In 1884, Mark Twain published the sequel to his successful novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. With the sequel, Twain took a different approach rather than the comical, boyish tone of Tom Sawyer. He used it as an opportunity to exposes the problems he had seen with society using one of the most powerful methods available to a writer: irony. The technique gave Mark Twain much flexibility in his writing. It was a subtle yet powerful way of expression; critical social commentary enveloped in whimsical humor. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn amuses the reader while expressing a powerful message about society.

Using irony, Twain has created an entire novel that satirizes the foolishness he noticed about society. One wrong he saw with society was that man could be so cruel and inhumane to his fellow man. Take the irony that surrounds the situation at the Phelps' farm. The Phelps' were good-natured Christians whom were taught by society that slavery was morally right. Therefore, Jim is treated accordingly and locked up in a shed for running away. One subtle part of the irony is that the cruelest person to Jim was not the Phelps', who

The criticism depicted here is self-evident; Aunt Polly does not consider a black man to be human. Another situation in which irony is employed is when Pap, Huck's father, is expressing his derision towards black people. Whether he admits to it or not, Pap is everything that he despises about them. He is a filthy, shameless drunkard, with an ingrained contempt for black people. He compares his clothes "that ain't fitten for a hog" to those of a free, wealthy mulatto (20). Moreover, he refuses to vote now that he has found out that blacks in other states had the right to vote. By refusing to vote, he further characterizes himself as the black man he despises so much. The feuding predisposition of the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons is also an example of irony. These families continue to fight a feud albeit no one was able to recall the exact cause. The church sermon the two families attended add to the irony for the topic was brotherly love. A third example are the two conniving con-artists, the king and the duke. Throughout the course of the adventure, the deceptive pair had continuously swindled a countless number of people into willingly give them money. Even when fair justice was served and the king and duke were tarred and feathered, Huck still thought the punishment was severe: "Human beings can be awful cruel to one another" (174). On two other occasions, Huck praised Jim for having characteristics that blacks usually were not supposed to possess. Once, Huck praised Jim for "he had an uncommon level head for a nigger" because Jim realized that Miss Watson would sell him if he were ever captured (57). The second time was when Jim stayed behind when Tom was shot in the leg; this time, Huck "knowed he was white inside,"; an insult considering some of the white characte

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mark Twain, Grangerfords Shepherdsons, Huckleberry Finn, Pap Huck's, Joanna Wilks', Tom Huck, Miss Watson, Aunt Polly, Jim Accordingly, Tom Sawyer, mark twain, adventures huckleberry, huckleberry finn, adventures huckleberry finn, aunt polly, tom sawyer, huck praised jim, grangerfords shepherdsons, jim phelps', subtle powerful, locked shed, freeing jim,
Approximate Word count = 1210
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)