Examples Of Social Satire In Huckleberry Finn

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Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is a literary masterpiece in which our archetypal hero (Huck) has to overcome varying evils, that all are examples of social commentary. Pap is the very first evil example of true villainy we are introduced to within the story. Pap is the “father of Huck, but is clearly not suited to be. “He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me…”(Twain 12). As Huck describes his father we are told that he was very abusive towards Huck. The reader also learns that he never truly cares about Huck’s well being, and is often a rude, and drunk, man. Pap represents the absolute worst of white society. “pap took it and got drunk, and went a-blowing around and cussing and whooping and carrying …show more content…
Society has ingrained the idea that slaves shouldn’t be regarded as actual people within the mind of Huck. “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself to go up and humble myself to a nigger,”(Twain 96). Society has created a demeaning label for slaves, who are people too, but because they are “beneath” the white populus they don’t truly matter. The corruption of society is evident in the fact that the justice system gives Huck back to his clearly incompetent father. “ courts mustn’t interfere and separate families if they could help it; said he’d druther not take a child away from its father,” (Twain 22). Everyone in this town is well aware of the fact that Pap is a horrible father figure and yet they all allow Huck to still be placed with him, solely because of the fact that a child should stay with their parent. The courts system, the people that society is meant to rely on to make correct decisions is failing this young child, thusly sentencing him to a harder life than anyone should have to endure if they don’t have to. Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a fictional novel that addresses many social commentaries. The adventure of Huck is one that points out the many flaws in the society of that time period, and acts as a much needed wake up call, before the events of the Civil War. Overall, it’s the deeper meaning written between the lines, that make this novel the work of art that it
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