The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Satire Analysis

Satire is one of the most eminent techniques that writers use to criticize a societal concept that they deem a flaw. Perhaps one of the greatest satirists, Mark Twain constantly denounces certain flaws about society in his writing. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain satirizes gullibility, hypocrisy, and mob mentality through the actions and thoughts of Huck and the other characters. In chapters one through eight, Twain satirizes superstition and the gullibility that comes along with it to prove that superstitions are foolish and unbelievable. Jim is the definition of a superstitious person. When Huck wanted to know about his father, Jim took a hairball with “a spirit inside of it” and performed a ritual by saying “something over

At the beginning of chapter 17, Huck describes the Grangerford household. According to Huck, the house “[is] so nice and [has] so much style” that it resembles the “houses in town” (99). To Huck, the Grangerford house was an exquisite building with beautiful, minute details. While the house may seem classy to Huck, it is nothing more than average. The Grangerfords are hillbillies that come off as aristocrats to the small town boy who is used to less than adequate furnishings. The family is hypocritical in that they try to impress Huck with their property, but the property really is not as exquisite as it seems. As aforementioned, the Grangerfords seem to be a classy family, but are caught up in a feud with the Shepherdsons. Both families “want to kill” each other “on account of the feud” (107), but nobody can remember what “the trouble [was] about” (108). The families have been fighting for years, continuously killing one another over an issue that no one can remember. Their actions are hypocritical because they are both classy families, but they behave like children. The Grangerfords choose to be perceived as the perfect family, but their clash with the Shepherdsons deceives that perception. While Huck is staying with the Grangerfords, they all go to church on Sunday. Ironically, “the men [take] their guns” and the sermon is “all