Satire in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Satire in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth” (1). Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells a journey of a young boy and a runaway nigger down the Mississippi River, which is also a journey toward the awareness of the antebellum American society. In the book, with some stretchers, Mark Twain painted a lively picture of the society. His use of satire gives vivid depictions of the social folly of the time period, such as slavery and cruelty, as well as the common features of people, including their pride, hypocrisy, and gullibility.

Mark Twain satirizes the racism and slavery of the postbellum American society through Jim’s pursuit of freedom. Like all American black people of the time, Jim is regarded as a property, a slave of the white. Afraid of being sold down to Orleans by Miss Watson, Jim runs away, but he is no way a free nigger. He needs to hide during the daytime and from anyone of the society, because people think catching a runaway nigger is an act of justice, just like what Huck thinks: “people would call me a low-down ablitionist and despise me for keeping mum”(52). Even though Jim develops a friendship with Huck, Huck cannot get rid of the deep-rooted thought that the black are low lives. He struggles all the time between telling on Jim and keeping mum of his escape. He cannot keep himself from thinking: “What did that poor old woman do to you, that you could treat her so mean?...that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word”(124). Mark Twain emphasizes Jim’s yearning for Cairo and his strong anticipation for freedom in comparison with the poor treatments he gets during the several times he is caught; he made it clear that the common fate of the American black people of the antebellum society is miserable.

One main feature of the white people Mark Twain depicted in the book is their prominent pride, the self-importance of American ego. In Arkansas, Boggs (a monthly drunk) cussed Sherburn, who is a proud looking man, and “the best dressed man in that town”(185). Sherburn shot Boggs for the sake of pride. Pride is also reflected in people’s excessive attention on outside appearances and their materialistic greed. During the time Huck lives with the Grangerfords, he gives specific details about how Col. Grangerford dresses up: “every day of his life he put on a clean shirt and a full suit from head to foot made out of linen so white it hurt your eyes to look at it” (142). Mark Twain also demonstrates their pride through Huck’s straightforward narration and his excessive use of adjectives in describing the decor of Grangerfords’ house and their dead daughter’s paintings, such as “there was so many arms it made her look too spidery”(139). Mark Twain used humorous words that ridicule the pride of the white during the antebellum

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