The Irony in Huck Finn
Many authors use irony as a literary device in their works. William Shakespeare, Emily Dickens, Jane Austen, and Robert Stevenson often wrote irony. However, Mark Twain is a master of irony in American literature. Through Huck’s eyes Twain points out the ironies of everyday human life.
Huck has been taken in by a family called the Grangerfords. The Grangerfords have a feud with another family called the Shepherdsons. This feud has gone on for many years and the families are not sure what started it. Both of the families attend church together where the preacher speaks about “brotherly love. ” The families praise the service and then afterwards they go back to killing one another. “Next Sunday we all went to church… The men took their guns along. ” The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson are wealthy sisters that adopt Huck.
They raise Huck in a strict household and teach him about the bible. They put in Huck’s head that it’s a sin to help black people and it’s okay to be racist. When Huck helps Jim escape from slavery it went against everything Huck is taught. Huck would often start to feel guilty after helping Jim because Huck is taught it was wrong. Even after Jim became a father figure to Huck, Huck questioned if it was okay to help Jim escape. Eventually, Huck decides he would do anything for Jim. Pap was raging about a black man who was a professor. He thought the black professor was inferior to him even though Pap did not have an education himself. He tells Huck, “There was a free slave there from Ohio… they said he was a p’fessor in a college… what is the a-coming to?” Pap is disgusted that the black man could speak many languages. Another instance of Pap’s ignorance is when Huck was beat up by Pap after Huck tried attending school.
Pap was angry at Huck because Pap thought Huck was trying to show he was better than him. He told Huck he could not be smarter than him or his mother. Throughout the book, Huck is constantly taught hypocritical values. Huck questions the morals he is taught as a child. By the end of the story, Huck finally decides he would go to Hell if it meant he could save Jim.
