Examples Of Irony In Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, contains several established structural elements. However, the dominant theme he employs is irony. Twain portrays irony through different characters and circumstances in the book, with the most notable examples being the violent actions of the Grangerfords and Shephardsons, the hypocritical beliefs of Miss Watson, and Huckleberry’s treatment of Jim in the ways of morality. Miss Watson is depicted as a devout Christian who adheres to religious practices and strives to live in accordance with God’s will, and appears fairly early into the novel. One of the fundamental principles of Christianity is to “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Bible, Matthew 22:37-39). Religious hypocrisy in Adventures

And morality and sympathy play a significant role as to how he’s able to change his standpoints. According to Jonathan Bennett’s ‘The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn’, morality and sympathy “would both dictate helping Jim to escape. If we felt any conflict, it would have both these on one side and something else on the other—greed for a reward, or fear of punishment.” Huck believes that the right thing to do is to ‘snitch’ on Jim, because it felt wrong to escape ‘poor Miss Watson’. His conscience gives him signals as to the “wrong” thing he’s doing. During the beginning of the novel, all Huck knew about Black people was that they were nothing. Especially after Miss Watson’s influence, it came naturally to play borderline-evil things to Jim (i.e.: putting a snake in his bed). After leaving Huck’s home, he’s able to establish his own opinions about Jim. In Bennett’s aforementioned article, his interpretation at the end goes, sympathy triumphs over conscience and morality. Sympathy, to Bennett, is not just a ‘mere’ feeling, but has intentionality that accompanies it. According to Anders Schinkel’s, Huck Finn, Moral Language and Moral Education, sympathy implies an unarticulated moral judgment, a judgment that simply does not correspond with the morality Huck was taught. And above all this, Huck decided to risk his life. Risking his life is one thing, but for a slave is another. And for the sake of Jim’s freedom. Irony boosts Huck’s character development from beginning to end and going on this adventure with Jim completely morphs his perspective of