Huckleberry Finn Satire Essay
Huckleberry Finn: A Satirical Work
Mark Twain’s novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” is considered to be one of the greatest works of American history. His use of humorous satire is unparalleled in modern writing. The meanings of his book are hidden deep within the pages, causing some to question its satirical nature. Written years after the civil war ended slavery, the book takes place in the pre-civil war south; a place ridden with slavery and racism. He uses satire to attack the racism that still thrived even after the death of slavery, the hypocrisy of the religious southerners, and superstition in a lighter more humorous sense. Mark Twain’s satire is one that needs to be looked at in a deeper sense than as pure humor. Mark Twain uses satire to attack racism in many ways. Jim is a huge part of Twains anti racist satire. Jim is portrayed as an outstanding person, risking his life to help Huck countless times and even giving up his freedom to save Tom Sawyer in the end. Although he shows many admirable human qualities, he is treated as less than human. He is treated as property by the southerners or simply as though he has less value than them. This is incredibly ironic in the sense that in most cases Jim would be considered a much better person than his abusers; he could even …show more content…
At one point he is making fun of the overly-superstitious people who believe Jim’s tale about the witches that entranced him and rode him around the world; the whole time it had been Tom and Huck who moved his hat. Another time is when Jim prophesizes about his chest hair making him rich, or the snake skin giving them bad luck. He could only make fun of superstition to a point because he recognized it as part of folk-lore. He also recognized its importance in peoples lives, although that didn’t stop him from making fun of
Mark Twain’s novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” is considered to be one of the greatest works of American history. His use of humorous satire is unparalleled in modern writing. The meanings of his book are hidden deep within the pages, causing some to question its satirical nature. Written years after the civil war ended slavery, the book takes place in the pre-civil war south; a place ridden with slavery and racism. He uses satire to attack the racism that still thrived even after the death of slavery, the hypocrisy of the religious southerners, and superstition in a lighter more humorous sense. Mark Twain’s satire is one that needs to be looked at in a deeper sense than as pure humor. Mark Twain uses satire to attack racism in many ways. Jim is a huge part of Twains anti racist satire. Jim is portrayed as an outstanding person, risking his life to help Huck countless times and even giving up his freedom to save Tom Sawyer in the end. Although he shows many admirable human qualities, he is treated as less than human. He is treated as property by the southerners or simply as though he has less value than them. This is incredibly ironic in the sense that in most cases Jim would be considered a much better person than his abusers; he could even …show more content…
At one point he is making fun of the overly-superstitious people who believe Jim’s tale about the witches that entranced him and rode him around the world; the whole time it had been Tom and Huck who moved his hat. Another time is when Jim prophesizes about his chest hair making him rich, or the snake skin giving them bad luck. He could only make fun of superstition to a point because he recognized it as part of folk-lore. He also recognized its importance in peoples lives, although that didn’t stop him from making fun of