Huck Finn and the use of Satire Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been controversial ever since its release in 1884. It has been called everything from the root of modern American literature to a piece of racist trash. Many scholars have argued about Huck Finn being prejudiced. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses satire to mock many different aspects of the modern world. Despite the fact that many critics have accused Mark Twain’s novel of promoting racism, through close analysis of the text, it becomes remarkably clear that Twain is satirical in his writing as he ridicules slavery and the racist attitudes prevalent in his day. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written shortly after the Civil
But in fact, this book should not be banned, because Mark Twain is a very credible author. Bernard Bell writes an essay on minstrelsy and claims that Twain enjoyed it culturally. Twain writes, “To my mind [minstrelsy] was a thoroughly delightful thing, and a most competent laughter-compeller and I am sorry it is gone” (128). From this statement, one can conclude that Twain did enjoy some aspects of racism. On the other hand, one can also notice that Twain is credible; he was not biased, but rather saw both sides of the story. Another example of satire we see is in the headnote of the book itself. Twain writes “PERSONS attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot” (Woodard 141). Twain literally tells readers to not search for a moral in this book; Twain did not make The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a book with morals in it. Before the book even begins, Twain literally states that this book has no morals, plot, or motive; how satirical is that? Through the character of Jim, and the major moral dilemma that followed Huck throughout the novel, Twain mocks slavery and makes a strong statement about the way people treated slaves. Miss Watson is revered as a good Christian woman, who had strong values, but she is a slave owner in the