The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Satire Analysis

Satire is a humorous way to criticize people’s thoughtless behavior, and it is generally everywhere (1). From literary works to late-night comedy shows, satire is very unavoidable. An exceptional example of satire is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Twain is a satirist which means that his works contain numerous uses of satire. Because Twain is a satirist and used many different satirical devices, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a superlative example of a satirical literary work. One satirical device that Twain used in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was irony. Irony is where the actual intentions get contradicted by opposite meanings and there are four types of irony. The first type of irony is called verbal irony and this type of irony inverts the truth (2). The second type of irony is dramatic irony and this is where the word or acts of a character carries a meaning that they are unaware of but it is understood by the readers (3). The third type of irony is Socratic irony where the readers draw knowledge to achieve an advantage over an opponent (3). The final type of irony is situational irony which gives a discrepancy between the purpose and …show more content…
Sarcasm is a sharply mocking or contemptuous remark, but it can be light-hearted as well (3). An example of sarcasm in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is in Chapter 26 where Huck uses this device when he communicated with the meek Joanna about King Louis XVI going to his church despite the fact that the king died years ago. “Who? William Fourth? Well, I bet I have -- he goes to our church ( Twain 1884)" and "Yes -- regular. His pew's right over opposite ourn -- on t'other side the pulpit (Twain 1884)." By using sarcasm, Twain satirized women by showing how gullible they can be as Joanna went along with everything Huck said about King Louis XVI and did not think reasonably about what Huck told