine a person whose hair is so long as to trip him over. This exaggeration, with both comic and satiric effects, is known as caricature.

“His bulgy eyes almost jumped out of their sockets when I told him the news. He began sputtering and turned his back on me, leaving trails of saliva behind.” – This caricatural description makes us imagine a man resembling a snail.

“The girl dragged her feet toward the blackboard, as slow as a condemned person might walk his way to the electric chair, her eyes sheepish and as round as saucers, begging for mercy from the teacher and for help from her classmates: ‘I don’t know how to solve the equation.’ ” – The feelings of a school girl are caricatured in this sentence by exaggerating her fear of going to the blackboard and solving a mathematical problem.

Caricature in Poetry

Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

“The MILLERE was a stout carl for the nones;

The MILLER was a stout fellow indeed;

Ful byg he was of brawn, and eek of bones.

He was very strong of muscle, and also of bones….

Ther was no dore that he nolde heve of harre,

There was no door that he would not heave off its hinges,

Or breke it at a rennyng with his heed.

Or break it by running at it with his head.

His berd as any sowe or fox was reed,

His beard was red as any sow or fox…

Upon the cop right of his nose he hade

Upon the exact top of his nose he had

A werte, and theron stood a toft of herys,

A wart, and thereon stood a tuft of hairs,

Reed as the brustles of a sowes erys;

Red as the bristles of a sow’s ears;…

His mouth as greet was as a greet forneys.

His mouth was as large as a large furnace.”

The characters in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are all typologies, as illustrated by the names under which they appear: the Knight, the Wife of Bath, the Miller, the Monk, the Friar, the Host, and so on. The most exaggerated features are those of the peasants. The Miller represents the stereotypical peasant physiognomy the most clearly, being round and ruddy and with a wart on his nose. The Miller appears rough and, thus, suited for hard, simple work. Caricature is evident in Chaucer’s description of the Miller as a man who could take any door out of its hinges or break it with his head and in the comparison of the Miller’s beard with the bristles on a pig.

“Tower” by William Butler Yeats

“An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing For every tatter in its mortal dress…”

In the poem “Tower,” William Butler Yeats uses caricature to describe old age. By referring to old people as worthless “things” and shabby coats on sticks, the poet also makes use of self-caricature since he was in his late years when he wrote the poem.

Caricature in Literature

Caricature was a preferred technique in the comedy of manners, a witty form of dramatic comedy that depicts and satirizes the manners of the society and is, thus, more concerned with whether or not the characters meet certain social standards than with the plot. This type of comedy reached its peak in the English-speaking world during the Restoration period, with playwrights such as Ben Jonson, William Congreve, William Wycherley, Sir George Etherege, Oliver Goldsmith, and later, with Oscar Wilde, Noël Coward, Somerset Maugham, Philip Barry, and S.N. Behrman.

The Alchemist by Ben Jonson

Jonson’s The Alchemist, for example, features characters whose names contribute to their caricature: the sensualist, Sir Epicure Mammon; the hypocritical Puritan, Tribulation Wholesome; the con men, Subtle and Face; and Abel Drugger, a small-time tobacco dealer ambitious for commercial success. The characters are flat, that is, they are uncomplicated and do not evolve throughout the play. Drugger’s main characteristics, for instance, are stupidity and greed. Thus, he is easily made to believe that he will achieve success if, by following astrology-based advice, he sets the shelves in his shop in a certain way. In act III, Face says about Drugger that “he has no head/ To bear any wine,” which exemplifies that caricature can be realized through other characters’ words as well.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde’s use of caricature in The Importance of Being Earnest allows readers to view the true essence of the characters. The main character of the play, Lady Bracknell, is representative. Her interview with Jack, who was in love with her daughter Gwendolen, focuses on Jack’s status and material possessions, mainly containing questions such as: “What is your income?” “In land, or in investments?” “A country house! How many bedrooms? … You have a town house, I hope?”

It’s also Lady Bracknell who exclaims, “A hundred and thirty thousand pounds! And in the Funds! Miss Cardew seems to me a most attractive young lady, now that I look at her.”

Wilde’s use of caricature leaves the readers think that Lady Bracknell, a representative of Victorian society, is overly shallow and materialistic.

“Rain” by Somerset Maugham

Somerset Maugham reduced his characters to caricatured types and stereotypes in circumstances in which they act in accordance with or against their natural inclinations, treating individuals as typological characters governed by fate functioning within the narrow boundaries of necessity. In the short story “Rain,” Davidson, a zealous missionary, recounts his success in civilizing the tribes of the barbaric South Sea Islands during one of his missions:

“ ‘When we went there they had no sense of sin at all’, he said. ‘They broke the commandments one after the other and never knew they were doing wrong. And I think that was the most difficult part of my work, to instill into the natives the sense of sin.…You see, they were so naturally depraved that they couldn’t be brought to see their wickedness. We had to make sins out of what they thought were natural actions.…I made it a sin for a girl to show her bosom and a sin for a man not to wear trousers.’

‘How?’ asked Dr Macphail, not without surprise.

‘I instituted fines.’ ”

The missionary’s moral authority is backed up by his legal authority, imposing fines and banning the islanders from participating in the coconut oil trade, which “meant something very like starvation,” as Davidson notes with satisfaction. In his self-blinding self-righteousness, the missionary is entirely proud at his economic and legal blackmail of the islanders into accepting customs and morals that are not their own. In this story, by caricaturing the Davidsons, Maugham illustrates his own indignation at the misguided and stubborn authorities who tend to turn people’s natural instincts into crimes and sins.

The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare

Caricature, however, was not aimed only at societal typologies, in general, but sometimes targeted specific individuals. Robert Shallow is a fictional character who appears in Shakespeare’s plays Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor. He is a wealthy landowner and justice of the peace, a thin, vain, and often self-deluding individual, whom Falstaff and his comrades victimize by killing his deer, beating his men, and breaking into his lodge. Shallow may have been a caricature of Sir Thomas Lucy, a justice of the peace and member of Parliament from Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s birthplace). According to an undocumented account, Sir Lucy prosecuted Shakespeare for stealing a deer from his land.

The picture below illustrates Shallow inviting Falstaff to stay for the night.

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