Huckleberry Finn Influence

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885. Mark Twain made a huge impact on American Literature, especially given the language he uses in his stories. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “began its long, complicated history as America’s most controversial novel shortly after publication in 1885” (Pinsker 643).

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn satirizes gratuitous violence, excessive greed, and racism. First, Twain illustrates the satire in the gratuitous violence with the backwater families and the rural country people starting with the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons. Huck first meets the Grangerfords when Huck and Jim’s raft breaks apart and Huck ends up on a shore. Huck meets Buck Grangerford who asks if Huck is a part of the Shepherdson family, in which Huck responds that he is not. Buck explains to him that the Grangerfords and the Shepherdson’s have been in a feud with each other for as long as the families can remember, however, no one knows or can even remember how or why these two families are fighting. Twain goes on to explain that the two families even go to church with their rifles while the priest preaches about love and peace. Twain also uses Boggs and Sherburn to further satirize these nonsensical violent habits. Boggs, who is very drunk, keeps causing a ruckus and speaking ill of Sherburn. Sherburn tells him to stop, but Boggs does not listen, so Sherburn shoots and kills Boggs. Soon after a mob forms declaring that they must kill Sherburn in retaliation. Sherburn tells the mob that they do not have the prowess to go through with their plan to kill him. He says that “Because you’re brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-out women that come along here, did that make you think you had grit enough to lay your hands on a man? Why, a man’s safe in the hands of

Throughout the incident on pages 66-69 in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck fights with two distinct voices. One is siding with society, saying Huck should turn Jim in, and the other is seeing the wrong in turning his friend in, not viewing Jim as a slave. Twain wants the reader to see the moral dilemmas Huck is going through, and what slavery ideology can do to an innocent like Huck.

A major theme of the novel is the hypocrisy and double standards that are evident in the society surrounding Huck. This trait is found especially within Christian and religious types in the novel. Twain shows almost every good Christian in the novel as having a generous and kind side, which completely contradicts much of their actions. Twain believes that this hypocrisy is the underlining element that makes religion skeptical. As it is seen in the book, almost every good Christian contradicts himself or herself in some way. Perhaps Huck's first example of this was when the Widow Douglas did not allow him to smoke, as it was a mean practice. However, “she took snuff too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself” (Twain 2). Another example was the Grangerfords. Huck described this family as very nice and kind and even considered Buck a good friend. But once again, the hypocrisy of religious types was bound to come into play. These same people are slave owners and have a feud with a similar family, the Shepherdsons for reasons they don't remember. Perhaps the biggest example of this hypocrisy was when Huck went to church with the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons. As Huck explains, “the men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees.... it was pretty ornery preaching all about brotherly love” (Twain 83). It is obvious that the two families had their guns in their laps while the preacher talked about

A man has a quarrel with another man, and kills him; then the other man’s brother kills him; then the other brothers, on both sides, goes for one another; then the cousins chip in- and by-and-by everybody’s killed off, and there ain’t no more feud. But it’s kind of slow, and takes a long time” (81-82). After informing Huck of the feud, Buck goes on to tell he doesn’t really know who, or what, started it several decades before. Beyond this, Buck is shocked when he realizes that Huck hasn’t heard of a feud before, presumably because feuds were so ordinary and happened quite often. By pointing out these assumptions, Twain is targeting a part of culture that is so odd and irrelevant, therefore criticizing it. Also, an element like this easily symbolizes society’s blemishes, causing it to trace back to Mark Twain’s message: society can be extremely faulty.

Buck Grangerford describes how a feud works to Huck, “’Well,’ says Buck, ‘a feud is this way: A man has a quarrel with another man, and kills him; then that other man's brother kills him; then the other brothers, on both sides, goes for one another; then the cousins chip in—and by and by everybody's killed off, and there ain't no more feud. But it's kind of slow, and takes a long time,’” (97).

A boring lifestyle is never appealing to an imaginative child. In Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Tom is a young child who dreams of an exciting and adventurous life outside his small town. Although while his dreams become more and more ambitious so does his reality. The sudden change in events soon begin to change Tom’s life. As Tom’s small town attracts a criminal everything Tom wishes for begins to come true only in a corrupt way that he never imagined. With all new to keep up with Tom is forced to mature and develop as a character along with those around by leaving behind his childish games and accepting reality. Twain uses character development in Tom and Huck Finn to create unique and special characters.

