Society in the early nineteenth century as well as society today was very corrupt. Some of these corrupt aspects can be attributed to the immoral qualities in the people that make up said society. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain brings attention to the faults in society through his use of satire and irony. Twain’s use of satire allowed him to bring up many aspects of society that showed its’ flaws. In the beginning of the novel Huck is forced by the Widow Douglas to study the Bible. “[. . .] but by-and-by she let 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”(50). Although the Widow Douglas is only trying to look out for Huck
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Except she does not include a supportive and encouraging quality that Huck needs in order to be successful. Huck doesn’t understand the importance of all his studies and only sees Miss Watson as an agitator. Huck feels that civilization is the reason behind most of his troubles, including the annoyance of manners. The absence of compassion takes a toll on Huck and acts as a catalyst to Huck’s adventure. Unlike the people who were the reason behind Huck’s departure, Jim is one of the only characters Twain uses to show the compassionate side of society. As Huck and Jim traveled down the river Huck decided to play a trick on Jim and act like they had been separated. “‘[. . .] de tears come en I could a got down on my knees en kiss’ yo’ foot I’s so thankful. En all you wuz thinkin ‘bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie’”(143). In this quote Jim shows sorrow because he thought that Huck had been separated from him. Huck begins to feel benevolent because he can see that Jim is very compassionate towards him and that his actions had hurt Jim’s feelings. Compassion in society is important because society is made up of too many standards and rules and needs to be more relaxed in order to be successful.
In conclusion the satire and irony Twain used in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are important aspects of the novel because they show the weaknesses in society. Twain was able to use satire and irony to explain the corrupt society at the time in a humorous way that made it easy to connect with, no matter what time period the reader is from. No matter when or where, societies will always be inconstant and
Except she does not include a supportive and encouraging quality that Huck needs in order to be successful. Huck doesn’t understand the importance of all his studies and only sees Miss Watson as an agitator. Huck feels that civilization is the reason behind most of his troubles, including the annoyance of manners. The absence of compassion takes a toll on Huck and acts as a catalyst to Huck’s adventure. Unlike the people who were the reason behind Huck’s departure, Jim is one of the only characters Twain uses to show the compassionate side of society. As Huck and Jim traveled down the river Huck decided to play a trick on Jim and act like they had been separated. “‘[. . .] de tears come en I could a got down on my knees en kiss’ yo’ foot I’s so thankful. En all you wuz thinkin ‘bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie’”(143). In this quote Jim shows sorrow because he thought that Huck had been separated from him. Huck begins to feel benevolent because he can see that Jim is very compassionate towards him and that his actions had hurt Jim’s feelings. Compassion in society is important because society is made up of too many standards and rules and needs to be more relaxed in order to be successful.
In conclusion the satire and irony Twain used in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are important aspects of the novel because they show the weaknesses in society. Twain was able to use satire and irony to explain the corrupt society at the time in a humorous way that made it easy to connect with, no matter what time period the reader is from. No matter when or where, societies will always be inconstant and