Criticism of people, customs or institutions through ridicule, exaggeration or irony.
In The Red and the Black
the tyranny of opinion, and what an opinion!, is as stupid in the small towns of France as in the United States of America.
The criticism falls on provincial customs: by calling the "tyranny of opinion" stupid and equating it with that of the United States, the narrator makes fun of the habit of everyone fearing what the neighbors will say.
Book I, Chapter 1: A small town, the narrator
Here is the great word that decides everything in Verrières: MAKE A PROFIT. In itself it represents the habitual thought of more than three quarters of the inhabitants.
Book I, Chapter 2: A mayor, the narrator
There was a Te Deum, clouds of incense, endless volleys of muskets and artillery; the peasants were drunk with happiness and devotion. A day like that undoes the work of a hundred issues of Jacobin newspapers.
Book I, Chapter 18: A king in Verrières, the narrator
It is with blows of public contempt that a husband kills his wife in the nineteenth century, closing the doors of the salons to her.
Book I, Chapter 21: Dialogue with a master, the narrator
Not a hundred thousand crowns a year, nor any decoration, can stand against this salon rule. A living idea, however small, seemed like rudeness.
Book II, Chapter 4: The La Mole mansion, the narrator
Those gentlemen, though very noble, thought Julien, are not tedious like the people who dine at Monsieur de La Mole's mansion; and I see why, [...] They allow themselves to be indecent.
Book II, Chapter 6: Manner of pronunciation, Julien Sorel (in thought)
...Remember, sir, that whoever loves me must not love Napoleon; at most he may accept him as a necessity imposed by Providence. Besides, that man did not have a soul elegant enough to feel the masterpieces of the arts.
Book II, Chapter 28: Manon Lescaut, Marechale de Fervaques
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