Ap Penny Essay

Esmeralda Perez
1-18-2013
Per 2
AP English
AP Essay Huck Finn The novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was written by Mark Twain. He wrote the book to show some of the manger issues in the 1800’s. Mark Twain uses a lot of satire and irony in the story to get his point though better. Some of the issues in that time were slavery and the judgment of your race or skin color. Mark Twain shows these issues though the eyes of Huck Finn sometime children may have better heart then the elders. Throughout the novel Mark Twain uses satire to mock many different aspects of the modern world or modern life. A good example would be when satire was used throughout the idea of the family feud, The Shepardsons and Grangerfords. A pair of feuding families no one could even remember why they were fighting or hated each other so much. There is no point on fighting if one can’t remember why but they keep on going guess it runs until the end of one family. This feud is said to compare to one particular feud during the same time period between two families, the Hatfields and the McCoys. These two families had a huge feud that lasted for many years. There is a great deal of pain between both families that they can’t let go but there is no real reason of why they were fighting in the first place. The feud will go on it is a part of human nature. Mark Twain wrote about a boy, Huck Finn a young boy with a dream of freedom and adventure. Huck is under the care of Mrs. Watson who wants to teach him how life would be lived. She wants him to be modern like her but Huck is nothing like that but then he was taken from her by his father, an old drunk man that can’t live without beer in his system. Huck is so badly treated by his father that he fakes his own death to get away from his father and runs off to Jackson Island. Once on Jackson Island he meets a man, Jim a runaway slave from him town. Then they began a wonderful friendship. Mark Twain uses many different rhetorical devices in his story; one that he uses is symbolism. The story mostly takes place in the Mississippi river where Huck Finn and Jim ride on a raft. Mark Twain shows symbolism throughout Mrs. Watson, Jim, and the Mississippi river. Jim symbolizes all the slaves, Mississippi River symbolizes freedom, and Mrs. Watson symbolizes the way all white people thought in that time period.

Mark Twain uses dialect throughout “the Adventure of Huckleberry Finn” is very effective; it helps to move us through the story and the emotions. An example would how Mark Twain uses the word “nigger” throughout the novel, he does not mean it purely in a racist way, since it was the term used to mean “black person”. Satiric irony is used as well in the story an example would when the steam boat explosion; Aunt Sally asks Huck, “Good gracious! Anybody hurt?” and Huck says, "No’s. Killed a nigger." Aunt sally responds, we’ll its lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt." Obviously, Aunt Sally does not think Blacks are people. They are simply property to her. Aunt Sally believes she is talking to her nephew Tom but in reality it is Huck which makes the irony of the situation stronger because she is supposed to be talking to a family member and setting a good example. Mark Twain shows people who they really are. He uses many things in his novel he used symbolism, dialect, and satire. To show a different perspective about society and struggles differences and similarities; and right from wrong. Mark Twain appeals this to the many readers who agree. Mark Twain shows his readers how life was and how it could have stayed if we didn’t learn how to be more human. We human tended to learn thing the hard way.