Huckleberry Finn Satire Analysis

1190 Words5 Pages
Satire and irony have a long and storied history in Europe. This year, we briefly analysed Voltaire, a french writer and poet who used these literary devices to criticize the crooked society in which he lived. The American heir to this european tradition is Mark Twain, the first American writer to be known and read all around the world. Twain’s writing ridicules romantic literature, the writing of many of the famous british writers of the time. Through different types of irony and satire, he manages to denounce many of society’s problems that nobody wanted to address. Mark Twain uses satire in order to undermine the greed and corruption of eighteenth century culture. We come to see this through situations and characters that symbolise…show more content…
"Each person had their own nigger to wait on them - Buck too. My nigger had a monstrous easy time, because I warn't used to having anybody do anything for me, but Buck's was on the jump most of the time” (109) Huck feels bad commanding a black man, a slave nonetheless, to do his bidding, it doesn’t feel right to him. He doesn’t think it’s morally wrong but he himself doesn’t like to do so himself. This train of thinking is much like in the present, with guns, where some people chose to not use guns, but aren’t against them or their…show more content…
Men and women had twisted views on what was or wasn’t considered cruelty. In class, we discussed one of the punishments of the time which consisted of covering a human in hot tar and covering them in feathers. This was considered a normal, sane, and whimsical punishment at the time, today if someone did that to another human being or even animal, he would be considered insane and a psychopath. “He’ll be drownded, and won’t have nobody to blame for it but his own self. I reckon that’s a considerable sight better’n kill’ of him. I’m unfavorable to killin’ a man (...) it ain’t good morals.” This man believed it to be a lesser or even nonexistent crime to let a man drown when you can easily help him, whereas killing this same man would be a dishonorable and scandalous crime. Much like today, 18th century society was full of a myriad of double standards. Although today our double standards don’t necessarily decide life or death, contrary to this situation, it would be absurd to say that they are nonexistent or inconsequential. Although it is rapidly changing and evolving, the way we treat, hire, and represent on social media men and women are very different and quite often quite sexist. One day we may look back at this with a frown. Also, there is often a double standard still today with race between the black and the white man. Sometimes a law enforcement officer’s way of reacting can be very
Show More
Related

  • Tom Sawyer Quotes And Analysis

    528 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Notecards THESIS: In Mark Twain’s classic novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain illustrates the cruel realities of American society through satire and children’s anecdotes. By frequently using humor, Twain illustrates how mid-19th century American society imposed their prejudices’ and illogical beliefs on younger generations. Through the stories of developing youth, we see that the core of childhood experiences was disturbing

    Read More

More about Huckleberry Finn Satire Analysis

Open Document