Huckleberry Finn Essay

Donovan Henson

English 12

February 17, 2014

Huckleberry Finn Essay

            In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain satirizes slavery and the ignorance of society that pertains to it. At the beginning of the novel, he does so by describing Ms. Watson, a good Christian woman who tries to teach Huck important moral lessons, but is a slave owner. Another example of this is when Huck shares his made-up story about an engine exploding on a boat. The lady he shares the story with asks if anyone got hurt, but when Huck says only a slave died, she is at peace and rather comfortable with it because slaves were not viewed as people in the society at the time.

          Twain chose to satirize slavery and the treatment of slaves because he was greatly opposed to the poor treatment of them.

           Another example of this in the novel was Huckleberry Finn's moral development throughout the story. At the beginning, and all the way to the end of the story, Huck views Jim, a runaway slave as a person. He does however socialize with people as if slaves are not people. 

       Twain satirizes society by having he large group of people wanting to lynch colonel Sherburn after he shoots Boggs, for something that is not deserving of being shot for.

Then, almost immediately after Boggs is shot, he convinces the crowd that they should not because they are only doing it because everyone else wants to.