The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain comments on many subjects such as race, religion, slavery, education and society as a whole. Throughout the book there are certain very serious instance, which occurred amidst all of the satirizing, but even in those serious instances we can find remnants of satire. The book has a consistent theme of questioning societal morals, as well as Huck’s individual struggle to find his morals. In the reading Satire: Spirit and Art by George A. Test, stated that “the emotions that give rise to satire are…the least admirable of human emotions- anger, malice, hatred, indignation”. While doing this satire “evokes [parallel] emotions… shame, anger, guilt, anxiety (pg. 1).
In one particular section of the …show more content…
Making a statement on how well rounded he believes himself to be in the situation of slavery. He believes himself to know the average man, who in the north is a coward in another form, by “[letting] anybody walk over him… and goes home and prays for a humble spirit to bear it” (117). In all meanings of the word humble there is the lowering of the self, there is also the presence of modesty, so the question becomes is he stating that no true man would lower themselves at the feet of another? He then proceeds to examine the south where, “one man [could step up] and has stopped a stage full of men, in the day-time, and robbed the lot” (117). He comments on the southern men’s misconstrued meaning of bravery, due to the newspapers. The word bravery is widely-known to display valor and courage usually associated with warriors and admirable persons. The issue that Sherburn brought up was not the misunderstanding of the meaning of the word, but the actions taken in the sake of being called as such. They had a belief that in disposing of their perceived societal threat, without justification they were claimed to be braver. When in fact “[they were] just as brave and no braver” (117). He stated that “the average man is a coward”, going about doing all these ‘formidable’ acts in the darkness of night. Sherburn keeps repeating the time of day in which all of these actions were being
In one particular section of the …show more content…
Making a statement on how well rounded he believes himself to be in the situation of slavery. He believes himself to know the average man, who in the north is a coward in another form, by “[letting] anybody walk over him… and goes home and prays for a humble spirit to bear it” (117). In all meanings of the word humble there is the lowering of the self, there is also the presence of modesty, so the question becomes is he stating that no true man would lower themselves at the feet of another? He then proceeds to examine the south where, “one man [could step up] and has stopped a stage full of men, in the day-time, and robbed the lot” (117). He comments on the southern men’s misconstrued meaning of bravery, due to the newspapers. The word bravery is widely-known to display valor and courage usually associated with warriors and admirable persons. The issue that Sherburn brought up was not the misunderstanding of the meaning of the word, but the actions taken in the sake of being called as such. They had a belief that in disposing of their perceived societal threat, without justification they were claimed to be braver. When in fact “[they were] just as brave and no braver” (117). He stated that “the average man is a coward”, going about doing all these ‘formidable’ acts in the darkness of night. Sherburn keeps repeating the time of day in which all of these actions were being