satire in the adventures of huck finn
"There it is: it doesn't make any difference who we are or what we are, there's always somebody to look down on! Somebody to hold in light esteem, somebody to be indifferent about." Mark Twain (1835-1910), U.S. author. "Three Thousand Years Among the Microbes," ch. 15 (written 1905; published in Which Was the Dream? ed. by John S. Tuckey, 1967). This quote says that people will always feel superior to some one different. The reason for this is that it makes people feel important and better about themselves. Slavery derived from this belief in superiority. Mark Twain, author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn uses satire as a literary technique to present his ideals on slavery within his period of time. Satire is a method of taking a serious issue and representing it in a humorous way. The Author uses Huck's relationship with Jim, societies attitude towards Jim during their travel up the Mississippi River, and the use of racist terminology throughout the novel. Mark !Twain's use of satire in the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn enables the reader to better understand his message of slavery. First, Huck's relationship with Jim shows the authors views on slavery. Huck was taught at home and in school that sla
'No! A servant ain't nobody there. They treat them worse than dogs" (Twain 181). This shows how ignorant people were, they treated people that were different (slaves) worse than dogs. Finally, the use of racist terminology throughout the book showed how Jim and slaves were treated. This terminology is used in order to show how racist people were at that period of time. "Some think old Finn done it himself...But before night they changed around and judged it was done by a runaway nigger named Jim" (Twain 84). This uses language that reveals the way people looked at Jim. Huck himself was racist when Miss Watson asks if anybody got hurt and Huck replies "No ma'am just a nigger" (Twain 34). At times the author might criticize white people's actions, but he never categorizes them like using the term "nigger". This term today is extremely offensive to many people especially when used. During the authors time it was unusual for a white person not to use this term in describing African Americans. So by using this terminology the novel has more of a realistic approach because during that time the word "nigger" was a part of life and Twain wanted to change tha! good ways off" (Twain 58). This shows that Huck incorrectly assumes that people can spot a black person from far away. At this point he still holds the belief that blac
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Approximate Word count = 908
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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