EVEN DAY CLASSES - SCROLL DOWN TO THE NEXT POSTING FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Read through chapter 29 by Monday
Respond to the following question about chapters 19-25 twice.
First time by Thursday, March 1.(preliminary response)
Second time by Monday, March 5 (respond to someone else or the conversation as a whole)
THIS IS A GRADED ASSIGNMENT - SO USE TEXT SUPPORT AND ACADEMIC WRITING CONVENTIONS
Many critics believe that each of the characters or situations that Huck and Jim encounter on their trip down the Mississippi represents an element of southern society in the 1840's. For instance, during our one of our last class meetings, we discussed how the feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons satirizes the ridiculous emphasis on honor in the south during this time (think Colonel Sanders). What other symbols have you seen in chapters 19-25? Choose one character or event and discuss its importance as a symbol or satire.
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One thing being satarized in chapters 19-25 of Huckleberry Finn is the dramatic fashion that Southerners practiced religion in. For example, when Huck and the king went to the sheds where the preacher was, Huck thinks, "you couldn't make out what the preacher said anymore, on account of the shouting and the crying" (Twain 133). Later in that same description, Huck states that the people attending the service were acting "just crazy and wild" (Twain 133). I think that these descriptions are meant to show that the Southern way of practicing religion with extreme passion may lead to losing the actual message of the service. I also think Twain may be saying that people can be easily manipulated when in such a passionate state. For example, after the king made his speech about being a pirate, a speech which involved a lot of crying and other dramatic actions, he easily manipulated the people into giving him money. In fact, someone actually said "take up a collection for him" (Twain 133). I think that through writing this scene, Twain is trying to show us that practicing religion passionately is meaningless if there is no lesson being learned, and that putting people in such a passionate state can result in easy manipulation.
The value of freedom is being satirized in chapters 19-25 of Huckleberry Finn. Huck and Jim have been living a comfortable life on the raft. They have been traveling at night so that Jim will not get caught and punished for escaping slavery, and so that Huck won't be returned to his life under the custody of his abusive father. Both Huck and Jim have escaped their old lives in captivity for a life of freedom on the raft that is only restricted by the fact that they cannot travel during the day. In chapter 19 when the two men claiming to be a king and a duke join Huck and Jim on the raft, the duke, not happy with their limited freedom, says, "Leave me alone to cipher out a way so we can run in the day-time if we want to" (Twain 168). He decides that the only way to safely travel during the day is to "tie Jim hand and foot with a rope...and say we captured him up the river"(Twain 177) which would be a normal sight for a passerby in the south. With this situation, Twain is commenting on the irony that the group is willing to bind Jim like a slave in exchange for the ultimate freedom of traveling whenever they please. Through these passages, Twain is satirizing the value of freedom in the south.
The satire of southern criminals from the time is one of the main symbolic elements of chapters 19-25 is. Twain does not satirize bloodthirsty murderous criminals, but the more mellow type, who manages to scam people out of their money through such devices as trickery and lying. Obviously I am referring to the two characters who claim to be the Duke and the King. One way these two characters are satirized is in their ease of telling blatant lies. For example, as Huck says, “It didn’t take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds.” (127) The Kind and Duke are also used to represent and satirize southern criminals through the schemes they pull off. For example, on page 151, the King and the Duke put on a “tragedy” which involved “the King… a-prancing out on all fours, naked; and he was painted all over.” The third time the “tragedy” is to be performed, the King and Duke knew that the townspeople that they had fooled were going to harass them, so instead of performing the show, the King and the Duke took the crowd’s money and snuck out. In conclusion, the King and the Duke are used to satirize the non-violent southern criminal of the times, who committed his crimes through deceit.
Another element of satire involved in chapters 19-25 is people's view of Southern folk. Twain, in chapter 21 gives an exaggerated view of the natives of Arkansas, whose main pleasures are "putting turpentine on a stray dog and setting fire to him, or tying a tin pan to his tail and see him run himself to death." They also use words like "gimme... tobacker... caint... wunst..." etc. This mainstream view of the uncivilized Southerners is also exemplified by the behavior of the Duke and the Dauphin. The put together such outrageous schemes including "the royal nonesuch" and others, and believe the natives will be swindled easily. Also, the very act of pretending they are royalty is proof of their low opinion of country southerner's intelligence. The King further demonstartes this opinon when he pretends to preach. His story of how "was a pirate -- been a pirate for thirty years out in the Indian Ocean -- and his crew was thinned out considerable last spring in a
fight, and he was home now to take out some fresh men", and was now reformed, shows just how stupid he thinks they are. He expects them to believe this tripe. Also, when he impersonates the Uncles with the Duke, going on about "our poor brother -- gone, and we never got to see him; oh, it's too, too hard!", and when "he gets up and comes for-ward a little, and works himself up and slobbers out a
speech, all full of tears and flapdoodle about its being
a sore trial for him and his poor brother to lose the diseased" he expects the county folk to be too dumb to call his bluff, and to believe every word he says. The king even uses a very bad English accent and doesnt take the idea into his head that someone might know its a sham.
In chapters 19-25, the duke and the dauphin are very important symbols. They symbolize the great risks people were willing to go through for money. They lie and cheat entire towns to earn money for naught. They spend most of their time sleeping or on the raft in the river, where there is nothing to buy. In the first town they stop in, the king told the crowd he was a pirate and burst into tears. He managed to get the crowd to come up with the idea of passing around a collection for him. "So the king went all through the crowd with his hat, swabbing his eyes, and blessing the people and praising them and thanking them for being so good to the poor pirates away off there." He managed to con the people into giving him over $80.00. In the next town, the duke and the dauphin put on a play, Shakespeare, that was very short. It outraged the town, but they decided to convince everyone to see it, so that everyone would be conned. These two men did terrible things to get money, that they havent had any use for. This symbolizes the greed in the south, and the great lengths people would go to for money.
I think the Duke and the Dauphin are an important symbol in chapters 19-25 of Huckleberry Finn and are supposed to represent what lengths people would go to for money. They lie to towns and convince the townspeople to give them money. After they have made a fair amount, they get out of town and hurry off to the next one over and start conning the people all over again. They have an array of disguises such as doctor, actor, lecturer, preacher, and fortune teller (Twain 123-124). Sometimes the townspeople find out they have been conned before the duke or dauphin has been able to get out of town and the townspeople plan to tar and feather them and run them out of town (Twain 123). They go to great lengths to make as much money as possible and usually they never have to lift a finger. They don't do work and still the people of the town are fooled into giving them money. For instance when the king told the crowd he was a pirate and started crying so the townspeople would feel sorry for him and they all pitched in some money for him (Twain 133-134). They also put on a Shakespeare play in Arkansaw. These men are so greedy, they hunger for money and they are meant to symbolize what people would do for money.
Something that is being satirized in chapters 19-25 of Huckleberry Finn is Shakespeare. In chapter 21, the duke and the dauphin are going to put on one of Shakespeare's plays and the duke decides to perform Hamlet's soliliquy as an encore. Huck describes him as he is practicing and says, "Then he strikes a most noble attitude, with one leg shoved forwards, and his arms streched away up, and his head tilted back, looking up at the sky; and then he begins to rip and rave and grit his teeth; and after that, all through his speech, he howled, and spread around, and swelled up his chest, and just knocked the spots out of any acting ever I see before" (Twain 175). He also says that while he is trying to remember it, he would even "let on to drop a tear" (Twain 175). Mark Twain takes this performance to its extreme, almost to the point where it seems ridiculous. However, in chapter 22, Huck says, "Well, that night we had our show; but there warn't only about twelve people there-just enough to pay expenses" (Twain 191). Almost nobody came to see the show anyway, which shows that Mark Twain is satirizing Shakespeare.
When the Duke, the Dauphin, and Huck visit Arkansas, this is satirizing the uncivilized way many Southerners live. On page 140, Huck observes that the men simply sit around cussing and chewing tobacco. Also, the Southerners are living in a dump; the novel states, “hogs loafed and grunted around everywheres” and “all the streets and lanes was just mud” (page 141). On page 159, it says that the houses were old and had never been painted. Also, “the fences was made of different kinds of boards, nailed on at different times” (page 139-140). Huck also is enlightened about the uncivilized way Southerners have fun. He explains that the only thing they liked better than a dogfight was “putting turpentine on a stray dog and setting fire to him, or tying a tin pan to his tail and see him run himself to death” (page 141). The visit to the Arkansas town entertainingly satirizes the uncivilized way Southerners live.
