Social Institutions In Huck Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, teaches us different ways of the life of an orphan, and the lives of the different social classes back in the days of slavery. As the story progressed and Huck Finn continued his journey, he discovered different social institutions. Three social institutions I recognized being criticized were gangs, aristocracy, and slavery itself. In the beginning of the story, Tom Sawyer formed a gang, and Huck Finn joined him. Later on, Huck Finn and Jim lose their raft from a ferry crushing it, so Huck Finn swims to land and ends up coming across an aristocrat 's family 's home, the Grangerfords. The whole adventures we learn what a slave 's life was like, based off of the dialect of Jim and other slaves. In

They are a very wealthy family, and this is where Twain begins to poke fun at aristocracy. An example is the comparison of The Grangerford family and Shepherdson family feud, to the feud of The Montagues and the Capulets in "Romeo and Juliet," by William Shakespeare. "Well, then, what did you want to kill him for?" "Why, nothing- only it 's on account of the feud," (Twain 118). Later on, Miss Sophia asked Huck Finn to get her Testament she left at the church, and it turns out there was a secret message for her to meet and run away with one of the Shepherdsons. "Well, den, Miss Sophia 's run off! 'deed she has. She run off in de night some time- nobody don 't know jis ' when; run off to get married to dat young Harney Shepherdson, you know- leastways, so dey 'spec," (Twain 124). This is similar to Romeo and Juliet running off to be

As a result of the feud, family members died or were harmed in both families. "Has there been many killed, Buck?" "Yes; right smart chance of funerals. But they don 't always kill," (Twain 119). He shows the consequences of feuding by killing off Huck 's friend, Buck. "I cried a little when I was covering up Buck 's face, for he was mighty good to me," (Twain 126). This changes Huck Finn, and it reflects back to the theme of the consequences of using your time for mischief rather than helping people or building your character. Through the whole novel, not just in parts, Twain uses satire to criticize slavery. In the time period of this story, the characters did not see slavery as a bad thing. Huck sometimes had second thoughts of helping Jim escape to freedom. "Let up on me- it ain 't too late yet- I 'll paddle ashore at the first light and tell," (Twain 99). He criticizes it by making fun of Jim 's dialect. " What put it dar? Didn 't he jis ' dis minute sing out like he knowed you?" (Twain 247). Twain uses this hard-to-read slang talk for most of the other characters in the book, but mainly for the African-American