Reading Between the Lines

Satire is a technique in which a writer uses humor, irony, or exaggeration to expose the wrongs of another group or individual. Mark Twain uses satire in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to communicate the problems with nineteenth century American society. Behind the apparently uncomplicated adventures of a young boy, Huck, and a runaway slave, Jim, Twain uses humor and irony to reveal and hint at ways to correct society’s mistakes. Two cases in which Twain utilizes this method are the feud between the Shepherdson and Grangerford families, and the mob scene in Alabama.

After Huck and Jim crash their raft into a steamboat along the Ohio River, Huck climbs ashore and meets the Grangerford family. He lives with the family for several days before finding Jim and continuing his journey. During his stay, he learns from the youngest son in the family, Buck, that the Grangerfords had an ongoing feud with another family in town, the Shepherdsons. Huck does not understand the concept of a feud and Buck explains it as, “a man has a quarrel with another man, and kills him; then the other brothers, from both sides, goes for one another; then the cousins chip in- and by and by, everybody is killed off, and their ain’t no more feud.” (146). Buck also declares that even though the two families have been fighting for years, “…they don’t know, now, what the row was about in the first place.” (146). Twain uses this part of the novel to satirize American society as a whole for being so concerned with pride that they engage in meaningless battles solely to defend their honor. Several members of both families had been killed because of the feud, yet they were so wrapped up in hating each other that they lost of their original motives for fighting. Twain is trying to help people realize how ineffective battle can be, without having to state it outright. He is also using this example to criticize Americans for their two-facedness. The following Sunday Huck attends church services with the Grangerfords and observes, “the men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall. The Shepherdsons done the same. It was pretty grouchy preaching- all about brotherly love and such- like tiresomeness, but everyone said it was a good sermon…” (147). This quotation shows Twain’s irony because the two families come together and listen to sermons about brotherly love, yet their entire lives revolve around their hate for one another. Just before Huck leaves the Grangerford house, Julia, one of the daughters runs away with Harney Shepherdson. Buck also dies, along with one of his brothers, during a gunfight with several Shepherdson boys. By ending this way, Twain is suggesting a change in the way society functions. Julia is able to break free from the conflict and live happily, where as her two brothers die because of their refusal to let go of their honor. Twain is suggesting that rather than continuing the obsession Americans have with who is the best and most powerful with in a society, people should please themselves through their own individual standards by doing what they personally believe is right.

Another incident where Twain uses satire to express his ideas is when Huck, Jim, the King and the Dauphin reach the small town in Alabama. Upon their arrival, one of the townspeople, Sherburn, shoots another,