Mark Twain, well-known American author, ridicules the self destructive nature of greed upon man in his controversial novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry and Finn. Twain criticizes the society he lived in, noting the “superficiality and meaningless” lives of people. Mark Twain utilizes situational irony, farce, and exaggeration in order to compare two situations in the novel where characters illustrate upon themselves the negative effects of greed. Twain establishes a critical tone to bring attention to even modern day readers that greed will eventually result in punishments and consequences.
First, Twain utilizes situational irony to analyze the ongoing feud between the Shepherdons and Grangerford family. While Huckleberry stays with the Grangerfords, he is introduced to Buck, a young man his age. Huck’s curiosity gets to the best of him, and he questions his new acquaintance about the ancient feud between the two families. Buck replies that “there was trouble ‘bout something, and then a lawsuit to settle it; and the suit went agin one of the men, and so he up and shot the man that won the feud” (Twain 108). The young boy, stuck between this unfortunate thirty year vendetta between two families, implies that the conflict took off because of an argument concerning money; a lawsuit. Twain satirizes the issue of greed between common people as a way to shine a light upon an issue that continues on today; that the greed of a human, whether it takes place within a family or an old man, takes over that person, and becomes self destructive. In the case of the two families, greed has caused fights, and even the death of numerous family
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Twain uses situational irony, farce, and exaggeration to present to the audience how greed will eventually cause sorrow in a man’s