Source A: Juvenal, Satire 3.232-242
'Most sick people here die from lack of sleep (though the illness itself was brought on by undigested food clinging to a fevered stomach); for what rented lodgings let you sleep? In Rome, sleep is only for the very rich. That is the root of the disease. The wagons passing through the narrow, winding streets and the swearing of a drover whose herd has come to a halt would rob even Drusus or a seal of sleep. When duty calls, the rich man will be carried along as the crowd makes way, speeding high above their faces in his huge litter, and on the way he will read or write or sleep inside it; for a litter with its window closed makes you drowsy.'
To what extent does Juvenal rely on exaggeration to make his picture of city life entertaining? Use Source A as a starting point and your own knowledge of Satire 3.
Model answer
Juvenal relies heavily on exaggeration to entertain, but it is only one of several techniques, and it works best because it is mixed with realistic detail.
Source A is full of comic overstatement. Umbricius claims that 'most sick people here die from lack of sleep', and that the noise of wagons and swearing drovers 'would rob even Drusus or a seal of sleep'. Drusus was probably the emperor Claudius, famous for dozing off, and seals were thought to sleep deeply, so the comparison turns a real nuisance into a joke. The line 'sleep is only for the very rich' is also an exaggeration, but it sets up a pointed contrast with the rich man who can read, write or sleep in his litter.
The same technique runs through the rest of the satire. Rome is 'held up for the most part by thin props'; a hundred diners are each 'followed by his own kitchen'; a wagon pours 'an overturned mountain' onto the crowd; there are as many deaths as open windows, so you should make your will before dinner; and iron might run out for ploughshares because so much goes on chains. These images are entertaining because they are absurd.
However, much of the entertainment comes from other techniques. Juvenal uses mock-epic, comparing a tenement fire to the fall of Troy through Ucalegon and the bully to Achilles mourning Patroclus. He uses dark humour, as when the crushed man sits by the ferryman with no coin, and sarcasm in 'the poor man's freedom'. The constant contrast between rich and poor and the first-person account of being elbowed and trodden on also make the scenes vivid. Finally, the exaggeration has a basis in fact: wheeled traffic really did move at night because it was banned by day.
Overall, exaggeration is Juvenal's most important tool for entertaining his audience, but it is effective because it is rooted in real problems and combined with contrast, mock-epic and dark humour.
Explanation
A top answer identifies many examples of hyperbole across the prescribed lines and weighs them against other techniques such as contrast, mock-epic and dark humour. It also recognises that exaggeration is funnier because it grows out of real conditions. Simply listing examples of exaggeration without a judgement keeps an answer in Level 2.
