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Essay On The Use Of Satire In Huck Finn

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The Use of Satire in Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Mark Twain establishes a plot that intrigues readers as well as teaches them through messages that are necessary to advance their learning. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain tells the story of an adolescent and developing boy who travels with a runaway slave down the Mississippi in hopes of finding freedom. The author uses satire in addition to the flaws of society to adequately narrate this adventure. Twain’s satire of human religious hypocrisy and racism is evident through the satirical techniques of irony and parody. Throughout the novel, Mark Twain satirizes the societal flaw of religious hypocrisy through irony by showing that characters in the story own slaves and claim to be religious at the same time. For example, the readers are introduced to Huckleberry Finn’s guardians, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, and it is revealed that they own slaves, “Miss Watson she kept pecking at me, and it get tiresome and lonesome. By-and-by they fetched the slaves in and had prayers, and then everybody was off to bed” (Twain 2). The irony in this is that after making the slaves work all day, they bring them in to pray; however, one of the Bible’s teachings is to respect all human beings and “love your neighbors”. It is religiously hypocritical to own human beings and preach God’s word at the same time. Another example is Tom Sawyer’s relatives, Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas, praying with Jim, the runaway slave, as they held him in the shed, …show more content…

This novel addresses the problems in society by using satirical techniques and causing the audience to reflect on their society and the choices they have made regarding religious hypocrisy and racism. It does this through an adventurous and captivating plot with characters that develop Twain’s messages about the weaknesses of a

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Throughout Huckleberry Finn, the author Mark Twain showcases his beliefs about religion through satire and satirical properties. Mark Twain himself was a Christian, so his exposure of satire to religion wasn't out of disrespect. He satirizes throughout the book the fact that many people during the 1800’s did not practice what they preach. Instead, they were doing it for show. He also satirizes religion to show how hypocritical and absurd it could be.

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In the beginning of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain proscribes his audience from finding a motive, moral, or plot. In using rhetorical strategies such as satire, irony, and humor he challenges the reader to look for deeper meanings not only in the Notice, but throughout the whole novel. His purpose was to shed light on the false ideals that society represents as seen through the eyes of young boy. The ironic events that prohibit Huck from being a dynamic character suggest the inadequacy of blind faith in society. Twain uses satire to show the conflict between slavery and Christianity.

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Mark Twain, well-known American author, ridicules the self destructive nature of greed upon man in his controversial novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry and Finn. Twain criticizes the society he lived in, noting the “superficiality and meaningless” lives of people. Mark Twain utilizes situational irony, farce, and exaggeration in order to compare two situations in the novel where characters illustrate upon themselves the negative effects of greed. Twain establishes a critical tone to bring attention to even modern day readers that greed will eventually result in punishments and consequences. First, Twain utilizes situational irony to analyze the ongoing feud between the Shepherdons and Grangerford family.

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In addition to establishing himself as a credible narrator and using anecdotes with repetitive diction and imagery, Douglass also highlights how religion was enforced in slavery. Every slave owner that Douglass belonged to was hypocritical and deceival towards their faith. This is frequently used through all his anecdotes to persuade the reader that slavery is full of non-sense and that the “devoted, peaceful, just, and kind owners” were full of lies. “He seemed to think himself equal to deceiving the Almighty. He would make a short prayer in the morning, and a long prayer at night; and, strange as it may seem, few men would at times appear more devotional than he…

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In addition, the author uses irony to illuminate the values slaveholders believed in, and the values they acted upon. With this Douglass implies slaveholders created a whole new sense of Christianity; leading a life where they believed in something but acted completely against it. By exposing this, Douglas illustrates the reality of slaveholders’ life and morals which he uses to promote the abolitionist movement. When explaining how religion affected slaves lives Douglas declares, “I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.” pg.119.

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Mark Twain's Use of Satire in Huck Finn Satire is the use of irony, sarcasm or ridicule in exposing or denouncing the stupidity or vices of a person, group, or society. Twain's use of satire caused many misunderstandings throughout the novel, such as taking the jokes about society too seriously. Twain tried to use the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to point out the main problems in society such as racism, slavery, and the hypocrisy of civilians. The most common uses of satire were seen in the discussion of superstition, religious hypocrisy, and slavery.

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Mark Twain uses satire to portray different issues that were going on during the time period. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author Mark Twain uses Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer to represent romanticism and realism. Doing so formed the characters into two drastically different persons. Mark Twain uses satirical elements to contrast the two main characters in their personalities and views. Tom Sawyer is a child who is blinded with fictional literature and the worlds view on slaves.

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an American classic that will be read for generations beyond our time, no matter the controversy. The book belongs on shelves all over the country in schools and libraries. Twain places many lessons within the book that society should learn from to become better within themselves and as a whole. He uses satire as a tool to point out the flaws within the population of the 1840s. Many of the flaws have to do with racism and hypocrisy.

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The reading requirement of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is not worth the discomfort of students and teachers due to racism and sensitive topics. Twain’s novel, while possibly bringing light to the hostile nature of racism through his satire, does not leave stereotypes out at all. He consistently exaggerates black characters. Even though that is typical in satire, it is wholly uncomfortable for everyone involved in reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

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By doing so Twain is able to lighten the tone of the book that might otherwise come across as heavy or didactic. As a result this book that could bore a person with such a morals-heavy lesson instead provides

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Hypocricy and Blind Faith Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took place in the eighteen hundreds when religion and reputation were dominant in peoples everyday lives. It was very rare for someone to believe something different than everyone else. In Twain 's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Tom Sawyer and Huck appear to be very different, but their actions, descriptions, and dialogue bring them together to symbolize society in order to show the blind conformity and hypocrisy that humans often display.

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America’s tumultuous history resulted in an unprecedented and vast compilation of controversy. Such disputes, now generally resolved, prove to be valuable topics in the chronicles of literature. Accordingly, author Mark Twain, makes various attempts at satire in his novels, with the purpose to advocate his perspective of the aggressive, unrelenting discourse during pre-Civil War America. In his novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain exemplifies the critical use of satire to expose the contradictions of human nature and society, and proves his novel to be an indispensable article of history.

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Twain believed that slavery and religion were tied together, and thus making the abolition of slavery a difficult task. Twain repeatedly described religion's support for slavery; as stated in Twain’s autobiography '' The local pulpit taught us that God approved it, that it was a holy thing, and that the doubter need only look in the Bible if he wished to settle his mind and then the texts were read aloud to us to make the matter sure; if the slaves themselves had an aversion to slavery, they were wise and said nothing.'' this shows the churches justification for the horrendous act that was slavery. Twain believed there was a definite conflict between the actions of society and what society should have been doing in regard to slavery.

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Mark Twain's Use of Satire in Huckleberry Finn Throughout his pieces of literature, the famous American author Mark Twain portrays his personal views of society using satire and irony in his stories. He makes fun of broken parts in the American society relentlessly and makes sure the readers understand how outrageous some acts were during the early-to-mid 1800s. Twain seems to target specific aspects in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn such as how young people could be conflicted between morality and legality, the loss of self-respect for money, and the effects of herd mentality. He has an interesting approach at giving the reader insight, but his main ideas for the theme shine through and are clearly depicted.

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In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reader gauges morality through the misadventures of Huck and Jim. Notably, Huck morally matures as his perspective on society evolves into a spectrum of right and wrong. Though he is still a child, his growth yields the previous notions of immaturity and innocence. Likewise, Mark Twain emphasizes compelling matters and issues in society, such as religion, racism, and greed. During the span of Huck’s journey, he evolves morally and ethically through his critique of societal normalities.

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