The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Satire Analysis

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In the classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, there are many instances where Twain utilizes satire to express his feelings on many different themes. One of the themes he satirizes throughout the novel is that of deception. Twain primarily uses the characters of the King and the Duke to convey his feelings on this topic. Some of the scenes where this is expressed include when the people take up an offering for the King, when the King and the Duke put on a show, and when the King and the Duke pretend to be Wilks' brother.

One of the first places in the novel where Mark Twain satirizes the theme of deception is the scene in which the King and the Duke stumble upon a religious festival. After listening to the townspeople …show more content…
Once they make this decision, they print out handbills for the show saying that ladies and children are not allowed in order to attract a larger audience. When the night of the show arrives, the house is packed with men waiting to watch the show. The Duke then gets up on stage and talked up the so called tragedy saying, "[…] it was the most thrillingest one that ever was […]." (Twain 114). When the curtain rolls up the King comes out naked on all fours painted in a rainbow of colors and then returns backstage. The crowd roars with laughter until the King comes back out two more times. Then the Duke came back out on stage and thanks the crowd for coming and asks them to tell their friends about the show. When the crowd realizes the show is over, "Everybody sings out 'sold,' and rose up mad, and was agoing for that stage and them tragedians." (Twain 114). But instead of doing this, they decide to tell the rest of the townspeople that the show was great so that they weren't the only ones that got tricked. Then the next night, the house was packed again and the King and the Duke tricked the crowd the same way. When the third night comes, the house is packed yet again but this time everyone in the crowd has already seen the show and are waiting to throw eggs, cabbages, and dead cats at the King and the Duke. Before they can do this, the …show more content…
In another one of Mark Twain's classic, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom is responsible for whitewashing a fence. Since he doesn’t want to do this job, he tries to come up with ways to get out of the job. When his friend Ben comes by and suggests they go swimming, Tom decides to act like he enjoys his painting so much that he would rather stay and finish. As Tom continued to paint, "Ben [watched] every move and [got] more and more interested, more and more absorbed. Presently he [says]: 'Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.'" (Twain 12). At first Tom refuses to let Ben do the whitewashing, but once Ben offers Tom his entire apple, "Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart." (Twain 12). Then as Ben takes over whitewashing the fence, Tom sits back, relaxes, and eats his apple. Mark Twain satirizes deception in this scene in order to teach the reader to not be easily tricked into doing someone else's work.

Throughout the novels The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain uses satire in many ways in order to teach the reader about theme of deception. He teaches the audience of these novels to not be so naïve, to have all the facts before jumping to conclusions, to not believe everything they hear, and to not be easily tricked into doing someone else's
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