Transcript Satire and Irony - Mira Costa High School

Satire and Irony
In The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
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 subject’s defects, with the intent of
improving them.)
• Twain uses it to point out common
human failings.
Satire
• Examples:
 Superstitious beliefs
 Gullible behavior
 Greed
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.
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.
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.
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 spellright 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.
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.
Sarcasm
• The use of language (often times
praise) to mock, hurt, wound or
ridicule. Sarcasm is less subtle than
irony.