The use of Satire in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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André Malan

The use of Satire in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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     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. Today however readers can see the message behind Mark Twain’s satire much more clearly, as it does not mock us personally but rather a society that we have evolved from and tend to deride ourselves.

     Mark Twain was deeply opposed to slavery, yet he does not openly display his views in the novel. Instead he uses the subtlety of satire to bring his message across. In a time where the life of a slave was considered worthless, Twain used Jim to show us otherwise. Society considered slaves as possessions with no value other than that of money. However, as soon as Jim is free, he is rich. “I owns myself, en I’s worth eight hund’d dollars.” (100). This shows us that even though society considered the lives of slaves worthless, the monetary value that they put on slaves, gave not only their lives value, but also their freedom. Freedom brought more value to Jim’s life, monetary or otherwise than he had ever possessed as a slave.

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     Twain also shows us that society’s views of black people as being incapable of human emotion were wrong. Throughout the novel he develops Jim’s emotions. The irony in society’s expectation of Huck to feel bad for simply being human, and feeling pity for Jim, shows us the inhumanity of society itself. Huck realizes however, that if he did follow society’s expectations and give Jim up to the slavers he would “…feel bad – [he’d] feel just the same way [he does] now” (149). This leads him to disregard the expectations placed on him by society and just ...

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