Satire

Satires make social commentary and cristicism with a large degree of sarcastic humor and/or colorful mataphors to drive at their points with more humor and subtley than their stricker counterparts, the social commentaries/criticisms etc.

+ Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift
On the surface, Gulliver strives to understand the various societies with which he comes into contact and to have these societies understand his native England. Below the surface, Swift is engaged in a conflict with the English society he is satirizing.

+ Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Tom Stoppard
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern attempt to discover the cause of Hamlet’s apparent madness and their own purpose in the world.

+ The Turn of the Screw, Henry James
A narrator listens to a male friend reading a manuscript written by a former governess whom the latter claims to have known and who is now dead. It tells how the young governess is hired by a man who has found himself responsible for his niece & nephew after the death of their parents. He has no interest in raising the children. The boy, is attending a boarding school whilst his sister is living at the country home. She is currently being cared for by the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. The governess's new employer gives her full charge of the children and explicitly states that she is not to bother him with communications of any sort. The governess travels to her new employer's country house and begins her duties.

+ Animal Farm, George Orwell
There are a number of conflicts in this book: The animals versus Mr. Jones, Snowball versus Napoleon, the common animals versus the pigs, Animal Farm versus the neighboring humans—but all of them are expressions of the underlying tension between the exploited and exploiting classes and between the lofty ideals and harsh realities of socialism.

+ As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
When transporting the recently deceased Addie to her burial site, the Bundren family struggles against the forces of nature and injury in its river-crossing and the aftermath. The Bundrens struggle internally as Darl begins to question the logic of carrying Addie’s body all the way to Jefferson.

+ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Huck first struggles against society and its attempts to civilize him, represented by the Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, and other adults. Later, this conflict gains greater focus in Huck’s dealings with Jim, as Huck must decide whether to turn Jim in, as society demands, or to protect and help his friend instead.

+ Catch 22, by Joseph Heller
Yossarian struggles to survive against the many parties who seem to want him dead.

+ The House of Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorn
Judge Pyncheon tries to coerce Clifford into giving him information regarding their uncle’s missing inheritance. Since Judge Pyncheon embodies the dogged ambition and greed that has characterized the Pyncheon family, his persecution of Clifford and Hepzibah plays out in microcosm their battle against the entire Pyncheon legacy.

+ Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
As Mike learns about human society, he comes to see that much of his Martian wisdom could be used to help alleviate the sufferings of mankind, but society's institutions are not designed to resist new and radical teachings like Mike's.