How Does Mark Twain Use Satire In Huckleberry Finn

"You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth" (Twain 11). In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain describes the antebellum South through the eyes of a rebellious adolescent. The protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, befriends a runaway slave named Jim after deciding to get away from civilization. Throughout the book, Huck and Jim encounter many aspects of Southern society as they travel by raft on the Mississippi River, which are sometimes depicted by Twain's technique of satire. The author uses humor to criticize the social
institutions of slavery, racism, and religion.

Slavery was an important part of the Southern economy prior to the Civil War. In the novel, Twain criticizes slavery by revealing the hypocrisy in the slave owners, many who thought of themselves as benevolent masters and good Christians. For example, Uncle Silas is a farmer who owns slaves but is also strongly devoted to Christianity as a preacher. "He was the innocentest, best old soul I ever see. But it warn't surprising; because he warn't only just a farmer, he was a preacher, too, and had a little one-horse log church down back of the plantation, which he built it himself at his own expense, for a church and a schoolhouse, and never charged nothing for his preaching, and it was worth it, too" (Twain 237). Huck's description of Silas reveals how the slave-owning preacher is a hypocrite since slavery is considered morally wrong in the Bible. Also, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson are both dedicated Christians but own slaves which adds to Twain's criticism of Southern mentality.

Racism can be seen often in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with many people expressing their prejudiced views right in front of Huck.
This causes him to reevaluate his own views on Jim and to go against the majority in society. Twain criticizes the racism by having satire in what Huck says about Jim. For example, Jim mentions that if one of their adventures go wrong, then he might get captured and sold by Miss Watson. Huck sees sense in what Jim said but still puts him down in his thoughts. "Well, he sure was right; he was most always right; he had an uncommon level head for a nigger" (Twain 87). Eventually, Huck recognizes Jim as a person instead of trying to uphold the racist views of the South. This shows how Twain criticized racism since it was illogical and
unnecessary.

In the novel, Mark Twain pokes fun at religion and its effects on American society.
Huck comes across characters that have strong beliefs or superstitions which makes him avoid religion in general. For example, the widow tries to bring Christianity into Huck's life by forcing him to pray as well as learn about Moses from the Bible. "...but by and by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then I didn't care no more about him, because I don't take no stock in dead people" (Twain 12). However, he becomes skeptical of the widow's antics and continues to question religious beliefs throughout the story. Twain criticizes Christian aspects in the book to show how Americans were too serious and too attached to it. Also, he did it to show how people were using religion more for show instead of finding faith within themselves.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn portrays much of American society at the time, mainly in the South before the Civil War. As Huck and Jim float down the Mississippi River in their raft, they encounter characteristics of Southern culture and human nature. Mark Twain uses humor to criticize the social institutions of slavery, racism, and religion. His use of satire effectively exposes the two-faced character of slave owners and how the reasoning behind racism was unfounded. Also, Twain's satirical method challenges the established practices of religion, especially
Christianity.