In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain juxtaposed events in American society to demonstrate to the reader contrasts between different levels of society. He shows the differences in finance, race, and intellect between characters. Twain shows the diversity of society during this time, allowing the reader to better understand the relations among characters and the overall plot of the story.
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are two well known characters that Mark Twain showed throughout the novel. Both characters differ from each other in many ways, both their family and schooling. The only bond they share is being orphans, but they differ from how they grew up. Tom was raised by his loving aunt in a civilized house, while Huck was on his own with an abusive, alcoholic father, which caused him to rely on himself for most of his life. Huck says about his father, “Then he said he was going down-town to get some whisky; said he hadn’t had a drink all day. When he had got out on the shed he put his head in again, and cussed me for putting on frills and trying to be better than him; and when I reckoned he was gone he come back and put his head in again, and told me to mind
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When the Grangerfords take Huck into their home, Huck sees their house as very rich with many important things. Huck comments, “This table had a cover made out of beautiful oilcloth, with a red and blue spread-eagle painted on it, and and a painted border all around.” (100) To Huck many of the things he finds have great value, when to the reader they know that there really isn't much value in what the Grangerfords have. Huck was raised very differently compared to many of the other characters of the novel, making the reader better understand what life was like in his time period. Dramatic irony plays a big part when Twain uses his humor to show the reader why the things weren't of much value, but meant a lot to Huck