Mark Twain's Use Of Satire In Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain's Use of Satire in Huckleberry Finn

Throughout his pieces of literature, the famous American author Mark Twain portrays his personal views of society using satire and irony in his stories. He makes fun of broken parts in the American society relentlessly and makes sure the readers understand how outrageous some acts were during the early-to-mid 1800s. Twain seems to target specific aspects in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn such as how young people could be conflicted between morality and legality, the loss of self-respect for money, and the effects of herd mentality. He has an interesting approach at giving the reader insight, but his main ideas for the theme shine through and are clearly depicted.

To begin, Twain targets Huckleberry Finn's innocence and uses it as a way to show that anyone being raised in a racist, pro-slavery America was conflicted between morals and laws. At first, Huck is a "rebel" in his own mind, so to say, and tries to avoid becoming "sivilized" from the Widow Douglas. He sticks to what he knows, and uses his experience with people and his own judgment to make decisions like an adult, something quite

He included multiple types of irony, and using Huck, showcased his theme of morality over legality perfectly. Huck's innocence is a dramatic irony in a way that only the reader knows that what he does is actually right when he is told and thinks otherwise. The reader is also able to infer that personal beliefs can trump herd mentality any day, and that insight can only come through first-hand experience. Twain's impact of theme affects the reader just as heavily as it does Huckleberry Finn, crossing the barrier of fact and fiction. He is able to enlighten readers that a better world is among them, although they may need to sift through the cesspool of a poorly influenced society, just like Huck