Satire can be crude, but we don't have to read it crudely. Before we turn on Satire or let it turn on us, before we gorge ourselves on the lanx satura of delinquents, gluttons, womanisers, social climbers, parasites and the like, let us step outside, if we can, and look at the bigger picture of literature and its relation to/relationship with cultural identity. It is easy, far too temptingly easy, to read a text straight. To cull a few quotes about whichever cultural area we happen to be interested in - 'women' or 'religion' or 'foreigners,' for example,...
have looked at the multiplicity of meanings and suggestions of one small phrase, and understood how this polysemy makes straight reading impossible. We have seen how satire is crucially bound up with creating and wrestling with structures of power, and how the performative aspect of language can work as a part of that discourse of power. Satire is not simple, and nor is the question of cultural identity. It should have become clear by now, that whatever satire tells Us, whoever we are, about Them, whoever they are, it isn't something that can be explicitly or straightforwardly said.