In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain often portrays townspeople to negatively criticizes society. This theme continues in Chapter 21 of the novel which relays the death of the town drunk named Boggs. Twain manipulates the language of narrative to juxtapose the public and private intentions of the bystanders who weakly attempt to prevent the murder for their cynical entertainment. Twain’s initial depiction of the townspeople appears virtuous. Sherburn threatens Boggs, but the drunk continues to curse the Colonel which causes spectators to intervene. The impending time limit put in place by Sherburn creates a sense of urgency in the crowd who quickly think of ways to calm Boggs. The large gathering attempts to shut him up by surrounding …show more content…
A young teenage girl just watched her father die and she can not even breathe due to the mob of locals “closed up around them, [...] shouldered and jammed [on top of] one another, with their necks stretched, trying to see”. The death of Boggs turns into a spectacle as the whole town rushes to feed its morbid curiosity “squirming and scourging and pushing and shoving” to catch a tiny glimpse of a murder victim. So far, Twain has restricted the dialogue in Huck’s narrative to the townspeople's shouting to find Boggs’ daughter, Sherburn taunting, and the daughter’s reaction to her father’s death while the rest has been paraphrased by Huck. The limited quotations attach more emphasis on the last dialogue of the scene where folks complain about not being able to see the new display of Boggs’ dead body; “say, now, you’ve looked enough, you fellows; ‘tain’t right and ‘itain’t fair for you to stay thar all the time, and never give nobody a chance; other folks has the rights as well as you”. Rather than an atmosphere of sadness and mourning, excitement fills the air, and a live re-enactment of the murder is available for all audiences for a limited time only with the help of a “long, lanky man” who follows the footsteps of the murder in “perfect”