Satire In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Satire has become a common form of comedy in today's society and a loophole to poke fun at politics, current news events, and celebrities in our world. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author Mark Twain uses satire to mock America's changing civilization. Mark Twain uses examples of satire to display how our "flawless society", has problems, just like Michael Harrington used The Other America, to expose how the poor population of America lives which was a catalyst to begin the "War on Poverty." In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, slavery is a common form of satire, considering it was the time of the Civil War and racism was in full force. This book demonstrates the misconception of Southerners and their hatred for black colored common folk.

In Chapter 11, when Huck
Well, he was right; he was most always right; he had an uncommon level head for a nigger" (Twain 87). Twain uses satire to poke fun at Southern folks who degrade blacks for their intelligence, when they are smart human beings. Since Blacks are slaves during this time period, they were denied the right to educate themselves, so the whites were the reason for their dumb nature. Racial profiling comes into play in this quote because Huck automatically assumes that since Jim is a black slave, he doesn't have nearly the intelligence of a white male. Huck is surprised to learn that a black slave has a brain, which he uses to have further respect for the black southern community.

Mark Twain uses a handful of examples of satire in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to express the racism and slavery in the South during Civil War times. However this book still serves relevance in today's society, since most of the racial profiling still occurs. Satire in this book allows Huck Finn to deteriorate from the traditional stereotypes of the black society in the South, and make him different from his fellow southern white