Question

In at least one hundred words, identify Goines's purpose in "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie," and explain how his use of satire helps the writer to achieve that purpose.

Answer 1

In Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, Goines tries to show the reader, in a satirical way, that some small issues are better left “asleep”. He uses imagery (irony and mockery for example), which is a figurative language, to describe and attack the bureaucracy of the United States government and ridicules the drafting system.

He uses satire as a literary device to speak about a complex subject in a more understandable way, putting out the idea of a sleeping dog which, at first, seems to be harmless because it is asleep, but then turns into a very big and dangerous problem when it is awaken.