The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn: A Satirical View Of The Old South Essay, Research Paper
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Satirical View of the Old South
Marcus O’Mard
3/11/97
Elaborate uses of race, unprecedented statements about the role of
religion and an overall mockery of the society of the old south serve as a
method of conveying Mark Twain’s opinion of society. In his dandy riverboat
adventure The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain attacks the traditions
of slavery, racism, and the accepted traditions of the old south. He helped
expose the hypocrisies of the southern society through this novel.
Twain stands firmly by his principles. He is a firm believer that
slavery is sinister. It was a wretched institution that was necessary to be
eliminated. He said slavery was bad mainly because it was hypocritical. We see
this hypocrisy throughout the book when Huck is able to interact with Jim and
also learn from him while the southern slave society treats Jim as nothing more
than an object. We see the southern perception of black people in chapter
thirty-two when Huck tells to Aunt Sally his story about the blown cylinder head.
When she asks him if anyone was hurt he said “no’m. Killed a nigger.” When
she shows no emotion in her reaction it shows us how many southern whites looked
at blacks. We also see at many times during the novel that Huck and Jim have a
true friendship. The go out of their way at many times for the welfare of
eachother and they develop a relationship to which they both contribute. Huck
teaches Jim about diversity, priests and rulers in chapter fourteen when he
reads to him about Solomon and Frenchmen. Jim also teaches Huck an important
lesson on how people should be treated individually.
Another example Twain uses to show the hypocrisies of society is racism.
Twain is not attacking the whole issue of race as much as the role race plays in
society. Twain uses race to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the rich and “well
refined.” He starts demonstrating these falsities of a society of snobby
landowners by showing the vulgarity of their language (that is their overuse of
the word “nigger”) . Twain also ridicules racists through Jim and through
whites embarrassing themselves. Jim as a black man is supposed to be an
unfeeling slave, yet he exhibits many emotions typically restricted to whites at
the time. One emotion we see is in Jim is forgiveness. Jim forgives Huck for
playing the practical Joke with the snake in chapter ten. We also see that Jim
is at an emotional loss because he misses his wife and children. We also see
whites act superior to blacks while they embarrass themselves. We see this in
chapter six when Pap was ranting about the free black man from Ohio. Pap takes
offense to society letting this man vote when he says “and that (him being free
and a teacher) aint the wust. They said he could vote when he was at home.” In
this quotation, Pap believes himself to be superior to a highly educated man but
in reality makes himself look like a fool for doing so.
Mark Twain’s next major statement about the hypocrisies of society comes
through religion. Twain felt that the religious beliefs of the southern society
were hypocritical. He shows this through three major parts examples during the
novel. The first comes when Jim is a slave with Miss Watson. She says that it
is because of her religion she treats blacks as objects but the bible says that
she should treat all people equally. Twain also includes the scene from the
church. The Shepardson and Grangerford families gather to hear a “good sermon
about brotherly love (chapter eighteen),” and both families have guns and then
kill eachother. Finally and most importantly, Twain has his main character
Huck Finn openly reject religion. When Huck says “All right, then, I’ll go to
hell. (Chapter thirty-one)” he is chooses to save his best friend Jim, rather
that having eternal salvation. That action shows Twain’s view of the importance
of religion in the old southern societies.
Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain ridicules
society. In the Duke and the Dauphin’s rendition of Romeo and Juliet, they
receive no audience until the Duke places “women and children are not admitted”
on their advertisements. Once they place that sign on their ad the interest of
the people begins to grow. This shows how fickle and hypocritical society is.
Also Twain writes about the reform system. The Judge believing that he had
reformed Pap, gives him a coat and releases him to the public. Almost
immediately, Pap sells the coat for Alcohol. In the novel Twain comments on
society and how fake it is. He refers to specific component of the southern
society and makes allegorical statements protesting the role of racism, slavery,
and religion in the phony society in which Huck lived.