Satire In Huckleberry Finn

In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain illustrates his discontent with people through satire. One of the ways that he satirizes different groups of people is through societal dissonance. Mark Twain’s utilization of societal dissonance throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn goes against what most of the population thought of a certain group of people. Many of Twain’s characters in the novel go against society’s old expectations. Some characters or groups in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that are examples of societal dissonance are Jim, the Grangerfords, and Huck Finn. Jim is perhaps one of the most important, if not the most important character in the novel, and he is an example of societal dissonance. At one point, Huck has been gone for a while and decides to play a trick on Jim, and Jim responds with “‘What do dey stan’ for? I’s gwyne to tell you. When I got all wore out wid work, en wid de callin’ for you, en went to sleep, my heart wuz mos’ broke bekase you wuz los’, en I didn’ k’yer no mo’ what become er me en de raf’. En when I wake up en fine you back agin, all safe en …show more content…
In the novel, Huck thinks about how if he betrays Jim he’ll avoid Hell, saying, “I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the only one he’s got now; and then I happened to look around, and see that paper. … ‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’-- and tore it up” (223). Huck is supposedly a bad kid, and in this situation people would expect him to be selfish, but what he does is the complete opposite of selfish. Huck thinks that keeping his loyalty to Jim will cause him eternal punishment, and even though he knows there are great consequences for his actions, he chooses to help Jim. Sacrificing his salvation for Jim is the most selfless thing he could do, and that also defies society’s standards which would never have Huck do such a noble

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