Huckleberry Finn
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Jesus Estrada
Mr. Jefferson
English
4/3/13
Period 2
Huckleberry Finn the Greatest Novel Ever
Earnest Hemingway stated that “All good novels began and ended with Huckleberry Finn.” What makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain so unique and worthy of being called the Greatest American Novel would definitely have to be the satire that is used to criticize American Society. Mark Twain uses satire to attack what he sees as the hypocritical view of the Midwestern society. Nothing is sacred to his words especially not slavery, religion or human nature. Twain used satire to show the wrong that he saw in society such as man’s cruel and inhumane treatment of a fellow man. The best example of this would have to be the way Tom Sawyer is simply toying with Jim clearly seen in “We see it warn’t no use we got to go fetch Jim. So he raised up his bed and slid the chain off of the leg (260).” Here was the perfect time for Jim to escape and no one would get hurt but it was not good enough for Tom he wanted his so called glory which he believed all the authorities needed. What makes things worse is that Jim was free but Tom’s ambitions took it away similar to The King and The Duke when they sold Jim in the first place. This is where the satire comes in since Tom knew that Mrs. Watson had set Jim free yet never thought of mentioning it to neither Huck nor Jim which shows the idea of white superiority and the inability to let go of such “power”. This is illustrated when Jim sacrificed his freedom after Tom gets shot by trying to help him and ends up being locked up again even after doing a righteous thing. Jim’s action can be taken as Twain trying to tell us that African Americans who were looked down upon can end up being as kind as or even kinder than any white. Nowhere however in the novel is the satire of man’s cruelty to man more predominant than the tarring and feathering of The King and...
Mr. Jefferson
English
4/3/13
Period 2
Huckleberry Finn the Greatest Novel Ever
Earnest Hemingway stated that “All good novels began and ended with Huckleberry Finn.” What makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain so unique and worthy of being called the Greatest American Novel would definitely have to be the satire that is used to criticize American Society. Mark Twain uses satire to attack what he sees as the hypocritical view of the Midwestern society. Nothing is sacred to his words especially not slavery, religion or human nature. Twain used satire to show the wrong that he saw in society such as man’s cruel and inhumane treatment of a fellow man. The best example of this would have to be the way Tom Sawyer is simply toying with Jim clearly seen in “We see it warn’t no use we got to go fetch Jim. So he raised up his bed and slid the chain off of the leg (260).” Here was the perfect time for Jim to escape and no one would get hurt but it was not good enough for Tom he wanted his so called glory which he believed all the authorities needed. What makes things worse is that Jim was free but Tom’s ambitions took it away similar to The King and The Duke when they sold Jim in the first place. This is where the satire comes in since Tom knew that Mrs. Watson had set Jim free yet never thought of mentioning it to neither Huck nor Jim which shows the idea of white superiority and the inability to let go of such “power”. This is illustrated when Jim sacrificed his freedom after Tom gets shot by trying to help him and ends up being locked up again even after doing a righteous thing. Jim’s action can be taken as Twain trying to tell us that African Americans who were looked down upon can end up being as kind as or even kinder than any white. Nowhere however in the novel is the satire of man’s cruelty to man more predominant than the tarring and feathering of The King and...