Examples Of Satire In Huckleberry Finn
Chaucer's “The Canterbury Tales” is a satirical comedy about corruption in the Church during the 14th century. During the time period in which the Canterbury Tales was written the Church was extremely prevalent in almost all aspects of a person’s life and was prone to corruption. Christianity was not only the primary religion of Europe, but it was also one of the primary authorities as well. However, after the Black Death, many Europeans became more skeptical of the authority of the church. This is expressed in the text, “The Tales reflect diverse views of the Church in Chaucer's England. After the Black Death, many Europeans began to question the authority of the established Church. Some turned to lollardy, while others chose less extreme
…show more content…
paths, starting new monastic orders or smaller movements exposing church corruption in the behaviour of the clergy, false church relics or abuse of indulgences” (Bisson). Chaucer used satire to attack the corruption of the church. Understanding why people began to question the Church's authority give the reader the necessary context to read the story. The corruption of the Church is represented through the character, the Pardoner, who uses his holy status to swindle people. The Pardoner was a priest who made a living offering indulgences to the people. In order to receive an indulgence, a person would first have to make a donation to the church. The Pardoner would pocket the donations and sell fake relics to people such as animal bones that “ward” off the devil. “Thanne shewe I forth my longe cristal stones, Ycrammed ful of cloutes and of bones; Relikes been they, as wenen they echoon” (Chaucer). His character is meant to embody the corruption of the Church. A man of the cloth who uses his position to swindle good folk out of their money. Many people during the 14th century were beginning to lose faith in the Church due to instances of corruption such as the actions of the Pardoner in the story. The character the Knight chivalry is meant to show just of vile some of his fellow travelers really are. The Canterbury Tales demonstrates the just how terrible people can be. Many of the travelers are either corrupt or simply rotten people. However, this is not the case with the Knight. The Knight, unlike many of the other characters of the book, is honorable and chivalrous. Here the Knight demonstrates his conscientiousness as a competitor, which is to say, his respect for the rules of the tale-telling game.“The remenant of the tale is long ynough. I wol nat letten eek noon of this route, Lat every felawe telle his tale aboute, And lat se now who shal the soper wynne” (Chaucer). The color black looks much darker when you are looking at it next to the color white. People are not different, putting a morally upstanding individual near those who are morally backward puts even more emphasis on their vileness. Chaucer uses satire in “The Canterbury Tales” to demonstrate the overall corruption of the Church and society in 14th-century Europe.
In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Mark Twain uses satire to mock slavery in America.
Twain argues through “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” that civilization actually corrupts, and slavery racism are used as an example to prove that point. Huck Finn is a child who lived on the lowest rungs of society. He resisted any attempts to indoctrinate him with social values. It if for this reason that he is the perfect main character for this story. Due to the fact that Huck resists the norms of society he has no biases. An example of this would be that he knows society would dictate that Jim was Miss Watson's property, but he himself does not feel that way, which is why he helps Jim. Throughout the story, Huck is in moral conflict with the received values of the society in which he lives, and while he is unable to consciously refute those values even in his thoughts, he makes a moral choice based on his own valuation of Jim's friendship and Jim's human worth, a decision in direct opposition to the things he has been taught. Mark Twain, in his lecture notes, proposes that "a sound heart is a surer guide than an ill-trained conscience" and goes on to describe the novel as "...a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat" (Doyno). Karl Marx and Old Major’s visions for the perfect future led to the revolutions within their respective societies. The slave character, Jim, is meant to demonstrate the humanity of slaves. Jim demonstrates that slaves were just as human as any white man. There was no inherent inferiority and deep down they were exactly like white people or any race of people for that matter. The greatest revelation of Jim’s compassion appears at the end of the novel when Jim gives up his own freedom to save Tom. While many critics say Jim’s character diminishes in dignity in this section, to the contrary, this is where Twain gives us the greatest view of Jim’s humanity. While critics argue
that at the end of the novel Jim slips back into his stereotypical role, they are ignoring the fact that Jim is acting true to his circumstances (Adrienneprovost). Jim is a morally upstanding individual. It would be understandable if Jim hated all white people due to his enslavement. However, he is even willing to sacrifice his freedom for a young white boy. Jim demonstrates a level of upstanding morality that is rarely achieved by any of the other characters in the story. The character Tom Sawyer is a foil to Huck and is meant to represent the type of societal conformity that made slavery possible. In literature, the best way to demonstrate the true nature of a character is to give them a foil. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer is used as a foil for Huck. Tom is educated, motivated and bound to the rules of society, while Huck is independent and lives life free of ambition, outside of meeting his day to day needs. Furthermore, Tom is an accepted and respected member of society, while Huck is an outcast. These two boys mirror each other through negation (Adrienneprovost). When reading Tom’s interactions with Huck we are truly able to see how different Huck is from someone who has conformed to society. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” satires slavery in the south by showing the reader the perspective of a character who eventually doesn't believe in racial superiority because his opinion is not muddled by societal norms.
