Theme Of Satire In Huck Finn

Why would one satirize society with the risk of being in trouble? Well, the realistic fiction Huckleberry Finn takes place in Mississippi, 1830s-1840s where slavery was legal at the time. The time being, lead to much racism and the abolition of slavery was starting to anger those who were in possession of slaves. Mark Twain uses satire to teach the newer generation that the way people were treated should be intolerable. Throughout the novel Tom Sawyer is a presentation of satire as well as society which were considered villainous.

In the beginning of the novel Toms characteristics are starting to be revealed. His love of being dominant are clearly presented as he states his idea of a gang, with him being the captain. He even tells Huck,” Now

Tom is very insistent to tie Jim to a tree which could possibly get Jim into trouble. Huck realizes it when Tom says ,” When he was ten foot off, Tom whispered to me and wanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun.” (Twain,5 ) Huck continues on by telling Tom that it is not a good idea to do so and in this matter Tom soon backs off. As most cliche villains, Tom is also a stubborn and selfish boy. Huck observes Tom and says,” As soon as Tom was back, we cut along a path, around the garden fence, and by-and-by fetched up on the steep top of the hill on the other side of the house.” which shows that Huck knows that Tom will continue with what he decides to do and there was basically no way to stop him. Huck rarely puts in input unless it is to stop Tom from doing something he does not think is ‘right’. One can notice this trend throughout the book. The reader can still figure out that Tom still wants to tie Jim to the tree and continue with the trick and to add to the fact that he likes to harm others so Tom went ahead to play a trick. Huck says “Tom said he slipped Jim’s hat off his head and hung it on a limb right over him. The story later exhibits how Jim was all crazy afterwards thinking there was magic. Although this was not the full potential of harm that the boys can do, later in the story he can demonstrate how he can potentially get others