What Is Society's Culture In Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain’s satire The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn portrays society’s culture in the south and its power to influence people. As the narrator, Huck Finn, travels south on the Mississippi River, his perception of the world around him evolves as he makes a major moral decision, and undermines the ideas of naturalism. However a newly found conscience comes at a price, the loss of his innocence and the realization of the functions of his society. Overall, this piece is a comment on culture and its ability to influence the qualms of an individual perception that are originally dictated by heredity and environmental factors. These ideas are illustrated using various literary devices.
Twain uses personification to comment on the actions of society in the south. This is clearly exemplified in the author’s illustrations of the steam boat barreling down the river toward Huck and Jim. The alliteration of words such as “shave” and “sheering” identifies the boat’s intention of crashing into Huck and Jim with disregard for them. It is common in the south for steamboats to destroy rafts in this setting. Twain uses these events to identify different socioeconomic classes. The steam boat symbolizes those of a higher class holding a sense of entitlement, the raft representing a lower class. The raft is seen as being unworthy to others of a higher class as illustrated in Twain’s final statement about the boat: “and of course that boat started her engines again ten seconds after she