One thing being satarized in chapters 19-25 in Huckleberry Finn is the British theatre, specifically Shakesperian plays. A good example of this is on page 137 in chapter 21 when the Duke recites "Hamlets Soliloquy." The Duke says, "To be or not to be; that is the bare bodkin." Obviously, he is misquoting Shakespeare, thus satarizing the southerners attempt at speaking in the British dialect. Another excellent example is on page 139 (on the playbill). The Duke has written the actors names as David Garrick "the younger" and Edmund Kean "the elder." This was the Duke's attempt to make their names sound more "royal," in the fashion of Shakespeare. Twain is showing us the ignorance of the southern people when it comes to England and its culture. He exhibits this by exagerating the Duke's and Dauphin's views in a humorous way.
In chapters 19-25 Mark Twain satirizes the idea of royalty. This is clear from his very introduction of the characters calling themselves “Duke” and “Dauphin.” These are two lowdown criminals with absurd pretentions to noble birth. Although Huck eventually figures out their true identities, at first both him and Jim are taken in (P.135). At first the Duke declares himself and demands in recognition of his noble status, “we was to bow when we spoke to him, and say ‘Your Grace,’ or ‘My Lord’, or ‘Your Lordship”...and one of us ought to wait on him at dinner, and do any little thing for him he wanted done” (P. 135). Once this is done, the Dauphin, apparently feeling jealous and wishing to out do the Duke, announces himself to be the rightful King of France (P.136). On the raft there becomes a minor struggle between these two ‘frauds,’ over whose status is more noble. There is no actual power being quarreled over, only who is to be reffered to as ‘Your Majesty’ and who as ‘Your Grace.’ Huck and Jim continue to play along; in their minds, a King or Duke is like a spoiled child who must be indulged. Waiting on them is a sort of game they play to keep the peace (P.137). And it seems all this is all Huck and Jim would expect of such people. Jim says later on, “I doan’ mind one er two kings but dat’s enough. Dis one’s powerful drunk, en de Duke ain’t much better” (P.147) Royalty inspires no real respect in them, only a sort of obligation to deal with them.
In this way, Twain reduces the idea of Royalty to these titles which are being squabbled over by true low-down scoundrels.
In response to clio and tny (the elder:
I am not sure that Shakespeare is satirizing Shakespeare or British theater in itself, or simply the ignorance of these two presumed royals (the Duke and Dauphin) and the Southern people in general, who dont recognize the blatant mistakes in their performances, and don't care in any case.The Duke says "these Arkansas lunkheadscouldnt come up to Shakespeare"(P. 163).
My pont is, that Twain probably had more to gain from satirizing southern people than other great writers.
One idea that I think is being satarized throughout chapters 19-25 of Huckleberry Finn is the value of woman and children in the society. This idea is especially evident throughout chapters 22-23. The two scam artists, the Duke and the King, are trying to find and way to rob the rightful citizens of their money by putting on an abominable performance. After their first performance had a small attendance, the duke was frustrated, he goes on to say, "...these Arkansaw lunkheads couldn't come up to Shakespeare: what they want was low comedy, he reckoned."(Twain 150) Then the duke came up with and idea to get the people to attend their performance. "There," says he, "if that line don't fetch them, I don't know Arkansaw!"(Twain 150) Even the duke was able to figure out what the southerners thought of their woman and children. He precided to write on the bill, "LADIES AND CHILDREN NOT ADMITTED."(Twain 150) That night after the bill was posted their performance was a big hit. "...and that night the house was jam full of men in no time."(Twain 151) Though woman and children were considered inferior to men at the time these chapters create such an outrageous view of woman and children in the south. Especially when the duke makes the comment about how, if not allowing woman and children in would not get the play more attention than he didn't know Arkansaw. Through the dukes frustration we are able to glance at how many viewed the south, especially the duke, at that time. We are also able to see how Mark Twain is satarizing the value of woman and children.
In chapters 19-25, the Mississippi River that Huck and Jim travel along by raft, is a symbol of ultimate peace that society cannot achieve. Throughout the book, Huck faces many problems; all of them are produced by towns on the coast of the Mississippi River. Huck finds the troublesome con men the Duke and the King on the “main shore”. After the men join Huck’s journey, they “come in sight of a little one-horse town in a big bend”. In the town, Huck sees many unruly “countrypeople…chawing tobacco, [talking] lazy and drawly, and [using] many considerable many cusswords.” They are irresponsible and unruly, “a mighty ornery lot”, who take pleasure in gruesome activities such as “putting turpentine on a stray dog and setting fire to him”. During Huck’s visit to this town, he witnesses many mobs, drunkards, and even a murder. Life is less hectic when they escape the town, because once on the raft they simply “all [have] supper” and “nobody [would say] a word.” They encounter another village where the Duke and the Dauphin immediately become absorbed in pretending to be lost-long relatives of a dead man in order to gain money from his will. It is a despicable plot and is “enough to make a body ashamed of the human race.” Huck gets into many dangerous and difficult situations because of the societies situated near the river. However, when Huck returns to his raft on the Mississippi River, he and Jim are in a haven. There is “not a sound anywheres…just like the whole world [is] asleep”. The two are so comfortable that they are “always naked” and spend their time just talking, “[dangling their] legs in the water” and looking at the stars. Huck feels that “it’s lovely to live on a raft.” Huck’s life on the Mississippi River is the exact opposite of the many lifestyles he observes in the towns on land. His life is serene and free but the people in the villages lead lives of laziness and violence. The Mississippi River represents a tranquil life one can only acquire from traveling on a raft, and not from society.
In chapter 23, a different kind of Southern honor was satirized, one more of personal pride than of family honor, (as was the case with the feud.) In order to trick people out of their money, The duke and the king put on "the thrilling tragedy of THE KING'S CAMELEOPARD" (Twain 150), which turned out to be nothing but the king prancing about the stage on all-fours, painted and naked. When the duke anounced the show was over, the audience screamed out "Sold!" (Twain 152). Since they had thought the performance was going to be longer and more tragic, everyone was "a-going for the stage and them tragedians" (Twain 152). However, a man stood up and pointed out that even if the two actors were arrested or run out of town, the people who had been sold would still be the laughingstock of Parksville. He persuaded them to instead sell out the rest of the town so they'd "all be in the same boat" (Twain 152). In other words, in order to save their honor, the people who had been tricked in the first show decided to trick everyone else so they couldn't be made fun of by any people that hadn't been tricked. Indeed, the next day, everyone talked about "how splendid the show was," and the "house was jammed again that night" (Twain 152) by people who hadn't seen the show yet. Once all of the men had seen the show, and were no longer afraid that someone could make fun of them, they decided they could finally punish the duke and the king. They came to the performance with "sickly eggs" and "rotten cabbages" to throw at the performers. However, the duke and the king got the last laugh in Parksville, for they simply slipped away down the river while the audience waited for them to appear that third evening (Twain 153). The men of Parksville had been so absorbed with their personal honor that the duke and the King and gotten $465.00 in three nights, three times the amount they would have gotten if the audience had decided to punish them after the first performance.