Throughout the novel, Mark Twain uses satire to mock southern hospitality. When Huck is staying with the Grangerfords, he learns about the feud they have with another family called the Shepherdsons. No one in either family can remember why or how this feud started, but they continue killing each other nonetheless. When Huck asks the Grangerford’s boy, Buck, how long this has been going on, Buck replies, “ Well I should reckon! It started thirty year ago, or

Huck's observation and reaction to the feud of the two families has reinforced his conscience about the chaos of white society in comparison to Negroes. Huck's reaction in regards to the King and the Duke is also an important point in Huck's development as a person. Huck, having been exposed and shown the immoral and corrupt products of society has grown strong enough to work against society in the end. This development has allowed huck go approach society in a more skeptical manner and to confront and accept that society and the world is not Widow Douglas' delusional mirage. This resulted in Huck to have more confidence in his relationship with Jim and loosened his bond with society's immoral

One component of these chapters that I felt was extremely prevalent was the character development of Huck. There were multiple instances when Huck had to make certain decisions that would effect him in the long run, and with most of those decisions came a moral struggle. It seemed as if within these chapters, Huck is trying to find out who he truly is as a person. One example of these moments is in chapter 16 when he is having an internal battle, trying to convince himself that helping Jim gain his freedom is in fact the right thing to do. The quote reads, “I couldn't get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way. It got to troubling me so I couldn't rest; I couldn't stay still in one place…I tried to make out to myself that I warn't to blame, because I didn't run Jim off from his rightful owner” (Pg. 87). In the quote stated above you can clearly see the internal struggle that Huck goes through, trying to find himself along the way. He looks at the situation with 2 different perspectives, one of them being that taking Jim to gain his freedom is immoral and the wrong thing to do, the other being taking Jim to gain his freedom is the right thing to do. Although Jim knows that either way he will feel guilty but he ends up choosing to take Jim's side because of his loyalty. Jim shows his appreciation to Huck by saying things like, "Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman dat ever kep' his promise to ole Jim”(Pg. 92), causing Huck

Throughout the story violence is used as a way to settle disputes or for a way for the people in the story to get what they want. Pap, for example, returned to find Huck so that he could take his money from him. While Huck stayed with his father for that short period of time, he was beaten. His father would constantly get drunk and usually beat him for no reason. The fact that Huck would not hand over the money and even went to court about the whole matter wasn't helping. Buck Sheperdson was caught right in the middle of the feud between his family and the Grangerfords. While Huck was out in the forest with the slave that wanted to show him the water moccasins, Buck was shot and killed by a member of the Grangerfords. He had paid the ultimate price for the feud as his cousin Bud did only 4 months prior to his death, and as many of his other relatives have done so in the past. Once again violence takes its toll as the heroic Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn try to rescue Jim. While risking his lives to take Jim away with them, Tom was shot in the shoulder by a pursuing town member.

In the small town where Huck grew up, every boy was expected to go to school, dress appropriately, and in other words conform to the beliefs and conducts the townspeople practiced. Trying to follow this civilized way was difficult for Huck, “She put me in them new clothes again… the Widow rung a bell for supper, and you had to come to time." (Twain p.164) It is clear that Huck hates the proper, edifying way of doing things and wishes for an escape, “I felt so lonesome I almost wish I was dead.” (Twain p.2) Aunt Sally’s intentions for Huck center around the upbringing that society thinks every boy should have: religion, clean clothes, education, and an indoctrination in right and wrong. Huck instead longs for freedom from these things and to become self governing. Huck describes civilization as a trap, “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when

Huckleberry Finn Satire Essay In Mark Twain's The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, there were a lot of examples of satire. The one that stuck out to me was the idea of family feuds. The feud between the Shepardsons and the Grangerfords is ironic in the story because they have been fighting for years and don't even know why they're fighting anymore. This is ironic to me because the Buck wants to fight against the opposing family extremely bad, but he doesn't know why.

Twain utilizes the novel to poke fun at the society and social class of his time. “The object behind the fun was to expose pretentious, phony, and stupid people, and to bring down the mighty, whether it be con men or rich men, exalted authors of great reputation or the royalty they adored” (Johnson 225). He descriptively portrays a representation of each class within the social hierarchy during the era in which the novel was written (Weiner 73). Jim symbolizes the slaves, while Huck and his father represent the lower class. Mrs. Watson, Tom Sawyer, and Tom’s aunt represent the middle class. The Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords characterize the wealthy, upper class. Throughout the novel, society rejects Huck because of his economic status and upbringing. Huck was the son of the

On the same token, the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons have shown hypocrisy through humor by bringing their guns to church in which the “men kept… between their knees or stood them handy against the wall” (121). This is ironic since the church is a place of holiness and “all about brotherly love.” (121). Twain makes fun of the Shepherdsons and Grangerfords feud by making Huck ask Buck about the feud. Buck, unable to recall why this whole thing started or why so many people are being killed for it, is insane and idiotic. The two families don’t even know what they are fighting for yet, they take it so seriously and put themselves on the line for it. Thus, the families destroyed themselves because of foolish pride and their idiotic actions. This only shows how society is foolish and people fight over the simplest of things.