Many authors use satire to discuss issues in society that they have opinions on. These authors express their opinions by mocking the issues in a subtle way in their writing. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain satirizes many societal elements. Three of these issues include the institution of slavery, organized religion, and education. By satirizing slavery and the prejudice placed against blacks in Huck’s society, Twain takes a stance against these institutions. There are many situations throughout the novel that mock slavery in different ways.
Miss Watson’s telling Huck to “pray every day,” (10) yet she owned a slave “named Jim” (4).
Miss Watson is portrayed as a good, Christian woman with high morals, yet she owns a slave. Twain uses this hypocrisy to show that many Southern people were going against their own ideas of Christianity, by owning slaves. The prejudice against black people is further mocked by the introduction of Huck’s racist and alcoholic father. Pap becomes so outraged when he finds out that a free slave can “vote when he was at home,” even though the free slave is smarter than him and a “p’fessor in a college,” that he asks what the country is “a-coming to” (27).
The Essay on Racism In Huckleberryfinn Huck Slavery Jim
Throughout the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, racism and slavery play as an important theme. Mark Twain makes it as though Huck is fighting with two thoughts. First is, should he turn Jim in. Second is, for him to see the wrong in turning his friend in, not viewing Jim as a slave. Twain doesn t seem to think there is anything wrong with racism and slavery. But I believe that back when ...
Pap does not care that the black man is more intelligent than him, he only sees that he is black, and he does not agree with the fact that the man is allowed to vote. Pap’s outrage further emphasizes Twain’s satirizing of the prejudice placed against black people during that time period. Twain’s mocking of the southern pro-slavery whites reflects his own anti-slavery opinions. Twain’s own ideas are represented through his satirizing the church and organized religion. Miss Watson, Huck’s guardian, was a devoted Christian, and she tried to teach him the ways of Christianity.
Miss Watson told Huck to “pray every day” (10) and he tied to pray for fishing “hooks three or four times,” (11) but he never gets them, so he does not see the point in prayer “if a body can’t get anything they pray for” (11).
Huck feels that his prayers are being ignored. This causes him to be frustrated and to start resenting prayer and religion altogether. Later, when Huck contemplates turning Jim in, he has an epiphany. Huck decided to get “a piece of paper and a pencil,” (213) and write a letter to Miss Watson, but he began to think about his actions, and he decided that he will “go to hell” (214) anyway, so he “tore it up” (214).
Organized religion and society has taught Huck that turning Jim in is the right thing to do, but he cannot bring himself to do it. Huck realizes that everyone’s life is important. Huck’s life-changing realization represents Twain’s own opinion on the issue of slavery. By mocking the issue of education, Twain’s own ideas are incorporated into the novel. When Tom and Huck form a gang, Tom is chosen as the leader. When asked what “ransomed” (8) means, Tom claims that he does not know but they have “got to do” (9) it, because he has “seen it in books” (9).
The gang blindly follows Tom’s orders because he is the most educated out of the group. They believe that Tom’s education automatically makes him more intelligent than them. Later in the novel, Jim gets captured by the Phelps family. While trying to break Jim out of his temporary jail, Tom claims that they must use “picks and shovels” and not “modern conveniences” because it will be more authentic to a real jail-break (243).
The Essay on Huck Fin Tom Jim Thinks
Why Huck is Realistic and Tom is Imaginative In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the connection between Huck and Tom is contrasted several times throughout the novel such as in the beginning of the novel Twain introduced them as friends who were always around each other. Then by the middle of the book Twain shows how Huck lives and thinks for himself out on the frontier and how he ...
Huck goes along with Tom’s overly-elaborate and inconvenient plan to free Jim because he believes that because Tom is more educated than himself and, therefore, that his way must be correct.
This is representative of how the wealthier, more educated class dominated society. Twain’s satirizing the educational system reflects how people view education in society. These major societal issues were something that Mark Twain had a strong opinion on. The societal elements of slavery, organized religion, and education were all elements of society that Twain felt the need to express his opinions to the public about. Out of many authors who have used this form of satire, Twain is one of the most effective. Work Cited Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Unites States of America:
