Satire of Huck Finn

Samuel L. Clemans, whose pen name is Mark Twain was one of American’s greatest

writers who was known around the world for his works like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry

Finn. He is recognized as many to be one of the greatest American writers. I just finished

one of his books The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which I felt was a very moving

book . The book is about a young boy (Huck Finn) whose father is and old drunken

alcoholic. Twain satires alcoholism, which is mentioned through out this novel. When pap

who constantly drinks and is violent with Huck, came home drunk and “ He cased me with

a clasp knife and says he would kill me ”{mark 29). Because of the alcoholism, pap did

not care about Huck, just his money, so he wouldn’t care to kill him, as he never knew

what family meant.

Many parts of the book satires racism. One time pap is walking through town and

sees a black man all cleaned up walking the road to go vote, “ It was “ lection day, and I

was just about to go and vote myself if I warn’t too drunk to get there; but when they

told me there was a State in this country where they’d let a nigger vote, I drawed out. I

says, “I’ll never vote again ”(mark 27). Pap thinks because a person is black that he

shouldn’t have the right to vote and since one is, well he won’t ever again, but in reality he

is a drunk and could care less about his vote counting, because he really doesn’t care

about his country. The very first satirical scene happens after Tom and Huck plays a trick

on Miss Watsons’ slave , Jim. “Afterwards Jim said the witch bewitched him and put him

in a trance, and rode hi all over the State, an then set him under the tree again and hung his

hat on a limb to show who done it ”(mark 5) . This show Hucks humorous while showing

blacks as very superstitious like the hair ball “he said there was a spirit inside, and it

knowed everything”(mark 17). This book shows how the white refused to accept the

black race when Huck answers a question “ no mum just killed a nigger ”(mark 221). The

black people are treated differently like when “ I wouldn’t shake my Nigger, would I? -the

only Nigger I had in the world, and the only property I owned . ”(mark 216). Huck goes

against society and makes the decision to help Jim.

Mob mentality is another satire found in this novel. Failure to use one's instinct,

and following someone else's is one valid example in life, and fits in well with the story

line. "Take up a collection for him, take up a collection," (mark132) somebody sang out

and everyone fatuously accepted the statement as said, not taking the time to perceive the

actual meaning. King took advantage of such gullibility, making people believe that he is a

pirate, and getting the priest to help him find a path to God. Because nobody took the

time to probe the absurdity in the speech given by King, he took advantage of the

passiveness of people and got away with a significant amount of stolen money. Somebody

from the crowd yelled, "Sherburn ought to be lynched"(mark 145). In no time, the people

in the crowd were repeating this statement word for word en masse. As the sheriff,

standing on the top of a roof shot from his gun, the crowed etched asunder and ran off.

Mob mentality is an essential factor and plays a big role in trickery -also a big issue in the

book. Huck gave