How Does Twain Use Satire In Huckleberry Finn

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Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality"(Poe 1). A child's perception of reality is influenced by those around them. Huckleberry Finn had an impressionable thirteen year old mind filled with the morals, thoughts, and values of many. Leading a very unstable life, there was never a contingency that Huck would develop his own perception. One day, Huckleberry faked his own death and ran away from his oppressive father. Joining runaway slave, Jim, Huck was now able to see the hypocrisy of the world. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain used satire to criticize the various social institutions of antebellum America. To begin, children learned religion by force. Raised to believe the convictions of the church, the boys only retained certain lessons. "Ben Rogers said he couldn't get out much, only Sundays, and so he wanted to begin next Sunday; but all the boys said it would be wicked to do it on Sunday, and that settled the thing"(Twain 20). The boys were aware that Sunday was a Holy day. Although, they never knew killing in itself was wrong. After reading this, parents were probably more specific with their children about the church's values. Furthermore, Twain emphasized Miss. Watson's and …show more content…

The stereotypical role of a father is to protect his kin. Huck did not have this family dynamic, for his mother passed and his estranged father was an abusive drunk. "Pap he hadn't been seen for more than a year, and that was comfortable for me; I didn't want to see him no more. He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me; though I used to take to the woods most of the time when he was around" (Twain 22). No child should feel this way about his dad. Here, Twain was successful in capturing the not-so-pretty side of the " American family". Social workers are now working harder than ever before to implement stricter laws against

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