The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Satire Analysis

Throughout Huck’s adventures, he is put in numerous situations where he must depend on himself, and use his own judgment to make fundamental decisions that will later have an affect on his life. Growing up, Huck has always been considered an outcast amongst all his peers and in society as a whole. Consistently throughout the book, all the people he is forced to live with try to change him. Prior to the start of the novel, Miss Watson and Widow Douglas have been granted legal custody of Huck, who views him as an uncivilized boy who possesses no morals. Huck explains in the opening chapter, “The Widow Douglas, she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me”(Twain 1).

Mark Twain, well-known American author, ridicules the self destructive nature of greed upon man in his controversial novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry and Finn. Twain criticizes the society he lived in, noting the “superficiality and meaningless” lives of people. Mark Twain utilizes situational irony, farce, and exaggeration in order to compare two situations in the novel where characters illustrate upon themselves the negative effects of greed. Twain establishes a critical tone to bring attention to even modern day readers that greed will eventually result in punishments and consequences.

Smiley, an author of many books and magazine essays, writes her own criticism of Huckleberry Finn, “Say It Ain’t So, Huck”. Smiley has very strong arguments as she compares her own opinions and backs them up with Twain’s words from the book. Smiley argues that Twains real meaning behind the book is based off of racism. Twain never allows Jim to become a real human, as Jim will always be a slave whether he knows it or not. Although Huck and Jim end up creating a very strong relationship like brothers, Smiley believes that “Twain thinks that Hucks affection is a good enough reward for Jim” (Smiley 460). He would not ever get the treatment Huck did, and Jim’s character was never allowed to grow.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain utilizes satire to convey the overall message of the novel, that society is flawed; he implies one should refrain from orienting their personal moral compass and ideals by what others dictate, because society is imperfect. This is evident in Huck’s moral struggle with the concept of slavery: Twain uses slavery as an example to satirize religion and hypocrisy. He also satirizes “us vs them” mentalities through the example of the Sherburn and Boggs incident. He also mocks the baselessness and irony of racism in American society. Satire is used in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn against religious hypocrisy, mob mentality, and racism to highlight these human flaws and address dark and serious issues with a touch of humor.

Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took place in the eighteen hundreds when religion and reputation were dominant in peoples everyday lives. It was very rare for someone to believe something different than everyone else. In Twain 's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Tom Sawyer and Huck appear to be very different, but their actions, descriptions, and dialogue bring them together to symbolize society in order to show the blind conformity and hypocrisy that humans often display.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic novel that takes the reader on a series of thrilling adventures full of life threatening situations, racism, and slavery. The author Mark Twain, uses the novel to highlight the flaws in society by creating a character like Huck, whose personal sense of morals and justice are more noble than those of the very people trying to civilize him.

The widow, Miss Watson, takes Huck into a closet to pray, and tells him to pray every day so he will get what he wants. Huck tries to pray daily, but becomes disappointed when all he gets is a fish-line with no hooks, when he prayed extra hard for hooks. “By-and-by, one day, I asked Miss Watson to try for me, but she said I was a fool. She never told me why, and I couldn’t make it out no way” (19). When he asks Miss Watson about it, she tells him praying brings spiritual gifts. Unable to see any use for that sort of thing, Huck decides praying is probably not worth his time. Huckleberry Finn, an illiterate white trash boy who is at the bottom of society’s hierarchy, narrates Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain put the novel in the voice of Huck for his very literal thinking. His realistic views and perceptions provide much of the ironic humor of the novel. Huck simply reports what he sees, and the monotone narration allows Twain to show a realistic view of the common ignorance, slavery, and inhumanity that took place.

Civilization, and being “civilized” are topics that have been debated for centuries. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck Finn journeys down the Mississippi River and witnesses many of society’s facets. During his adventures, Huck experiences the negative aspects of the human race and witnesses slavery, racism, and con-men. However, Huck himself is considered uncivilized to the point where the Widow Douglas can only attempt to “sivilize” Huck (13). The dichotomy between what was considered civilized at the time and what Huck believes is civilized represents the backwards, violent, and cruel nature of society as well as Huck’s progressiveness. Civilizationed, in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, involves violence, theft,

In Grangerford episode The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses satire to attack the Grangerfords by exposing hypocrisy in their way of life. Twain does this to criticize the behavior of the slave-owning plantation families in the South. One of the best examples of this is the feud the Grangerfords have with the Shepherdson family. The Grangerfords are perceived as being of high social class, but by the end of the episode, Twain makes it apparent that they are awful people.

