Satire and Irony

1
Satire and Irony

• In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

2
Satire

• The use of wit or exaggerated humor to ridicule a
  subject, usually a human weakness (foible), or
  some social institution with the intention to
  inspire reform. (Making a serious point about the
  subjects defects, with the intent of improving
  them.)
• Twain uses it to point out common human failings.

3
Satire

• Examples
• Superstitious beliefs
• Gullible behavior
• Greed

4
Irony

• The contrast between what appears to be and what
  really is.
• Verbal irony when someone says one thing but
  really means something else.
• Situational irony when there is a discrepancy
  between what is expected to happen, and what
  really does happen.
• Dramatic irony when a character thinks one thing
  is true and the audience or reader knows better.

5
Verbal Irony

• Example Chapter 12- See? He'll be drownded, and
  won't have nobody to blame for it but his own
  self. I reckon that's a considerable sight
  better'n killin' of him. I'm unfavorable to
  killin' a man as long as you can git aroun' it
  it ain't good sense, it ain't good morals. Ain't
  I right?
• This misguided man judges it a lesser crime to
  let a man drown than to kill him outright. Here,
  Twain satirizes the idiocy and cruelty of human
  society.

6
Situational Irony

• Example Chapter 15- "We could sell the raft and
  get on a steamboat and go way up the Ohio amongst
  the free states, and then be out of trouble."
• Huck believes his and Jim's lives will be perfect
  if they are able to get down the river, but in
  reality, there's no way of knowing whether they
  might end up worse off than when they started.

7
Dramatic Irony

• Example Chapter 17- I bet you can't spell my
  name,' says I.'I bet you what you dare I can',
  says he.'All right,' says I, 'go
  ahead.''G-e-o-r-g-e J-a-x-o-n-there now,' he
  says.'Well,' says I, 'you done it, but I didn't
  think you could.It ain't no slouch of a name to
  spell-right off without studying. I set down,
  private, because somebody might want me to spell
  it next, and so I wanted to be handy with it and
  rattle it off like I was used to it."
• Ironically, Buck misspells Huck's pseudonym, and
  Huck memorizes the misspelling in case someone
  asks him about it.

8
Dramatic Irony

• Example Chapter 18- "Each person had their own
  nigger to wait on them-Buck too. My nigger had a
  monstrous easy time, because I warn't used to
  having anybody do anything for me, but Buck's was
  on the jump most of the time."
• Most people in Huck's place would have loved
  having a personal servant, but Huck is
  uncomfortable, and refuses to take advantage of
  the man assigned to him. Although he does adhere
  to aspects of racism ingrained in him due to his
  upbringing, he has more respect for blacks than
  most Southerners of the time.

9
Sarcasm

• The use of language (often times praise) to mock,
  hurt, wound or ridicule. Sarcasm is less subtle
  than irony.