Sailing the River of Satire

Satire is defined as the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. So you’re probably thinking, “How could such a fun book as the Adventures of Huckleberry  Finn actually be so serious?” All of the chaos and ridiculousness of the great American novel by Mark Twain is satirizing American society. Twain uses satire to explore the civilization (or shall I say “sivilization”?) of American society in the 1800s. I am quite sad to say that there will be no Taylor Swift connection in this post. Please forgive me!

Alright, let’s take another look at the definition of satire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. I’m pretty sure we should just delete the “or” before the word “ridicule” because Twain is a real overachiever and uses them ALL in Huck Finn. Yup, that’s right.

I continue: There is uncanny humor throughout the course of the novel and, as I stated in my previous post, there were countless times where I actually laughed out loud. I think that’s proof enough for you, right? No? Okay. So here’s a quotation (no, not “quote”) that might result in a LOL or two: “What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?” (Chapter 16) HAHAHA *slaps knee* Twain uses humor here to show that American civilization has taken a wrong turn because many individuals know it is sometimes easier to do the wrong thing and not the moral thing.

Moving on to the next part of the satire definition: irony. Now we all know from Shakespeare’s Othello that there can be three kinds of irony: dramatic, situational, and verbal. Twain is a bit of an overachiever, again, because he uses all three. For now, I’m going to focus on how Twain uses verbal irony to satirize American society in the 1800s. During Huck’s trek with Jim, they come across a man by the name of Jake Packard who explains his ideals on killing: “‘See? He'll be drownded, and won't have nobody to blame for it but his own self. I reckon that's a considerable sight better'n killin' of him. I'm unfavorable to killin' a man as long as you can git aroun' it; it ain't good sense, it ain't good morals. Ain't I right?’” (Chapter 12) Basically ‘ole Jake is saying that it’s better to let a man drown than to blatantly kill him. What a great guy, huh? This use of verbal irony helps Twain satirize the fact that American civilization has ultimately become idiotic and cruel, with the hopes that this can be reformed.

Next up: exaggeration. Exaggeration is the act of magnifying something beyond the limits of truth, which Twain does quite often in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. For example, Twain often exaggerates Jim’s character through the use of caricature. Jim is made out to seem like an extremely unintelligent runaway slave, considering that all of his dialogue is spelled improperly within the actual text. In chapter 40 Jim says, “Well, den, dis is de way it look to me, Huck. Ef it wuz HIM dat 'uz bein' sot free, en one er de boys wuz to git shot, would he say, 'Go on en save me, nemmine 'bout a doctor f'r to save dis one?' Is dat like Mars Tom Sawyer? Would he say dat? You BET he wouldn't! WELL, den, is JIM gywne to say it? No, sah—I doan' budge a step out'n dis place 'dout a DOCTOR, not if it's forty year.” It took me quite a while to translate exactly what Jim was saying and what he meant every time he spoke in the novel. The very notion that Jim’s speech is exaggerated, reveals its use as a satirical element in order to express that most white Americans were extremely prejudice of African American slaves in the American south during the 1800s.

Alright, let’s talk about the ridicule aspect of satire. This explanation should be quick because it’s plain and simple. Woohoo! This aspect is more of an undertone because Twain’s actual subject of ridicule in this novel is the 1800s American civilization. Twain does so by using all of the other parts of the satire definition. If you forgot, I’ll refresh your memory: humor, irony, and exaggeration. Additionally, ridicule is used when portraying Jim’s character and is often used when the introducing the Duke and the King. If you pay attention and look closely, ridicule is pretty much everywhere throughout Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Until next time, my fellow literature lovers!