Another element of southern society that is satirized in Huckleberry Finn is the normalcy of violence. For instance, in chapter 21 and 22, Huck visits a town in Arkansas where violent behavior is accepted as ordinary and even humorous, at times. First, in chapter 21, the belligerent attitude of the town drunkard (Boggs) is mocked, rather than noticed as suspicious or potentially harmful behavior. For example, Huck overheard a townsperson teasing the drunk by saying “I wisht old Boggs'd threaten me, ‘cuz then I’d know I warn’t gwyne to die for a thousan’ year”. Huck also mentioned that “everybody yelled at [Boggs] and laughed at him and sassed him” (Twain 142). Second, in the same chapter, Huck stated that “there couldn’t anything wake [the town] up all over, and make them happy all over, like a dogfight—-unless it might be putting turpentine on a stray dog and setting fire to him, or tying a tin pan to his tail and see him run himself to death” (Twain 141). Huck manifests the aggressive nature of the town, and how common it is for them to be this way by affirming that these people he encounters enjoy torturing dogs. Third, chapter 22 is all about how a mob is formed in the town after Sherburn, the storeowner, shoots and kills the drunkard, Boggs. The mob eventually arrives at Sherburn’s store, but stops suddenly when the man steps outside and delivers a haughty speech about the cowardice of the average Southern person. Sherburn claims that “[The South’s] newspapers call you [townspeople] a brave people so much that you think you are braver than any other people—-whereas you’re just as brave, and no braver,” as well as that “the average man don’t like trouble and danger. You don’t like trouble and danger,” among many other insults (Twain 146-147). I also believe that especially by writing about how “if any real lynching’s going to be done it will be done in the dark, Southern style,” Twain is using Sherburn, the only decent, intelligent man in that town, to convey how violent, yet stupid and spineless the Southerners are for committing such murderous acts, but only doing so in the night when no one can find them, for example (Twain 147). Therefore, the town’s addiction to hostility is one more example of Twain’s dislike for Southern life.
In chapters 19-25, another element Mark Twain satirized is the technique of the Snakeoil traders. Through Duke and Dauphin, Twain emphasizes how willing the were to lie and decieve others. Right after meeting with the two, Huck and Jim are told they are in company with the, "eldest son of the Duke of Bridgewater," and, "the late Dauphin," (Twain 124-125). When the Dauphin lands back on shore, he immediately travels to the town and makes up another lavish story. On page 133, be explains how he'd, "been a pirate for thirty years out in the Indian Ocean." Also, the Duke and the Dauphin weave more lies as they claim they are, "the World-Renowned Tragedians" Shakespeare scenes in Arkansas (Twain 150). When the citizens of Pokeville and Arkansas are taken in by the lies of the Snakeoil traders, Huck emphasizes how he still, "never let on," (Twain 127). As obvious the Southern Snakeoil trader's lies were, no one but Huck seemed to realize them.
The gullibility of the average Southerner is satirized in chapters 19-25. With the arrival of the Duke and the Dauphin, many tricks follow. When, on page 133, the Dauphin recounts his adventures as a pirate on the Indian Ocean, and talks about his intention to “put in the rest of his life trying to turn pirates to the true path,” the crowd immediately starts to give him money without asking a single question. The Dauphin’s tears were even enough to make girls ask permission to hug and kiss him and make people offer to let the Dauphin stay with them for a week, in addition to earning him $87.75. After receiving some information from a boy they meet on the river, the Duke and the Dauphin pretend they are the brothers of a recently deceased man. On page 163, the Dauphin, “slobbers out a speech, all full of tears and flapdoodle,” to the family and friends of the dead man. The family and friends are easily convinced, and they join in mourning with the Duke and Dauphin. Only one person ever accuses the Duke and Dauphin of being frauds, on page 168. However, even this doesn’t prevent the daughters of the dead man from being convinced enough to give the Duke and Dauphin all of the money their father left behind. On page 167, while the Dauphin is talking about the funeral of the man he is pretending to be the brother of, he consistently uses the word orgies instead of obsequies, the word he means to say. Once the Duke informs him of this, the Dauphin makes a speech explaining his choice of words. He says that although the word orgies is less common than obsequies, it is more commonly used in England, and it is more appropriate, because it comes from, “the Greek orgo, outside, open, abroad; and the Hebrew jeesum, to plant, cover up; hence inter. So, you see, funeral orgies is an open er public funeral.” Again, only one man is not easily convinced, and everyone refuses to listen to him. The great ease with which the Duke and the Dauphin can constantly trick and deceive townspeople satirizes the gullibility of most Southerners in the 1840’s.
I think Twain is again satirizing kings and Americans' knowledge of European kings and monarchies in chapters 19-25. Earlier, Twain satirized King Solomon, and now, using the Dauphin, Twain satirizes kings again. While Huck is just not telling Jim that the Dauphin is not really a king, he still bashes kingdom in general. On page 153, Huck says, "All kings is mostly rapscallions, as fur as I can make out...look at Henry the Eight, this 'n' 's a Sunday-school Superintendent to him. And look at Charles, and Louis Fourteen, and Louis Fifteen, and James Second, and Edward Second." Huck seems to be making up all the kings, and he later tells stories about chopping heads off and drowning fathers. Then, Twain also satirizes Shakespere by having Huck mention Richard Third. Huck continues by saying on page 154, "'Fetch up Nell Gwynn,' he says. They fetch her up. Next morning, 'Chop off her head!'" Huck continues by talking more and more of kings ordering the execution of multiple women. While he does not mean it, Twain uses Huck to satirize monarchy, especially in Europe, again. He is also satirizing America’s lack of knowledge, because this is what many people believed kings actually did, even if not Huck. Also, Twain uses the Dauphin's claim to kingship to satirize kings. On page 126, the Dauphin says, "Yes, gentlemen, you see before you, in blue jeans and misery, the wanderin', exiled, trampled-on, and sufferin' rightful King of France." The Dauphin was like many other people at the time, claiming to be the rightful King of France or some country. He also shows the ignorance of Amercians, because originally Huck and Jim both believe the Dauphin. Twain uses a fraud (the Dauphin) and a liar (Huck) to satirize kings again in Chapters 19-25.
I think Twain is again satirizing kings and Americans' knowledge of European kings and monarchies in chapters 19-25. Earlier, Twain satirized King Solomon, and now, using the Dauphin, Twain satirizes kings again. While Huck is just not telling Jim that the Dauphin is not really a king, he still bashes kingdom in general. On page 153, Huck says, "All kings is mostly rapscallions, as fur as I can make out...look at Henry the Eight, this 'n' 's a Sunday-school Superintendent to him. And look at Charles, and Louis Fourteen, and Louis Fifteen, and James Second, and Edward Second." Huck seems to be making up all the kings, and he later tells stories about chopping heads off and drowning fathers. Then, Twain also satirizes Shakespere by having Huck mention Richard Third. Huck continues by saying on page 154, "'Fetch up Nell Gwynn,' he says. They fetch her up. Next morning, 'Chop off her head!'" Huck continues by talking more and more of kings ordering the execution of multiple women. While he does not mean it, Twain uses Huck to satirize monarchy, especially in Europe, again. He is also satirizing America’s lack of knowledge, because this is what many people believed kings actually did, even if not Huck. Also, Twain uses the Dauphin's claim to kingship to satirize kings. On page 126, the Dauphin says, "Yes, gentlemen, you see before you, in blue jeans and misery, the wanderin', exiled, trampled-on, and sufferin' rightful King of France." The Dauphin was like many other people at the time, claiming to be the rightful King of France or some country. He also shows the ignorance of Amercians, because originally Huck and Jim both believe the Dauphin. Twain uses a fraud (the Dauphin) and a liar (Huck) to satirize kings again in Chapters 19-25.
In chapters 19-25 of Huckleberry Finn, Twain is largely satirizing the stupidity, naivety, and general gullibility of members of Southern society. As Huck, Jim, the Duke and the Dauphin travel down the river, encountering many Southerners, through their interactions, Twain is emphasizing that they are generally rather dense. For example, with the Duke and the Dauphin decide to put on a performance of Shakespeare; they are forced to change their act in order to attract customers. With the original advertisement of scenes from classic Shakespearian plays (Twain 139), only 12 attended (Twain 150). However, when they raise the admission, giving the impression it is worth more, claim that performing are large stars, and suggest the show to be too racy for women and children by prohibiting them from coming (Twain 150), the house is packed (Twain 151). Twain is satirizing how the Southerners are so naïve as to fall for the Duke and the Dauphin’s lies and attend a performance because it appears to have a greater value and perhaps ‘scandalous’ behavior. Also, after the show after feeling cheated out of their money since it was so short, they are so afraid to look stupid, they pretend the show was amazing and continue wasting their money and coming back (Twain 152). Another example of Southern stupidity found in Huckleberry Finn is when the Duke and the Dauphin attend Peter Wilks’ funeral as his brothers in a scheme to take possession of his inheritance. Hardly knowing anything about Wilks, the Duke and the Dauphin put on a huge show, “[slobbering] out a speech, all full of tears and flapdoodle” (Twain 163). Even Wilks’ three girls are completely fooled by their act, taking the two men to be their uncle and trusting them with Wilks’ entire inheritance. Twain is showing that Southerner’s are so gullible and stupid that two complete strangers could pass themselves off as uncles and be treated as if they really were the family’s flesh and blood. Although there were plausible reasons why the three girls might not have met their uncles, they fact that they trust them completely after knowing them only a few minutes is Twain’s way of showing that Southerners are far more dim-witted than the average citizen.
Twain satirizes the reaction of townspeople towards expected disturbances that push certain people over the edge. In chapters 21, death is mentioned when Huck and two new travel companions, the Duke and the Dauphin, visit a small town in Arkansas. During their visit, Huck witnesses a murder. A town drunk, Boggs, enters town ranting and threatening to kill men. This is a routine that all the townspeople are familiar with. Colonel Sherburn, one townsperson, had had enough. “‘I’m tired of this, but I’ll endure it till one o’clock. Till one o’clock, mind – no longer. If you open your mouth against me only once after that time, you can’t travel so far but I will find you.” This is clearly a threat to Boggs, although with more depth behind it since according to the rest of the town, Boggs “don’t mean nothing’ he’s always a-carryin’ on like that when he’s drunk. He’s the best-naturedest old fool in Arkansaw—never hurt nobody, drunk or sober.” Twain is setting up a rather out-of-the-ordinary scene. He then expands and over exaggerates the scene, reflecting the main idea of a satire. Colonel Sherburn “was standing perfectly still in the street, and had a pistol raised In his right hand… The same second I see a young girl coming on the run… The pistol barrel come down slow and steady to a level… Boggs throws up his hands and says ‘Oh lord, don’t shoot!’ Bang! goes the second one, and he tumbles backwards onto the ground… That young girl screamed out and comes rushing, and down she throws herself on her father, crying, and saying ‘Oh, he’s killed him, he’s killed him!’” The daughter is clearly in agony when she deems her father as dead. These events slowly loose their exaggerated feel, and start to trigger heartfelt emotions in the reader. This is a common aspect of satires, when a situation becomes less humorous or dramatic, and ultimately creates genuine emotions of unhappiness.
In chapters 19-25 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Duke and the Dauphin symbolize fraud and risk. When the Duke and the Dauphin go into town, they put on a show called The Royal Nonesuch in which the Dauphin comes out on stage wearing nothing but body paint. The crowd of men believe their act to be funny, but they call out in anger, “What, is it over? Is that all?” (Twain 152). Not wanting to be the laughing stock of the town, the men think that on the second day, they shall trick the other half of the town so that “[Everyone] will be in the same boat” (Twain 152). The second night’s show is jam packed with people, each one of them tricked out of their money. Creating a show just to make money is the plan of Duke and the Dauphin, a pair of true swindlers. In this way, they represent fraud because they will do anything to make a little cash. However, on their last attempt, Huck and the Duke collect money but no show is performed. Having a third show when the whole town is after them because of their trick is a big risk for the Duke and the Dauphin. Even Jim knows that the Duke and the Dauphin are hazardous when he says, “But, Huck, dese kings o’ ourn is reglar rapscallions; dat’s jist what dey is; dey’s reglar rapscallions” (Twain 153). Through the Duke and the Dauphin, Twain represents fraud and risk.
In chapters 19-25, Mark Twain satirized the common southern person’s preference of low-brow entertainment versus high-brown, due to their lack of sophistication. This is specifically shown in chapters 22 and 23 through showing the ‘common man’s’ reaction to different kinds of entertainment. The book uses the example of putting on a circus show versus Shakespearean play scenes. In chapter 22, a circus is held in the town Huck, the duke and the dauphin are currently in. The circus is going as planned until a, supposed, drunk man comes out of the audience, wanting to ride one of the horses. Although Huck was “all a tremble to see his danger” (167), the rest of the crowd was “standing up shouting and laughing till tears rolled down” (167). While Huck sees the event with a realistic mind-set, the crowd is more amused by the man disrupting the performance, without concern for his safety.
Another example of the Southerner’s enjoyment of low-brow entertainment was by seeing their reaction to high-brow entertainment, which can be seen in the book when Huck, the duke, and the dauphin perform their Shakespearean scenes. Huck explains, “Well, that night we had our show; but there warn’t only about twelve people there—just enough to pay expenses…. So the duke said these Arkansas lunkheads couldn’t come up to Shakespeare; what they wanted was low comedy…” (167). As the duke realizes, and as Twain is trying to satirize, the southern crowds in Arkansas don’t want to experience what he may see as professional, but they’d rather watch fights or slap-stick comedy. To get more audience members to their performances, the duke then changes their advertisement to say at the very bottom in big letters, “Ladies and Children Not Admitted” (168). Twain is saying that the people in Arkansas would rather watch a show that they are assuming will be risqué over Shakespeare. Through showing the common man’s entertainment choice, Twain is satirizing their lack of sophistication and civilization.
In Huckleberry Finn chapters 19-25, Mark Twain satirizes a Southerner’s concept of law and order. In chapters 21-22 of the novel, Huck, Jim, the King, and the Duke landed in a southern town along the Mississippi River. One night, Huck witnessed a dramatic scene in the town. A drunken man named Boggs was roaring around town, threatening to kill Colonel Sherburn. The Colonel came out of his house and threatened to kill Boggs if he carried on after one o’clock. Boggs continued to yell after one o’clock, and so Dherburn shot and killed him. Here Twain satirizes the Southern concept of law and order, in that Colonel Sherburn, a “proud-looking man about fifty-five… the best dressed man in that town,” would kill a man for such an insignificant crime, and consider it fair punishment. Later on, Twain satirizes law and order after Boggs died, and the townspeople were gossiping in the streets. Huck said, “Well, by-and-by someone said Sherburn out to be lynched. In about a minute everybody was saying it; so away they went mad and yelling.” This satirized the idea of law and order, (particularly order), in southern society, because instead of arresting Sherburn for his crime, they decide to lynch him. In Southern towns, crimes were punished with more crime, and Twain illustrated that theme with satire.
An element of Southern culture satirized in chapters 19-25 of Huckleberry Finn is the emphasis on religion. In chapter 20 (pages 132-3 in my book,) the Duke and Dauphin attend a large religious gathering in the woods. There, the Dauphin gets up in the crowd and tells this elaborate lie about how he used to be a pirate, but was reformed by the revival meeting they are currently attending. He then claims hat he plans to journey, as a missionary, to the Indian Ocean. The crowd is so moved by the power of religion, that they donate $80 to the Dauphin and his mission. As well, they are so in support of spreading religion and their ideals, that they part ways with their money. If any of these religious people were to put any thing other than religion first, they would have realized the Dauphin was a fraud, and not have supported his scam. However, the citizens were blinded by the religious virtue and good in his story, that they saw over the faults and gave money for religion. Religion is a big deal to these people, and to Southern culture, which Twain is satirizing in Huckleberry Finn.
I believe that there are two main components of chapters 19-25 that are being satirized: the people of the South at the time and also the idea of royalty.
Twain intorduces his readers to two new characters in chapter 19: the Duke and the Dauphin, or King. Obviously, they are protrayed as con men that are both vying for the most attention and stature on the raft (pages 124-126) when each spins increasingly tragic tales about being fallen and unfortunate royalty. In this way, Twain is satirizing the type of people that lived in the South. The very fact that Huck could see through this act (page 127)makes the reader think of them as not terribly bright or convincing. On the other hand, many others were conned into believing these men and both the Duke and the Dauphin made some money off of the Southern townspeople (pages 133-134). This may have been poking fun at the possible gullibility of the people living in small Southern towns.
The idea of royalty was also satirized by the very characters of the Duke and the Dauphin. The two climb aboard the raft pretending to be fallen dukes and kings of France (pages 124 and 125-126) and, when Huck and Jim ask what can be done for the two of them, promptly tell them to bow and refer to them as "Your Majesty" and other such titles. Twain is saying that royalty is nothing more than bowing and ostentatious titles and futhermore is telling the reader that nothing seperates the noble from the common people. In the story, it is quickly assumed that these two regular men are, in fact, royalty, which shows that anyone can be royal, and that people of high standing are still no more than men.
~Pippa
In chapters 19-25, Twain is satirizing the citizens of the Arkansas small town. Huck Finn witnesses Boggs, a drunk, getting shot by a man named Sherburn. The drunk was a town joke; a man even said, “I wisht old Boggs’d threaten me, ‘cuz than I’d know I warn’t gwyne to die for a thousan’ year” (Twain 187). Whenever Boggs would threaten someone, no one took him seriously. However, after Boggs insulted Sherburn while drunk, Sherburn took Boggs seriously and ended up shooting him in front of his daughter. The town was outraged, and immediately “away they went, mad and yelling, and snatching down every clothes-line they come to,” to hang Sherburn with (191). However, when they get to Sherburn’s door, they are surprised when Sherburn appears with a gun in his hand, calm and silent. The crowd stops, and Sherburn makes a speech about the cowardice of the townspeople, saying things such as, “Why, a man’s safe in the hands of ten thousand of your kind – as long as its day-time and you’re not behind them” and “Why don’t your juries hang murderers? Because they’re afraid the man’s friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark – and it’s just what they would do” (193). He attacks the average person’s instinct to cower and how everyone is braver in a mob. While the mob represents the unruly Southern society, Sherburn represents the Southern gentleman. His speech is a confrontation of the society, pointing out all of the flaws. Sherburn is completely opposite of Huck, who tends to run away from problems. Thus, Twain, by comparing Sherburn to Huck, is satirizing not only citizens of the Arkansas small town, but cowardly society as a whole.
In chapters 19-25, Huck and Jim meet a character who calls himself a "king". Huck soon figures out that the king is a fraud-- "It didn't take me long to make up my mind that these liars weren't no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds." (Twain 127). However, he doesn't say anything because he wants to "keep peace in the family." Twain's character of the king is satirizing how far people will go to obtain money and attention; basically become royalty. Throughout chapters 19-25, the king, along with his partner in crime the "duke", go from town to town and scam people of their money. At the end of chapter 24, it says, "the men gathered around and sympathized with them, and said all sorts of kinds of things to them, and carried their carpetbags up the hill for them, and let them lean on them and cry...it was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race." From this quote, readers see just how low the king and duke have sunk. They are so greedy for money that they will lie to a mourning family about their supposedly lost loved one. In satire, there is always a little truth behind the exageration. Twain was able to convey the actions of a money-hungry person to an extreme.
One thing that I noticed being satirized in chapters 19-25 is the isolated, rural southerners of the 1800s who have an inflated view of their own intelligence. An example of the Duke perceiving himself as more intelligent than he is, is on page 148. The Duke is thought of by the others on the boat to be very educated about Shakespeare, drama, and sophisticated culture. When the Duke is working on finding an ending for the Duke and the Dauphin's production of the balcony scene of "Romeo and Juliet", and the broad-sword conflict scene of "Richard III" (150), he decides to add "Hamlet's Soliloquy" (148). Because he does not have the speech in a book, he tries to derive it from his memory. After spending some time trying to remember the passage, the Duke states, "This is the speech- learned it, easy enough..." (Twain 148). After stating that he believed that remembering "Hamlets Soliloquy" was easy, he recites it, but completely wrong. His speech is a combination of lines from "Macbeth", "Richard III", and "Hamlet's Soliloquy" from Scene III, act ii. Huck and the Dauphin are astounded by this speech that the Duke came up with "easy enough", although it is actually not the real soliloquy. The Duke believes his knowledge of Shakespeare is much better than it actually is, and Twain is making fun of how people think their intelligence is more vast then it appears to be.
In chapters 19-25, the Duke and the Dauphin are satires of Southern con artists of the time. At first, they claim that they are a duke and a dauphin, hoping that Huck and Jim will treat them as such (Twain 127). Next, they put on two performances. They call one of them "Shakespeare." Huck recites some of it in the book, and it's a pretty speech, and some of it is from actual plays, but it's not Hamlet's Soliloquy (Twain 137). This performance isn't very profitable, since few people show up, so they decide to put on a "low comedy." To ensure that people come to it, they post a message at the bottom of the advertisement, which says "Ladies and children not allowed." The Duke said "There... if that line don't fetch them, I don't know Arkansaw!" (Twain 150.)
One thing that Mark Twain satirizes in chapters 19-25 is Southerners' pride using the example of the performance of the Royal Nonesuch. The duke and the dauphin sell out tickets only for the audience to find that all they are paying for is a short speech by the duke explaining that, "the great tragedy will be performed only two nights more...then he makes them another bow and says if he has succeeded in pleasing them and instructing them, he will be deeply obliged if they will mention it to their friends and get them to come and see it" (Twain 151). Instead of the audience being outraged and demanding their money back, the audience is outraged and decide to tell all their friends to come see it. "We don't want to be the laughingstock of this whole town, I reckon, and never hear the last of this thing as long as we live. No. What we want is to get out of here quiet, and talk this show up, and sell out the rest of town! Then we'll all be in the same boat. Ain't that sensible?" (Twain 152). This selfish, egomaniacal, thoughtlessness bodes a remark on Southern pride as well as an underlying commentary on the Sheperson-Grangerford feud, and how because the audience was gypped, they want their friends and neighbors to feel the same.
One thing that Mark Twain satirizes in chapters 19-25 is Southerners' pride using the example of the performance of the Royal Nonesuch. The duke and the dauphin sell out tickets only for the audience to find that all they are paying for is a short speech by the duke explaining that, "the great tragedy will be performed only two nights more...then he makes them another bow and says if he has succeeded in pleasing them and instructing them, he will be deeply obliged if they will mention it to their friends and get them to come and see it" (Twain 151). Instead of the audience being outraged and demanding their money back, the audience is outraged and decide to tell all their friends to come see it. "We don't want to be the laughingstock of this whole town, I reckon, and never hear the last of this thing as long as we live. No. What we want is to get out of here quiet, and talk this show up, and sell out the rest of town! Then we'll all be in the same boat. Ain't that sensible?" (Twain 152). This selfish, egomaniacal, thoughtlessness bodes a remark on Southern pride as well as an underlying commentary on the Sheperson-Grangerford feud, and how because the audience was gypped, they want their friends and neighbors to feel the same.
In Chapters 19-25 Twain satirizes southern justice and lynching through the shooting of Boggs. Boggs is sort of a loveable drunk, who rides around town uttering comical death threats that no one takes seriously. One loafer even says that he wishes Boggs would threaten him because, “then I’d know I warn’t gwyne to die for a thousan’ year.” However, when Boggs says that he is going to kill the store owner, Colonel Sherburn, instead of laughing it off, Sherburn takes the law into his own hands, and shoots Boggs. The townspeople are surprised and angry so they gather together in a mob to lynch Sherburn, but he talks them out of it. While doing this, Sherburn makes a lot statements about the state of southern justice. First, he calls southerners cowards saying, “ Because you’re brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-out women that come along here, did that make you think you has grit enough to lay your hands on a man?”, and“Your newspapers call you a brave people so much that you think you are braver than other people- whereas you’re just as brave, and no braver.” Next, he attacks the southern courts saying, “Why don’t your juries hang murderers? Because they’re afraid the man’s friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark- and it’s just what they would do. So they always acquit; and then a man goes in the night, with a hundred masked cowards at his back and lynches the rascal. Finally, Sherburn says there is no way they’ll hang him because, “If any real lynching’s going to be done it will be done in the dark, Southern fashion; and when they come they’ll bring their masks, and fetch a man along.” In this passage Twain satirizes the southern idea of “justice”and the wicked practice of lynching; by showing that it boils down to reckless anger and cowardice.
The town portrayed in Chapters 21-23 of Huckleberry Finn satirizes the image of some Southern towns of the 19th Century. In many mediums, Southern towns are often depicted as redneck or simple. Mark Twain took this view when creating the town portrayed in the book. The description of the town begins with "countrypeople...already beginning to come in [for the circus], in all kinds of old shackly wagons, and on horses." The adjective shackly immediately gives the reader a feeling of negativity regarding Southern life. Twain continues the town's description, saying, "The stores and houses was most all old, shackly, dried-up frame concerns that hadn't ever been painted; they was set up three or four feet above ground on stilts...the houses had little gardens around them, but they didn't seem to raise hardly anything in them but jimpson weeds, and sunflowers, and ash piles, and old curled-up boots and shoes, and pieces of bottles, and rags, and played-out tinware." Twain makes the town out to be a miniature junkyard. The gardens are not a place for growth but an overgrown collection of shoes, rags, and bottle pieces. Also, the repitition of the word "shackly" makes the reader relate back to the earlier passage. The fences of the town "lean every which way" and are haphazardly designed, which gives the whole town a haphazard appearance (139-140). Finally, the people are mostly loafers who lounge around "borrowing" tobacco from each other all day long. "What a body was hearing amongst them all the time was: 'Gimme a chaw 'v tobacker, Hank.' 'Cain't; I hain't got but one chaw left. Ask Bill'" (140). This conversation continues with several arguements ensueing about "chaws" and their owners. The fact that this is the only thing that these people have to do all day (except watch dogfights or dogs running/burning themselves to death) is a sad statement which Twain conveys accordingly. There is also the love of violence among the Southern loafers. "There couldn't anything wake them up all over, and make them happy all over, like a dogfight-unless it might be putting turpentine on a stray dog and setting fire to him, or tying a tin pan to his tail and see him run himself to death" (141). As families gathered in the town for their dinners, "there was considerable whiskey drinking...and I seen three fights" (142). The fights and constant drinking relates to the image of Southern lifestyle: people like their whiskey, and this leads to fighting.
A culmination of Southerner's love of violence is the shooting of the drunk man, Boggs. The shooting itself concurs with Southern steryotypes. "Somebody sings out: 'Boggs!'...it was Colonel Sherburn. He was standing perfectly still in the street, and had a pistol raised in his right hand-not aiming it, but holding it out with the barrel tilted up towards the sky...Boggs and the men turned round to see who called him...and the pistol barrel come down slow and steady to a level-both barrels cocked...Bang! goes the first shot, and [Boggs] staggers back, clawing at the air...Colonel Sherburn he tossed his pistol onto the ground, and turned around on his heels and walked away" (143-4). The description creates a perfect image of a typical dramatic Southern shooting. As most of the descriptions regarding the town are exaggerated, the reader is able to see that Twain was satirizing the typical Southern image and lifestyle of the Southern people.
One aspect of southern culture that is being very much satirized in chapters 19-25 is the embellishment of religion. The practice of religion is exaggerated to such an extent that the religious celebration of the south almost seems like an amusing act or joke, and the way in which the southerners act in such a "holy" place makes them out to be utterly vulgar and unsophisticated bumpkins. Twain also satirizes the condition of the church, and the way in which the citizens of Arkansas present themselves. On page 132, Huck describes the church as a shed made out of poles and branches, with benches made out of outside slabs of logs with holes bored in the round side for the legs. The people were also depicted as country hicks, as "some of the young men was barefooted, ans some of the children didn't have on any clothes but just a tow-linen shirt" (Twain 132). Later on, Huck witnesses an unorthodox service in which the people groaned, shouted, cried, and "flung themselves down on the straw, just crazy and wild" (Twain 133). Nor was it just the churchgoers that he satirized. He also took aim at the preacher, "his arms and his body going all the time, and shouting his words out with all his might; and every now and then he would hold up his bible and spread it open" (Twain 132). This portrayal of a southern revival meeting conforms to Twain's extreme disdain for Southerners and their lifestyle.
The eyet of Twain's satire in chapters 19-25 is focused on the Duke and the Dauphin. These characters are intended to satirize the common Southern pretense of nobility. Twain began to satirize this subject in the previous chapters by sitting the lifestyle of the Grangerfords, but picked up in chapter 19 with the arrival of the Duke and the Dauphin. Huck says that "it didn't take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn't no kings nor dukes at all." The Duke is a particularly fine example of a caricature of imitated sophistication. On page 130, he claims to have knowledge of Shakespeare, and presented the others with an advertisement calling him "the 'world-renowned Shakespearian tragedian, Garrick the Younger, of Drury Lane, London.'" Later, however, he butchers Hamlet's Soliloquy, pronouncing "'to be, or not to be; that is the bare bodkin.'" Twain also puts the Duke and the Dauphin up to the most un-royal activities imaginable. On pages 151, 152 and 153, the royal pair tricks hundreds of Arkansans out of their money. Later, they take the money of a dead man, fraudulently impersonating his relatives. With all their behavior, there is no doubt that these two are not royal in any way, and that Twain is poking fun at the feeble stabs at sophistication made by Southerners of the time.
In chapters 19-25,the Mississippi River continues to be a symbol of freedom to Huck and Jim. Huck muses that "it's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them" (Twain 121). But the river is also a symbol of Huck's moral confusion about slavery and the state of race relations in the South. It's not always free and easy for Huck and Jim to travel on the river; they can only travel by night for fear of being caught. When Huck sees two men running toward him he thinks to himself, "I thought I was a goner, for whenever anybody was after anybody I judged it was me--or maybe Jim" (Twain 122). As they float deeper south down the river, they continue to run into more potential danger. When the duke and dauphin come on board the raft, Huck has to make up a story to protect Jim. The duke and dauphin in turn come up with the idea to make it look like they "captured [Jim] up the river...and are going down to get the reward" (Twain 135) so that they can travel by day again. The image of Jim as a runaway slave pretending to be a captured runaway slave is ironic as they float down the river that is a symbol of freedom.
A re-occuring concept Twain satirizes throughout toe novel is the absurd sense of honor in society. The event that stands out in this set of chapters is the incident between Colonel Sherburn and Boggs. Twain actually satirizes two absurd senses of honor in two different groups or kinds of people in the south.
Boggs is described as a town joke and a drunk, and one of the citizens remarks to Huck that, "'He don't mean nothing; he's always a-carryin' on like that when he's drunk. He's the best-naturedest old fool in Arkkansaw--never hurt nobody, drunk nor sober.'" (p. 142). No person in the town has ever taken Boggs's threats seriously, more lightly and humorously. At this time, Boggs comes to threaten Colonel Sherburn. The colonel is obviously a respected gentleman by his title and how Huck describes him: "By and by a proud-looking man about fifty-five--and he was a heap the best-dressed man in that town, too--steps out of the store..."(p. 142). The Colonel goes on to say, tranquil and slow, that he will endure Boggs for only so much longer, and past this point he will kill him. Boggs, being the drunk that he is, keeps on rudely insulting and threatening him whilst riding and running all up and down the street. Having endured too much, Colonel Sherburn steps out and simply shoots the man. The Colonel's response represents that of a respectable gentleman in the south of higher rank. The absurd act of shooting a man for threats usually taken as light and humorous satirizes southern gentlemen's inflated sense of honor over any underlying issue. Shortly afterward, a mob of the town's common citizens gather in a mob to lynch the Colonel for his actions. As they arrive at Sherburn's house, they are surprised when he stands out on his balcony and addresses them all. Here, through Colonel Sherburn, Twain satirizes the common southern man. The Colonel himself states that, "The average man's a coward...You didn't want to come. The average man don't like trouble and danger. You don't like trouble and danger. But if only half a man--like Buck Harkness, there--shouts 'Lynch him! Lynch him!' you're afraid to back down--afraid you'll be found out to be what you are--cowards..." (p. 246-247). The colonel emphasizes the lemming-like tendency of the average manin a mob, apparently setting out to accomplish an honorable task (which is, ironically, lynching.)
The idea of southern graciousness and morality is being satirized in chapters 19-25 of Huckleberry Finn through the uncouth way in which the people of Arkansas are described as living. This is demonstrated when Huck arrives in the town in Arkansas and describes the scene. Huck says on page 139 that, “the houses had little gardens around them, but they didn’t seem to raise hardly anything in them but jimpson weeds, and sunflowers, and ash piles, and old curled-up boots and shoes, and pieces of bottles and rags and played-out tin-ware.” This strongly contrasts to Huck description of the river at the beginning of chapter nine where, “the nice breeze springs up, and comes fanning you from over there, so cool and fresh and sweet to smell on account of the woods and the flowers.” Compared to the serene landscape of the river, the town where the people live seems quite disgusting. The town’s people also act rather uncivilized. Huck says on page 140 that, “what a body was hearing amongst them all the time was: ‘Gimme a chaw’v tabacker, Hank.” Both the fact that most time is spent “loafing” around and chewing tobacco, and that the language used is so improper, suggests how uneducated and badly mannered these people are. The type of entertainment the people enjoy also portrays them in a crude way. It is said by Huck that “there couldn’t anything wake them [the town’s people] up all over, and make them happy all over, like a dogfight – unless it might be putting turpentine on a stray dog and setting him on fire, or tying a tin pan to his tail and him run himself to death.” These people find the suffering of others fun and exiting. They find gruesome and grotesque behavior to be very amusing, and the sign that said “ladies and children not admitted” attracted many people to attend the Duke and Dauphin’s play. This further shows how unsophisticated the people of the Arkansas town are.
Another time Mark Twain satirized the southern version of honor was in the Royal Nonesuch. The Duke and King put on this show to trick money from the townspeople, and they did. The reason they got a away with all the money is because the first group of people who were tricked did not tell others they had been scammed. Instead they wanted to save face and let all the other townspeople be sold as well. They said to themselves, "We are sold-mighty badly sold. But we don't want to be the laughingstock of thi whole town, I reckon, and never hear the end of this thing as long as we live. No. What we want is to go out of here quiet, and talk this show up, and sell the rest of the town!" (pg. 152). They could have gotten revenge on the Duke and King then, but in this way, their southern honor let them get scammed.
One thing satirized in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn between chapters 19 – 25 is the Southern belief of pride and overall disapproval of admitting to humiliation. The Duke and the Dauphin make a living off of robbing people of their money and dignity. The handbill, promoting The Royal Nonesuch stated “LADIES AND CHILDREN NOT ADMITTED.” The Dauphin was determined that by not admitting ladies and children, men would pay to see the performance, expecting to see a risqué act. “There, if that line don’t fetch them, I don’t know Arkansaw!” One the first night, the “house was jam full of men in no time.” The ‘risqué act’ featured the king prancing onto the stage, naked, on all fours, completely painted in “ring-streaked-and-striped’ colors. The audience loved the act, but immediately the king retreated from the stage, and the act was finished. The audience was outraged that they had been tricked. A man in the audience stated “We don’t want to be the laughing-stock of this whole town, I reckon, and never hear the last of this thing as we live.” To hide the fact that they had been tricked, the members of the audience decided to tell everyone in the town to see the play, so they themselves didn’t look like fools. At the very last show, the house was packed with more men of the community, each who carried various foods, which they intended to throw at the actors. However, the Duke, the Dauphin, Huck, and Jim had already left the town, they were tricked once again. Twain uses this as an example of how people are not willing to admit they were tricked for fear of being chastised and “the laughing stock.” However, after their scheming and trickery, they were still fooled by the Duke and the Dauphin.
In chapters 19-25, Twain is satirizing authority and the power they hold. In chapter 19, Jim and Huck meet two escaped men who claim they are the Duke of Bridgewater and the late Dauphin. Both explain their dramatic stories while Jim and Huck wait on them, calling each “Your Majesty” or “Your Grace” (136). Huck later explains at the end of the chapter that, “It didn’t take me long to make up my mind that these liars warnt no kings nor dukes, but just low-down humbugs and frauds” (137). These two characters that encounter Huck are supposed to be higher authorities but are truly are “humbugs and frauds”, who treat innocent people out of their money. Twain is saying that anyone could be a “King” in modern society, and what we view as authority who are supposedly better than us when, really, they aren’t. Later on in their adventure, Jim says that “dese kings o’ ourn is regular rapscallions”. Huck agrees, adding that, “all kings is mostly rapscallions” (165). Twain’s satire for authority also relates to slave-owners. Slave-owners can be described as “rapscallions”-to put it lightly-but most of 1800’s society accepted this fact because, according to Huck, “kings is kings, and you got to make allowances…it’s the way they’re raised” (167). Twain’s satire for authority demonstrates the control one person can hold over another, just because of a title, when really they are plain-old “rapscallions”.
In chapters 19-25 of Huckleberry Finn the perceptions of slaves in society continues to be satirized. More specifically, the ignorance of slaves is satirized. In these chapters Jim is perceived as somewhat clueless, and on occasion Huck automatically assumes so. For example: on page 127 Huck comes to the conclusion that the Duke and the Dauphin are lying about being royal but decides that it “warn’t no use to tell Jim, so I didn’t tell him”. In this instance Huck assumes that Jim hasn’t come to the same conclusions he has, which we later see is in fact the case. We see that Jim does indeed believe that the two new passengers on his and Huck’s raft are royalty: “Huck, does you reck’n we gwyne to run acrost any mo’ kings on dis trip?” (page 135). Another situation where this satire occurs is where Huck simply states, not trying to hurt or demean Jim, that: “You don’t know kings, Jim, but I know them” (page 154). Because of the somewhat degrading tone of this quote, it appears Huck is speaking to Jim as if they are not equals, an opinion reinforced by the “food chain” of that time period. However this statement could also be viewed as comical, as we have no proof that Huck is an expert on kings, other than that he “read about them once” (page 153). Nonetheless Huck still speaks to Jim like he would speak to someone who has lower status; perhaps nowadays as a teacher would speak to a first-grader. Though these opinions of Jim contradict the earlier chapters in which Jim is trusted because of his spiritual knowledge, Jim apparently still lacks the knowledge Huck possess (or claims to). Jim’s spirituality does contribute to his knowledge, however I think that knowledge that society more or less possess is being satirized here. The knowledge Jim lacks is about society and the community outside of the raft, this becomes evident when the Duke and the Dauphin come on board.
Sorry for my late post!
I actually believe that in this chapter we see frequent satirizations of the intellect and honor of Southern people. The two "gentlemen", the Duke of Bridgewater, and the Dauphin of France, are a satirization of the honor of Southerners; on pages 103 to 105, both men create wild lies about their heritage, neither too clever to escpae Huck's perceptive nature, as he evidences on page 106; "It didn't take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn't no kings nor dukes, at all, but just low down humbugs and frauds". Then there is the attempt ed lynching of Colonel Sherburn, a man of mysterious honor, who on pages 122 to 123 earns his right to speak with a shotgun and doesn't give it up until he has sent the mob running (literally); he, too, insults quite specifically the honor of Southerners, on page 123, he calls out; "The idea of you lynching anybody!...Because you're brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-out women....Your newspapers call you a brave people...whereas you're just as brave, and no braver. Why don't your juries hang murderers? Because they're afraid the man's friends will shoot them in the back, in yhe dark---and it's just what they would do." In spite of this outright and dramatic satire, most of these insults are simply thinly cloaked, tongue-in-cheek jabs; mocking the intellect of Southerners, we see two grown men having a petty argument over their respective tobacco debts to one another for quite some time on pages 117 to 118; the play which the duke and king stage on pages 127 is a comedy billed as a tragedy, and after this sophisticated theatrical performance, featuring a naked and painted "Dauphin", has ended, peeved patrons decide that it was such a rip-off that the only logical thing to do is to trick the rest of the town into viewing it; "Then we'll all be in the same boat", says one man on page 128.
Among still more examples of the satirization in these chapters of Southern honor and intelligence, these few serve to illustrate Twain's satirical focus at this point in the book.
