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Huckleberry Finn Satire Essay

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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses the main characters, Huck and Tom, as conduits for his satire. Twain uses Huck as a way for satirizing the aristocratic society of the South by embodying Huck to be a backwoods, lower-educated child refusing to be educated in the conventional sense of the aristocratic society of the South. Furthermore, Twain uses Tom’s characterization to satirize the aristocratic society of the South as well as satirize the romantic folly that he associates with adventure books. Moreover, though Twain’s novel has been revered as an influence on American history, critics have argued over the validity and plausibility of the ending. Critics who oppose the ending of Huckleberry Finn, such as Leo Marx and John Earl Bassett, have argued it does …show more content…

Throughout the entire novel Twain tries to emulate this moral change within Huck and Jim, these changes are different for both characters. In Huck the moral change is for him and the aristocratic society of the South to change their mindset on viewing slaves as humans and not an extension of their property. It is very interesting to note how ingrained within society this mindset is within everyone from a backwoods kid like Huck to the more elite members of society, “who believe [that] niggers and people are two different things” (Gibbs 179). Furthermore, this ideal of thinking that Humans and Slaves are two different things was standard for the time. Within both the rich and poor societies this idea was known, and Gibbs even states that “even [some] niggers” (179) believed that they were extensions of rich people’s property. Recall the moment in the novel when Huck, disguised as Tom, tells Aunt Sally about an accident that happens on the

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