Lieb's Use Of Satire In The Life Of Oliver

The novel

Within the novel, Oliver, a chubby seventh-grader who pretends to be dimwitted, but is an evil genius and the third-richest person in the world. __Oliver wants to win the student council president election in an attempt to crush his father, whom he despises, pride. Oliver and his henchman, Lionel Sheldrake, do everything they can to win.__

To begin with, the novel is an example of the comedy element, situational, since Oliver continually abuses money to get whatever he wants. In fact, he hires Verna, who runs political campaigns, to pretend to fall in love with Scott Sparks, Randy Spark’s dad. He wants Verna to make Randy, another candidate, campaign more credible so that Oliver’s father feels like Oliver won an actual competition.

As can be seen, Oliver is a very materialistic person. He gets caught in a never-ending cycle that causes him to buy things to make him happy, but it is not long lasting. Josh Lieb’s almost ludicrous caricature of the wealthy tycoon, Oliver, provides an irreverent view on how money and happiness are related. Some people, like Oliver, find happiness in objects. They use the objects to fill the love and happiness they did not receive from others, but then it becomes superficial. Others find it in meaningful relationships, something Oliver secretly wants with his dad. To elaborate, Throughout the election, Oliver becomes aware that he did not want to crush his dad, he wanted his dad’s respect and recognition. For example, when Oliver saw his father in the audience on the day of the speeches, he decides to do something different to break up his pride. Oliver rips his speech and ridicules about how the election is just a popularity contest. After his criticizing speech that demeaned the whole student council election, Oliver feels embarrassed and without thinking, decides to pee his pants. Oliver runs outside in humiliation and decides to destroy the school but his dad stops him by saying, “‘It takes a lot of courage to run for office, to get up in front of everyone like that. And you...Well, I’ll tell you what.... I am proud of you’” (302). Oliver realizes that his dad’s unusual and unexpected response to his speech is sincere and honest. His dad confesses that he wasn’t the best father to Oliver, but that he was proud. The evil and sardonic character Oliver portrays quickly changes into a warm and kind-hearted person, as Oliver finally receives his father love and stops all plans of destruction. Oliver becomes a much happier and less selfish person once he found happiness in his father. The novel shows how love was more valuable and helpful to Oliver