In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain satirizes the unpleasant actions of the people Huck encounters during his adventures in order to emphasize the hypocrisy exposed in these actions. Such acts are unfortunately commonplace in society. Already one of Twain's basic techniques, satire is defined as "the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize the stupidity or vices of people, by particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other current issues” (“satire”). He mocks the hypocrisy of parents who do not respect the prohibitions they impose on their children. He mocks the situation of the faithful who are fickle in following the pillars of their creed. The most serious vice of society at the time was the separation of members of slave families in the interest of the government-sanctioned slave trade. Twain satirizes these grotesque aspects of society, which society itself was too blind to see through the characters Huck meets on his journey. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Near the beginning of the book, when Twain introduces readers to Huck and his life, Huck mentions smoking to his guardian, the Widow Douglass. The widow quickly rejects the idea, but continues the cancerous practice herself. “Very quickly, I wanted to smoke and I asked the widow to allow me. But she wouldn't. She said it was a mean and dirty practice, and that I should try not to do it anymore… And she took it too, of course, it was all okay, because she did it herself” ( Twain 10). She is hypocritical in that she tells Huck not to smoke, but she does it herself. This undoubtedly makes a mockery of the ridiculous and hypocritical “Do as I say, not as I do” mantra often held by incompetent parents and guardians. Twain uses situational irony to effectively communicate this satire because the Widow Douglass continues to smoke even though she tells Huck to do otherwise is the opposite of what should happen. Readers expect to discover that since the widow tells Huck that smoking is a despicable practice and should no longer be practiced, she will be a non-smoker herself. Instead, we discovered that she actually smokes. This satire is Horatian because of its light subject; Twain had a witty and tolerant view on the subject and wanted to elicit a wry smile from his audience. He did not firmly believe that the hypocrisy of the guards' mantra or smoking constituted a real crisis worth attacking with his words and inciting anger, but it is a habit he wishes to provoke reflection on in the minds of its readers. in the book, Twain uses the juxtaposition of bringing guns into the church to mock the hypocrisy of people choosing which religious rules they follow. The Grangerfords, a family in the midst of a massive feud with the rival Shepherdsons, temporarily take in a shipwrecked and wet Huck. During his brief stay with the Grangerfords, particularly Buck who was the same age as Huck, Huck attended church with the family on one occasion. On this occasion, the two feuding families laid down their arms to rejoice in prayer. “Next Sunday we all went to church...the men took their guns, Buck too, and kept them between their knees or placed them within easy reach against the wall. The Shepherdsons did the same. It was pretty crude preaching – all aboutbrotherly love…everyone said it was a good sermon…and had so many powerful things to say about faith, good works, and free grace…” (Twain 121). Brotherly love is the complete opposite of what happens between the two feuding families. Twain uses this example to ridicule how many people who go to church and claim to be religious are fickle about the rules of the religion they follow. The Bible expressly prohibits violence, yet many people on both sides of the dispute have died as a result. This satire is an example of juxtaposition, in that feuding families, guns in hand, come into great conflict with the peaceful creed of the Church and the Bible. The satire transcends the simple mockery of the hypocrisy of attending church in the midst of a violent feud, and elevates the application of satire to a hypocrisy often found in real life, where members of a religion are inconsistent in the principles they respect. This is again a satire of Horatian, because although the conflict in the book is quite serious with the murder and everything else, Twain was not trying to make his audience angry over the issue, but he humorously underlined the hypocrisy of the choice. in the real world in a witty way. Twain effectively draws attention, but not to the point of insulting the public's intelligence, to the hypocrisy manifested in the juxtaposition of bringing weapons into a place of worship of a religion with a doctrine that preaches peace. Indeed, Twain's writing style, with its subtle attacks on the undesirable elements of society, continues to address a darker societal issue, where undesirable may be an understatement. A big and terrible problem that arose at the time of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was without explanation. doubt slavery. With slavery, a terrible phenomenon that happened quite often within the system was treating slaves not as humans, but as property. In this sentiment and in the interest of business, slaves were often exchanged and separated from their families. At the beginning of the book, the audience is introduced to Pap. PAp is Huck's biological father and does not have custody of his son due to his violence and reckless drinking. After Pap kidnaps Huck from his guardian, the Widow Douglass, Pap rants about how the law allows his son to be taken from him, referencing the fact that Huck was placed in the care of the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson due to Pap's reckless pass full of alcoholism. and crime. “Call it government!” well, watch it and see what it looks like. Here is the law ready to take from him a man’s son, a man’s own son, whom he has had all the trouble and worry and expense to raise” (Twain 36). There is an obvious example of situational irony here in that, because of Pap's quote, one would expect him to own Huck, based on his claims that he struggled to raise him, but Pap had no part in the boy's upbringing, he was raised by the Widow Douglas. But beyond this obvious example, we can find a comparison with the separation of slave families mentioned previously. A quote later in the book, when a family of slaves from the Wilk estate were separated at a slave auction: "...and away they went, the two sons down the river to Memphis, and their mother down the river to Memphis. Orleans... poor miserable girls and negroes who bent their necks and wept..." (Twain 196). Pap criticizes the government for allowing his son to be taken away from him, but this exact situation is happening all.