Satire In Huckleberry Finn

The use of Satire in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn In his novel the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published in 1884, Mark Twain uses satire frequently as a medium to display his feelings on a range of issues related to society at that time. Throughout the book he ridicules many aspects of society, including the prevalent views on slaves and religion, and their social structure. Even though the novel was set fifty years before it was published, the themes still held true for contemporary society. This led to the novel being criticised widely as a result of it condemning the very society it was presented to.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is a satire written by Mark Twain. The novel is based on the series of adventures that the protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, and his companion a runaway slave named Jim go on. In the novel, the protagonist, Huck Finn's mind is pulled in conflicting directions by two compelling desires.

A lack of self-awareness tended the narrator’s life to seem frustrating and compelling to the reader. This lack often led him to offer generalizations about ““colored” people” without seeing them as human beings. He would often forget his own “colored” roots when doing so. He vacillated between intelligence and naivete, weak and strong will, identification with other African-Americans and a complete disavowal of them. He had a very difficult time making a decision for his life without hesitating and wondering if it would be the right one.

In December 1884, American author Mark Twain published a sequel called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to his earlier novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In this novel, a thirteen-year-old boy named Huck Finn struggles to fit in with the society. Huck decides to leave his town to stay uncivilized,

In the appropriately titled novel, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", by author, Mark Twain, a young boy, named, Huckleberry Finn's life is completely changed. The story is basically that, Huck is sent to live with his strict relatives that try to conform him into someone he isn't, but, sequentially ends up traveling down the Mississippi River, with an escaped slave, Jim. As the novel progresses, Jim and Huck develop an extremely close friendship, which makes him change his views on slavery. Despite numerous chances, Huck never turns Jim in, because of his new outlook on slavery. Although slavery is a main theme in the book, it is not the only one. Because, author, Mark Twain creates a social critique by juxtaposing the

Devices like mockery, irony, parody, and sarcasm make the use of satire effective . Satirists typically use these devices when hoping to expose, or even humiliate an individual or a society. Writers also use satire when creating social change as well as preventing it. Well known satirists include Mark Twain, Jonathan swift, and many other extarident authors. Every satirists uses different methods or devices to get their point across and effectively at that . Satirists use many different methods and devices like mockery, mock-heroic, and others to use satire effectively and gain an audience's attention.

Jim, as a slave, is always in fear. He was afraid of Miss Watson's treatment when he lived with her, afraid of being sent to be a plantation worker, and now terrified of being caught as a runaway (Twain 43). This alone is enough to ruin his humanity, not to mention his physical beatings as well. The only thing he has to hold on to are his various superstitions like, “You musn't count the things you are going to cook for dinner, because that would bring bad luck” (Twain 45), and all of the signs and other things he points out. Huckleberry, even though he is very fond of Jim, constantly refers to him as “Miss Watson's Jim” (Twain), reminding the reader that Huck's society was taught that slaves were just property and nothing more. Because of slavery, the southern society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has a lapse in morals by almost all of the whites, actually supports the devastatingly inhumane psychological and physiological treatment of humans, and contains seriously horrible false perceptions and prejudices.

The author allows us to infer that he is among those from the African-American heritage by the specific language used to describe the various types of people. The author is careful to use neutral wording; however, when referring to the Negro, the use of oppressive terminology suggests that the listener responding is especially sympathetic to the plight of the blacks. It is phrases such as, "I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars" (20) and "torn from Black Africa's strand I came" (49), which enable us to perceive the speaker's special affinity with the African people. By using a more specific designation when referring to the Negro, it is natural to assume that the speaker is also a Negro. 'The speaker subtly interjects the continuing oppression of the African American and establishes a hierarchy

Ch.1 Most of us re aware of the African-American history containing much violence, oppression and belittling. However, grasping all the details of what they experienced is difficult Even upon receiving their “freedom” they were greeted with another era of beatings, humility, shame and, worst of all, lynching. When, quite literally, the shackles came off, they believed a better life awaited them in the near distance. Instead, they were shoved back into a state of fear and shame for those who lived in the south.

Although people disagree over what makes someone morally “good” or morally “bad,” most people can agree that caring and compassion are good qualities while intolerance and selfishness are bad qualities.  Mark Twain uses satire in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to amplify the good and bad qualities of people.  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn exposes Twain’s thoughts on human nature by showing undesirable qualities of people in the racist white people and showing preferable qualities in the African-American slave, who is a victim of racism.  The racist white people are portrayed by Twain as prejudice and egotistic while Jim portrays compassion.

Huck, the narrator of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is young, naïve, and rather an outsider of society; this allows Twain to impart stronger commentary on society. Huck’s outsider status and naïveté presents a forgivable narrator, one who saying something crass or shocking about society is not a product of their character, but one of their situations. Readers are more apt to forgive comments on society if they perceive them as “innocent” in this case that the narrator, Huck, doesn’t truly know what he’s saying. Huck’s naïveté allows him to convey Twain’s comments on society based on his experiences and without judgment, allowing the reader to form their own judgments, such as when Huck “wanted to smoke and asked the widow to let me.

Lord Byron once said, "Fools are my theme, let satire be my song." Mark Twain definitely lived by this quote when writing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Satire is a way of humoring and criticizing people's views on certain topics. Mark Twain used this technique immensely throughout the American classic. Having satire included in this novel created a different spin on the whole story.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a humorous novel by Mark Twain that tells the story of Huck, a boy who would much rather run from being civilized, in order to enjoy the freedom of being able to do as he pleases. In the beginning, Huck discovers that his father Pap, who is a drunk, has arrived in town. Eventually, Pap kidnaps Huck and takes him away to a small cabin in the woods where he keeps him. Huck devises a way to escape from his drunken father and makes his way down the Mississippi River to begin an extraordinary journey with Jim, a runaway slave. Twain tells the story in a manner that allows the reader to experience the adversities Huck and Jim go through, by the descriptive nature he uses.

During the 1840’s, slavery was a nationwide issue in the newly rising country the United States. Slavery was especially abundant in the southern states, where people of color were viewed as subhuman. They were used as objects and servants to perform laborious work. In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the slave man Jim runs away from his owner to go on the adventure of becoming a free man with a white boy named Huckleberry Finn. Throughout the novel, Jim demonstrates being a slave, a friend, and a father figure role to Huckleberry.

Twain’s use of this scene indicates the light-heartedness of Jim’s escape, but he is trying to show the reader how much of a process it was for the slaves to be free. This scene specifically contributes to Huck's character development because it demonstrates Hucks logic he has obtained throughout his journey. As Tom is explaining his absurde plan to save Jim, Huck realizes how ridiculous Tom sounds and how much he over-complicates every situation. This scene is a crucial part of the story that shows Huck's moral development, and a comical viewpoint of the struggle of becoming truly