Huckleberry Finn Satire Analysis

Huck Finn Satire Essay

Author Mark Twain, in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, satirically criticizes the hypocrisy of nineteenth century America’s moral condition in their justification of slavery.The novel details Huck, a young boy, and his journey with a runaway slave, Jim and recounts their adventure. They encounter humorous situations and get into trouble along the way. Twain’s purpose is to ridicule the moral condition of Huck’s society in their rationalization of slavery and does so by employing satirical elements of pathos, absurdity and irony.

Twain utilizes pathos by appealing to the reader’s emotions in his characterization of Jim. Jim is depicted as having good morals and Huck discovers this when Jim talks about his family. Huck realizes when Jim finishes, “ ‘Po’ little ‘Lizabeth!

The most ironic aspect of the novel is Huck’s internal conflict. Huck thinks to himself: “...s’pose you’d ‘a’ done right and give Jim up, would you felt better than what you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad-I’d feel just the same way I do now. Well, then, says I, what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same? I was stuck”(91). Through Huck’s eyes, following white societal standards is supposed to be the good moral high ground; however, the justification of slavery confuses him. All through the novel, Huck is constantly questioning his own morals. He feels guilty for wanting to help Jim; however, he eventually acknowledges Jim’s humanity while society deems it wrong. As the audience, we know slavery is wrong. Huck, on the other hand, feels pressured to conform to societal standards. Through Huck’s thoughts, Twain employs irony to differentiate society’s beliefs with Huck’s new understanding of