Huckleberry Finn Irony Analysis

Irony in Huck Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain takes place in the mid 1830’s to the mid 1840’s when slavery was still prevalent in the south. Although the book was set in the 1830’s to the 1840’s, it was not published until 1884, after slavery had been abolished in 1865. Slavery is an important topic of the book to focus on because it shaped the way people thought. A way that Twain shows the truths of slavery in the book is through irony. A specific scene that he used irony in was when Huck was helping Jim escape from slavery, yet Huck judged Jim for wanting to free the rest of his family which is ironic. Twain’s use of irony in this passage connects to the theme of slavery in the book and makes the reader recognize the

This can be noticed throughout the book and in the three scenes talked about before because the white characters in the book often times make irrational comments about slaves that relate to what they are doing themselves. Twain’s use of irony the scene about Huck being upset with the fact that Jim would steal his family back if he had too, shows that Huck did not think Jim should be able to and was not deserving enough to have his own family. This shows the greater truth of slavery because even though Huck likes Jim, he did not agree with Jim’s want to have a free family. The scene where the Duke, the King, and Huck are categorizing slaves as thieves, when they themselves are thieves shows the greater truth of slavery that slaves were categorized into certain types of people, even though it was not true of all slaves. The scene were Tom says that he would hang a slave if they were ungrateful and ranaway shows the greater truth of slavery that if a slave disobeyed, they deserved death. These greater truths of slavery that Twain puts into the book are important to notice because it shows how slaves were thought of and treated differently than white people during the time period that the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes