Satire in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a young boy leaves home and embarks on a journey. In his time, people of higher status were seen as more intelligent than others. Through satire, Twain suggests that class does not correlate with intelligence.
First, the high class’s limited intelligence is exposed when Buck incorrectly spells Huck’s alias. When Buck’s father asks for Huck’s name, he says, “George Jackson, sir” () Huck later forgets his name and asks Buck to spell it; Buck says, “G-e-o-r-g-e J-a-x-o-n” (). Huck does not realize that Buck’s spelling is incorrect. He even admits to memorizing it: “I set it down, private, because somebody might want ME to spell it next…”
In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a young boy leaves home and embarks on a journey. In his time, people of higher status were seen as more intelligent than others. Through satire, Twain suggests that class does not correlate with intelligence.
First, the high class’s limited intelligence is exposed when Buck incorrectly spells Huck’s alias. When Buck’s father asks for Huck’s name, he says, “George Jackson, sir” () Huck later forgets his name and asks Buck to spell it; Buck says, “G-e-o-r-g-e J-a-x-o-n” (). Huck does not realize that Buck’s spelling is incorrect. He even admits to memorizing it: “I set it down, private, because somebody might want ME to spell it next…”