Huckleberry Finn Rhetorical Analysis

According to South African President Mahatma Ghandi, "Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, through satire Mark Twain portrays a need for a more diverse society. Throughout the novel, Huck, a young white boy, takes an adventure in order to free Jim, an uneducated slave. Along their adventure the two combat racism, scams, feuds, and greed. At the time of the novel's release, white southerners harbored racist ideals, a normal viewpoint for the time period. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn subverts racist beliefs through the development of Huck’s friendship with Jim and through Twain's satirization of the KKK. Mark Twain subverts racism through the development of Huck and Jims friendship in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The two form such a close friendship, leading to a father son bond. In the novel, Huck enjoys spending time with Jim; he comments how “‘This is nice,’ I says. ‘I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else but here’” (Twain 49). During the time period, southerners would see Jim as evil whereas Twain portrays him as a reliable and friendly character. On the other hand, Pap would be seen as the better person during the time

Twain satirizing the KKK serves as a relevant purpose because Sherburn’s speech portrays how Twain believes that racists represent cowards and their ridiculous ideas serve no good purpose. Sherburn knows that the mob is “afraid to back down- afraid you’ll be found out what you are- cowards” (Twain 146). Twain satirizes the KKK through innuendo by describing them as cowards because they wear masks, only come out in groups, and can only be found at night. Twain disagrees with the KKK and their beliefs and wants to portray to his readers that the cowardly people behind them have no strength. The ideas Twain subverts still remain present in society