Twain’s handling of humor and satire in his novel the adventures of huckleberry finn

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to provide a descriptive account of the nature and way of Mark Twain’s handling of humor and satire used in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). The study also aims to shed light on whether Twain intended his novel to be humorous, or the humor was unconscious and unrealistic. The researcher sheds light on some major characters and scenes that exhibit the different types of humor and satire. The novel is a classic work of humor that becomes blended with satire, in which Twain became skeptic and agnostic and turned against mankind for its inhumanity. The story arouses humor in different means such as lies, deceptions, machinations of plot, prevarications of Huck and Tom, and through the superstitious beliefs of the primitive character, Jim. The study found out that the novel is a masterpiece of fun, farce and satire. The humor borders on farce; it is low and realistic. The researcher concluded that the novel is doubtlessly picaresque, farcical, comical and satirical. The chief characteristic of its humor is that it is American; the blend of different dialects, the misspellings; creating humor presupposed the correct knowledge of the spellings by the reader. This feeling creates a kind of humor that is pathetic. The frauds and the deceptions used in the incidents, the anecdotes, angularities, and the eccentricities of the characters portrayed have further enhanced the comic effect in the novel. With these traits is juxtaposed Twain’s biting satire, and his work is the first of its kind.