Satire and Coming of Age in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Shawn Hassen

While Mark Twain does not provide evidence for a particular philosophy or “nameable worldview” in his novel, there are plenty of ideas he shares with his readers. Focusing on satire and coming of age will lead students in a productive conversation about Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Satire: Twain as Iconoclast

Mark Twain was a founding father of the realism movement and a master at utilizing humor to make scathing commentaries about society. Throughout the novel we see romanticism pitted against realism in the characters of Tom and Huck. Tom Sawyer’s penchant for imagination and adventure get the boys in plenty of trouble and near-death experiences that Huck often questions. Between Huck constantly wondering why they can’t just do things “simply” and to-the-point, and the humorous descriptions of the dead Emmeline Grangerford (a tongue-in-cheek Emily Dickinson?) who wrote morbid poetry, Twain applauds realism and pokes fun at romanticism.

Twain also takes a swing at ignorant, small Southern townspeople who are more interested in chewing tobacco than they are in repairing their dilapidated towns or picking up the trash out of their own yards. The duke and king are swindlers, and many of the people along their paths are ignorant, gullible, and perfect victims for the con men’s meanness. No criticism of ignorance would be complete without addressing hypocrisy, so Twain poignantly presents two violent families that feud to the death and attend the same church every Sunday.

Theme: Freedom

Huck and Jim are on the lam. Jim is running away from his owner who seems to be plotting his sale, and Huck is running away from his mean, abusive father. These are the incidents that initially launch the plot, but as the novel continues, Twain makes it clear that on a much larger scale, they are running away from a racist, ignorant, hypocritical, violent society. The ultimate symbol in the novel—the river—provides escape from the racism, the violence, the crookedness, and the ignorance they routinely face on shore.

Theme: Coming of Age

Twain creates Huck to learn some very unflattering things about society, and some of what Huck witnesses changes him. First, we see Huck become a stolid realist. There is evidence at the start of the novel that even though Huck lacks the imagination that Tom Sawyer has, he still enjoys a good scrap and devilment. Just like the other boys, he abandons Tom Sawyer’s Gang because the robbing and the killing they planned to do turns out to be disappointingly make-believe. By the time Huck meets the Grangerfords, however, and is sickened by his friend’s slaughter in a senseless feud, he starts to lose his romantic notion of adventure and starts to recognize violence for what it really is.   

Another change in Huck is his increasing distaste for lying. At the very least, he develops some “code of ethics” about lying. Instead of telling self-serving lies, he shifts toward lies that will result in helping other people, and he ultimately shifts toward truth (even at the behest of Tom Sawyer). We can speculate as to what Twain may have been suggesting about truth-telling; or perhaps he was creating a young character who would naturally grow and change in this regard.

Huck’s most poignant growth and Twain’s most shocking commentary concerns the African American race. Twain wrote this novel in a profoundly racist time period that also corresponded to emerging realism in literature. He created a novel that would bridge a wild, outdoor, romantic adventure plot with a realistic, critical view of society. Presenting people as he saw them to be, Twain imitated the Southern speech and dialects (called literary regionalism) that he heard. Hence, the offensively racist language in the novel. The novel’s narrator, Huck, is a young boy who would realistically be a product of his racist environment. It is Huck Finn, his drunken, racist father, and southern townspeople who speak of black people (and slaves, within the context of the setting) with racial slurs—not Twain.  

Considering the novel was published in the late 19th century, Twain makes a shocking anti-racist comment through Jim’s characterization and through Huck’s coming of age. The novel first introduces us to Jim’s superstitions, and then unexpectedly introduces us to Huck’s superstitions. The novel continually demonstrates that there is no difference between black people and white people, except perhaps for the times Twain shows Jim to be even more caring and compassionate than the young, foolish Huck. Jim becomes the character most underserving of all the hardships he faces as he tries to escape the evils of slavery, and the sympathy Twain creates for him was revolutionary for the novel’s time period. But Jim is not the only character to make Twain’s compelling anti-racist comment—so is Huck. Juxtaposed with the novel’s humor is also a sobering internal conflict. Huck, who in most ways mirrors the racism he has been taught, grows to respect and love Jim, so much so that he is willing to face untold punishments in order to help him escape slavery. With both of these characters journeying and growing together in their friendship and loyalty, Twain offers African Americans dignity and respect in a time period where they had anything but.

The Novel’s Correlations/Contrasts to Scripture

 This novel is a powerful indictment against racism, and Twain (unwittingly perhaps) depicts a biblical view of human worth and dignity. Given the time period in which the novel was written, it was an extraordinarily bold stance that Christians should respect despite the fire that the novel has come under. Often banned for its language, the African American southern dialect, and the allegedly cliché characterization of Jim, the novel has essentially become a victim of ignorance—sadly ironic, given Twain’s satiric criticism of ignorance. In truth, the novel was radical for its day, attempting to make readers who were saturated in a culture of racism fall in love with an African American character. Today, taught and understood within the historic context of literary realism and regionalism, the novel succeeds. We do absolutely fall in love with Jim, and we admire Huck for being willing to make sacrifices to defend and protect his new friend. The novel still serves as a powerful reinforcement of racism’s evils and a beautiful reminder of loyalty and love.

Scripture also corroborates many of Twain’s critical depictions of society: lying swindlers, religious hypocrites, and dumpy towns that are home to ignorant and/or violent people. In a fallen world, we see evidence of the sordid side of society all around us. Scripture takes issue, however, with the solution to society’s challenge. Huck and Jim only find peace when they withdraw from society, so they set sail on the symbolic river in order to escape and pursue freedom. In this novel, peace and freedom are found apart from society. While it is true that avoiding people is absolutely easier sometimes, it is philosophically unbiblical. Christians are called to engage society. We should be celebrating that which is good and helping to transform that which is in need. We are to bring blessing to the world—not retreat from it. Furthermore, God teaches that peace and freedom are found in him—never on this present earth that will always be riddled with conflict. 

The final caution about the novel from a biblical standpoint is Twain’s depiction of conscience and how people arrive at decisions of morality. Throughout most of the novel, Huck’s conscience seems to have been formed by society. After all, his “conscience” is telling him to return a runaway slave. Then, as Huck wrestles with his feelings about Jim and ultimately decides to defy his own conscience (and society) by deciding to help Jim escape, Twain implies not only that there is some sense of right and wrong deeply imbedded in the human spirit, but also that humans have the power to choose right in spite of themselves. We cannot use this novel to ascertain Twain’s precise views of conscience, but it may differ in some ways from a biblical understanding of conscience. Biblically, conscience is indeed informed by outer sources—so the source matters. Christians must study the Word of God in order to develop a conscious that is increasingly aligned with biblical principles. Unlike Huck’s somewhat surprising (humanist?) ability to choose “right” despite everything he believes, Christians must respect that conscience actually bears witness to our beliefs—it does not supersede them. Worldview and conscience are inextricably linked. We do have some sense of that which is right and good and true deep within our souls because we were created in God’s image. But because sin distorts and/or hides that knowledge, we would often choose wrong over right on our own accord—it’s imperative that Christians build, so to speak, a biblical conscience through study, prayer, and growth in the Holy Spirit.