sathf Satire in Adventures of Huck Finn :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

Satire in Adventures of Huck Finn The dominant tone of this work is satire. Twain pokes fun at many of the aspects of Southern life in the 19th century (including slavery and feuds), and several characters as well. His fiery attitude about the ills of society shows itself from the first page of this book. I think that one of the main themes in this novel is the conflict between the society's "good" and "bad". Huck believed that a person was "good" if they were educated, well read, religiously trained, and had the ability to follow rules. This, of course, is not the true nature of "goodness", and a key element in Twain's satire. In fact, Huck, who is one of the only good characters in the novel, believes good is based on the elements of dangers which face him every day, and due to this dicotomy, does not believe he is "good". This becomes painfully evident when Huck meets the Gregfords. The Gregfords are an obvious simile for pure evil. Though they have a temporal glow to them, after all, they are rich and aristocratic. However their misdeeds flow contrary to society's label of "good" . He labels them as "good", though after he hears their story behind their feud, he realizes that they are not quite as good as he had believed. This shows the tumultuous journey between the "good" and "evil" occuring in Huck's mind. The most clear occasion of this is when Huck dresses as a girl to steal things from the neighborhood store. On a metaphorical level, this shows Twain's alternate sexual preference (Freud pointed this out in "The Human Mind, Second Edition") -- he is living vicariously through his creations. Twain uses the visage of Huck as a girl to ameliorate it against the society's "evil" perspective, in an attempt to popularize these acts. The bifurcation between his personal "good" and society's "good" is a key point in the book, and a universal theme which is best observed in this scene. Another important scene which goes along with this same theme was the scene with Huck Finn and his gang in the cave in the end of the second