Huck Finn and Satire
One name from American Literature that probably all school children know is Mark Twain. Along with that, one book from American Literature that probably all school children have heard about is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Truly, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a marvel of its own time and is still a great classic today as it illustrates for its reader the pre-civil war South far beyond anything one could imagine. The book itself makes such great use of satire and humor and criticism to make Mark Twain's opinions known and paint a surprisingly accurate picture of the South. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain satirizes and criticizes societies and customs of the southern pre-civil war towns lining the banks of the great Mississippi River. Mark Twain uses his masterful ways of satire to voice his opinions upon the societies especially in satirizing the judicial system, which he does so passionately in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain humorously shows how lenient and sometimes ignorant the court systems can be and how the law enforcement cannot deal with actual crimes. Law enforcement does nothing about drunkards like Huck's father and the court system hardly punishes him for his crimes. Judge
Occasionally, Twain will switch into cold, hard criticism. Like the raft, these folk beliefs are a common ground shared by the boy and the slave and become both an equalizing and a binding force. Not only does he make fun of African American religion, he also makes fun of white religion. From his point of view, they are the catalyst for his adventures. Twain's main focus through the book is the satirization and ciriticism of prejudice and intolerance. His harsh and cold critique on the feud is one of his harder and least amusing parts in the novel but is none-the-less important. One example in the novel is this except from the conversation between Jim the fugitive slave, and Huckleberry about why Jim ran away, where Jim declares, "Well you see, it 'uz dis way. For Huck, who does not have the support of a family or home and the traditional values these can provide, his folk beliefs become the solid foundation he lacks. There are points where the humor is so thick, it's almost absurd but there are also points in the novel where the criticism is so harsh, it almost makes one want to take a break from reading it and go find something cheerful to take their mind off of the book. With the closing of each chapter, one can go back and find more and more amounts of criticism and satire. Twain also does a fantastic job of satirizing religion. In summary, the whole of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book of satire and criticism, some amusing some not so amusing. Ole missus-dat's Miss Watson-she pecks on me all de time, en treats me pooty rough, but she awluz said she woudn' sell me down to Orleans. They also are a connection with the only true family Huck has: Jim.
Common topics in this essay:
Huckleberry Finn,
African Americans,
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Mark Twain,
Huck Huck's,
Finn Twain,
Judge Thatcher,
Jim Huck,
Grangerford's Shepardsons',
Shepardsons Grangerfords,
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throughout novel,
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american literature probably,
literature probably school,
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Acceptance Essays
