Michael Peterson Mrs. Zugel Honors English 15 May 2024 QUESTION: What aspect of society does Mark Twain attack in the scene involving Sherburn’s Speech? How can the audience tell? Sherburn’s Speech Mark Twain, in all his works, adored assailing the faults of the world through humor and satire. As a man with many flagrant opinions, writing was an outlet for him to speak his mind as he pleased. In none of his works is this seen better than in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Within said novel, Twain tackles a variety of issues including racism, sexism, and entitlement among others. In a specific scene involving Colonel Sherburn, however, Twain focuses on a more specific issue that he had noticed in society. In the scene with Colonel Sherburn’s speech, Twain mocks the fickleness of the average person in American society, which the reader can see in how …show more content…
Twain intentionally described them as a raucous group, saying they were “raging like Injuns” and that “children were heeling it ahead of the mob, screaming and trying to get out of the way,” which shows the lack of care they have for their surroundings. By showing their disregard for other people’s safety through the scene with the children and comparing them to a people group who were, nevertheless unfairly, considered savage and unruly (Native Americans), Twain is exposing these people to be violent monsters that have, almost at random, chosen to be violent and pursue a target of lynching out of some fickle desire for action. While people may not act as emotionally as this in real life, in Twain’s mind, acting this immaturely and acting immaturely at all are one in the same. Sherburn’s word choice in his speech is intentionally as demeaning to the crowd as possible because Twain is speaking on the issue of fickleness through