paths, starting new monastic orders or smaller movements exposing church corruption in the behaviour of the clergy, false church relics or abuse of indulgences” (Bisson). Chaucer used satire to attack the corruption of the church. Understanding why people began to question the Church's authority give the reader the necessary context to read the story. The corruption of the Church is represented through the character, the Pardoner, who uses his holy status to swindle people. The Pardoner was a priest who made a living offering indulgences to the people. In order to receive an indulgence, a person would first have to make a donation to the church. The Pardoner would pocket the donations and sell fake relics to people such as animal bones that “ward” off the devil. “Thanne shewe I forth my longe cristal stones, Ycrammed ful of cloutes and of bones; Relikes been they, as wenen they echoon” (Chaucer). His character is meant to embody the corruption of the Church. A man of the cloth who uses his position to swindle good folk out of their money. Many people during the 14th century were beginning to lose faith in the Church due to instances of corruption such as the actions of the Pardoner in the story. The character the Knight chivalry is meant to show just of vile some of his fellow travelers really are. The Canterbury Tales demonstrates the just how terrible people can be. Many of the travelers are either corrupt or simply rotten people. However, this is not the case with the Knight. The Knight, unlike many of the other characters of the book, is honorable and chivalrous. Here the Knight demonstrates his conscientiousness as a competitor, which is to say, his respect for the rules of the tale-telling game.“The remenant of the tale is long ynough. I wol nat letten eek noon of this route, Lat every felawe telle his tale aboute, And lat se now who shal the soper wynne” (Chaucer). The color black looks much darker when you are looking at it next to the color white. People are not different, putting a morally upstanding individual near those who are morally backward puts even more emphasis on their vileness. Chaucer uses satire in “The Canterbury Tales” to demonstrate the overall corruption of the Church and society in 14th-century Europe.
In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Mark Twain uses satire to mock slavery in America.
Twain argues through “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” that civilization actually corrupts, and slavery racism are used as an example to prove that point. Huck Finn is a child who lived on the lowest rungs of society. He resisted any attempts to indoctrinate him with social values. It if for this reason that he is the perfect main character for this story. Due to the fact that Huck resists the norms of society he has no biases. An example of this would be that he knows society would dictate that Jim was Miss Watson's property, but he himself does not feel that way, which is why he helps Jim. Throughout the story, Huck is in moral conflict with the received values of the society in which he lives, and while he is unable to consciously refute those values even in his thoughts, he makes a moral choice based on his own valuation of Jim's friendship and Jim's human worth, a decision in direct opposition to the things he has been taught. Mark Twain, in his lecture notes, proposes that "a sound heart is a surer guide than an ill-trained conscience" and goes on to describe the novel as "...a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat" (Doyno). Karl Marx and Old Major’s visions for the perfect future led to the revolutions within their respective societies. The slave character, Jim, is meant to demonstrate the humanity of slaves. Jim demonstrates that slaves were just as human as any white man. There was no inherent inferiority and deep down they were exactly like white people or any race of people for that matter. The greatest revelation of Jim’s compassion appears at the end of the novel when Jim gives up his own freedom to save Tom. While many critics say Jim’s character diminishes in dignity in this section, to the contrary, this is where Twain gives us the greatest view of Jim’s humanity. While critics argue
that at the end of the novel Jim slips back into his stereotypical role, they are ignoring the fact that Jim is acting true to his circumstances (Adrienneprovost). Jim is a morally upstanding individual. It would be understandable if Jim hated all white people due to his enslavement. However, he is even willing to sacrifice his freedom for a young white boy. Jim demonstrates a level of upstanding morality that is rarely achieved by any of the other characters in the story. The character Tom Sawyer is a foil to Huck and is meant to represent the type of societal conformity that made slavery possible. In literature, the best way to demonstrate the true nature of a character is to give them a foil. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer is used as a foil for Huck. Tom is educated, motivated and bound to the rules of society, while Huck is independent and lives life free of ambition, outside of meeting his day to day needs. Furthermore, Tom is an accepted and respected member of society, while Huck is an outcast. These two boys mirror each other through negation (Adrienneprovost). When reading Tom’s interactions with Huck we are truly able to see how different Huck is from someone who has conformed to society. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” satires slavery in the south by showing the reader the perspective of a character who eventually doesn't believe in racial superiority because his opinion is not muddled by societal norms.