Along with meeting so-called “civilized” society, Huck’s experience with the King and the Duke causes Huck to go against society’s narrow-minded beliefs. In an effort for the King and the Duke to get some cash, they sold Nigger Jim to Silas Phelps’ farm. After Jim was sold for forty dollars, Huck determines what happened to him. Nonetheless, while saving Jim, Huckleberry begins to meet conflicts about society, freedom, and religion. He starts to contemplate his motives and figure out whether saving Jim is the correct thing to do. Huckleberry Finn is unable to choose between his friendship with Jim and society. While he understands he “helped a nigger to get his freedom; and if I was ever to see anybody from that town again I’d be ready to get

Twain defends the positive aspects of lying and trickery through the means which Huck escapes from the cabin that he is trapped in with his father. Due to his father’s abusive nature, Huck feels the need to escape from his custody before his Pap returns from the town up river. He cuts a hole out of the cabin, leaves a trail of pig blood, makes it look like a robbery gone wrong, and leaves scents to divert the search dogs. Huck ends the endeavor by saying that “they won’t sift the river for anything but my dead carcass”(34). While this type of lying seems immoral without context, the abusive nature of Huck’s father makes the reader support and root for Huck to succeed. The most outstanding example of Huck lying to protect Jim comes once the Duke and King are introduced, and in order to protect Jim, Huck weaves the tale of how his father, brother, and Jim were “... going down to Orleans on [the raft]” but “Pa’s luck didn’t hold out…” which saved Jim from being sold by these two con men (125-126). This begins to challenge the traditional view of morality, and makes the reader proud of Huck’s actions. Twain uses Huckleberry Finn in these scenes to challenge the societal belief that lying is bad without exception, and builds a stark contrast between moral and immoral lying. By constructing this scene soon

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim bond closely to one another, regardless of the fact that they belong to different ethnic groups. Huck, a coming-of-age teenage boy, lives in the Southern antebellum society which favors slavery. At the beginning of the book, Twain claims that “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; and persons attempting to find a plot will be shot” (Twain 2). Ironically, through his experiences with Jim, the uncivilized Huck gradually establishes his own moral beliefs, although sometimes struggling against the influence of society.

Mark Twain uses satire to portray different issues that were going on during the time period. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author Mark Twain uses Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer to represent romanticism and realism. Doing so formed the characters into two drastically different persons. Mark Twain uses satirical elements to contrast the two main characters in their personalities and views.

The chapters begin with Huck Finn on the porch of the Grangerford’s, where he introduces himself as George Jaxon, and they question him and invite him in cautiously with guns ready to fire in case he is a Sheperdson. Huck meets Buck who tells him a riddle, though Huck does not understand the concept of riddles, and that he must stay with Buck and they will have great fun. Meanwhile, Huck conceives a detailed story to tell how he was orphaned. The Grangerford's offer Huck to stay there as long as he likes at the comfortable and kind home. Buck admires the warmhearted Colonel Grangerford and his beautiful children; Bob, Tom, Charlotte, Sophia, and Buck. One day while Buck & Huck were walking down the road, Buck tried to shoot a young man riding horseback named Harney Shepherdson.

Huck Finn hates living in the home of the Widow Douglas because she is always “pecking” at him and attempting to “sivilize” him, she, imposes rules and regulations (“Don’t put your feet up there, Huckleberry,” “Don’t scrunch up like that,” “Set up straight”) . With new clothes to wear, and extreme ways to govern his daily life including and bells to order him, Huck finds domestic life with the Widow and her sister Miss Watson with restricting rules Huck, “felt so lonesome I most wished I was dead.” Then when Huck stayed with his drunken father Pap he also is provided with no real home. Huck is in an isolated cabin in the woods and Pap locks Huck inside and poses a threat with his rifle. Huck also hates Tom Sawyer’s gang of robbers that pretends