Numerous people wrote on how Twain satarized the Southern people's inflated sense of personal honor or intelligence. This sense is definitly emphasized after the Duke and Dauphin's preformance of The Royal Nonesuch. Even after the entire crowd was sold, rather than admitting their humiliation to the rest of the town, they followed one man's proposal to, "sell the rest of the town!" (Twain 152). I was then wondering, where does a Southern townsperson recieve this huge, inflated veiw of their own intelligece/honor? In the beginning of the book, Huck is told by Tom Sawyer that he is both, "a numbskull" and a, "perfect saphead." (Twain 22-23). On the raft Huck does not seem take into account his personal honor as much as a townsperson, since he is also willing to apoligize to Jim (Twain 90). Since Huck is also seemingly disconnected from the shore/society, I'm beginning to think the sense of inflated intelligence or honor derives from participating in society. In The Royal Nonesuch Incident, the decision to, "sell the rest of the town" was decided as "sensible" by "everybody" (Twain 152). As a group in society, the townspeople decided to uphold their personal honor/intelligence. If anyone has other examples or alternate sources of inflated intelligence/personal honor, I'm totally open to them.
In response to what Anya said in response to Tony and Clio:
I agree with Anya that Twain is not satirizing Shakespeare, but making fun of the con men, who believe they can perform Shakespeare pieces. Specifically, adding support to what Anya stated, on page 137 when the Duke recites Hamlet's soliloquy with many mistakes, I think that Twain is satirizing the con men of the time. Also on page 137, when the Duke is acting overdramatically, Twain is poking fun at the con men's actions, not Shakespeare. Although con men of this type thought themselves to be wily and convincing, in reality their acions were almost comical, detracting from their believability.
In respose to what Victoria G. said:
I agree that Mark Twain is satirizing fraud and risk. Another example of fraud and risk of the Duke and the Dauphin is in chapters 26-29, when the Duke and the Dauphin further their plan to steal the money from Peter Wilks' will. They're very well-liked by the townspeople, so when the money is discovered in Peter Wilks' coffin, because the townspeople want to find the tattoo on his chest, they have to run away from the town, because of the trap they've set for themselves, with accidental help from Huck.
In response to what Lani said, I agree that Mark Twain is satirizing the uncivilize way many southeners live, especially in Arkansaw. To add to her response on page 139 when the duke, the dauphin and Huck are walking around Arkansaw they say ,"The stores and houses was most all old, shackly, dried up frame concerns that hadn't ever been painted; they was set up three or four foot above ground on stilts, so as to be out of reach of the water when the river overflowed. Huck hasn't always been living in the best conditions and for him to make observations like this one shows how Twain is satirizing the way that southerners live. Twain is also satirizing how uncivilized that southerners are by having Huck say, "They generly had on yellow straw hats most as wide as an umbrella, but didn't wear no coats nor waistcoats; they called one another Bill, and Buck, and Hank, and Joe, and Andy, and talked lazy and drawly, and used considerable many cusswords.
In response to Natalie R., Leah R., and Ariella
I agree with those who said that Twain satirizes religion and religious practices. This is further demonstrated by the Wilks funeral. The funeral is not described in a solemn way. When describing the music, Huck says on page 179 that, “They borrowed a melodum – a sick one; and when everything was ready, a young woman set down and worked it, and it was pretty skreeky and colicky, and everybody joined in and sung, and Peter was the only one that had a good thing, according to my notion.” Twain also includes a silly bit about a dog making a racket and upsetting the funeral. The undertaker “glided” around everywhere he went and is described humorously as he, “glided and glided around three sides of the room, and then rose up, and shaded his mouth with his hands, and stretched his neck out towards the preacher, over the people’s heads, and says, in a kind of coarse whisper, ‘ He had a rat!” (Twain 179). The whole ceremony is much more comical than serious.
In response to Chris A.'s comment:
I agree with your comment. If you think about all the characters that Huck has encountered, they are all white men (besides Jim) who create a variety of immoral problems. The Duke and the Dauphin are con mens that lure Huck in their plots. The Arkansas town that Huck stays for several days is also filled with white men who are drunk, lazy, irresponsible, and incredibly dirty. The only man that continues to be a kind and caring man is Jim, the black runaway slave. Jim is Huck's companion and almost father-like figure. He does Huck's sentry duty at night and is always generous. Twain is satirizing the Southerners intellect and honor, because the characters are completely unaware of their unrighteous acts and dishonesty. They continue to view themselves as royalty or as able citizens. Instead, the only worthy man is a black man, Jim. Twain uses this to enhance his overall satirical message that black men are equal to men. Twain proves that it is a man's deeds that should be the foundation of his reputation, not his race.
Many people have said that Twain is satirizing Southern honor in Chapters 19-25. For example, Ed said, "a different kind of Southern honor was satirized, one more of personal pride than of family honor." However, I do not think Twain is satirizing the Southern honor itself. In this case, I think Twain is satirizing European honor again, like he did before in the story with King Solomon. Twain is using the southerners attempt at being honorable to satirize what it seems like the English accomplished in the Middle Ages and for awhile after. The southerners, who think honor is going to lynch Sherburn on page 145. In European society, the knights or maybe the middle class would go kill a man or hang him if he had done something wrong, which is exactly what the southerners are trying to do, but they fail miserably once they encounter Sherburn himself. The two honorable people in this story are Huck and Jim. In European society, a king or nobleman would NEVER bow down or apologize to someone lower than them. Huck apologizes to a slave, which would be considered just as bad, yet he would be deemed honorable by the reader. As I said in my post, European monarchies were also satirized by Huck on page 153 and 154, when Huck talks about how they all just chop off heads of their wives and get new ones, just like how Jim said that Solomon was not wise, even though he is considered one of the most wise and honorable kings. The southerners lack of knowledge and attempts at being honorable satirizes European honor, not the honor of the southern people.
I agree with Caroline's thoughts about how honor seems to derive from participation in society. If you step back to think about it, honor has much to do with how another person sees you. If one went to the Royal Nonesuch and no one learned that he or she had gotten sold, then that person wouldn't need to trick other people into getting sold, because his or her reputation would not be in any danger. Of course, that person could still choose to sell other people out of malice, but that's entirely different.
In response to Austin's comment about how Southern honor is not being satirized, (a direct contradictory statement to my own earlier post,) I don't believe the two of us are talking about the same thing. I argued that Twain satirized Southern honor in the incident of the Royal Nonesuch, not the incident of the attempted lynching, or the other examples Austin gave. Also, since the United States used to be a colony of Europe, it seems to stand to reason that lynching was also a part of the Southern society; therefore the people in the town were not merely copying what they had heard about in Europe.
It is true that in Europe a King would never bow down to a commoner; it is also true that in the South, a free man would never bow down to a slave. Although the two statements are correlated, each can exist without the other. Therefore, Twain could easily have been satirizing Southern honor again in that case, not European honor.
In the case of King Soloman, however, I cannot disagree with Austin's statements.
in response to lizzy's comment about thelengths people go to for money: I completely agree with Lizzy. I think that Twain was absolutely making fun of the desperate greed of the con men. One point she didnt mention was during the performance of the royal nonesuch. This episode really shows how far these two are wiling to go. The king goes on stage "a-prancing out on all fours, naked; and he was painted all over ring-streaked-and-striped, all sorts of colours, as splendid as a rainbow". Past that, when the conmen reveal that this is all there is to the show, they are in danger of being lynched, but stick it out for the three days to brazenly con the whoe town out of their money, especially on the last night, where the townsfolk come with rotten vegetables, etc to throw after being swindled.
I agree with Ariella when she states that religion is satirized in chapters 19-25 of Huckleberry Finn. However, I do not completely agree with her interpretations on the matter. My interpretations were that when Twain shows the way in which the southerners practice religion, he is satirizing how seriously they take their faiths, and in turn, how easily they are manipulated by it. For example, on page 132, Huck describes the preacher when he first begins to preach: “Then the preacher begun to preach, and begun in earnest, too.” This occurs while the entire church is singing, shouting, and groaning in a “rousing way” (132). The churchgoers are obviously affected by the people around them, as the hymn spreads throughout the church like a wildfire: “the preacher was lining out a hymn. He lined out two lines, everybody sung it, and it was kind of grand to hear it, there was so many of them and they done it in such a rousing way; then he lined out two more for them to sing --and so on.” In this almost-hysterical bout of prayers, the churchgoers are easily manipulated by the King. The King claims to be a pirate, and tells his dramatic tale of yearning to become a better man after being robbed. His attitude mimics those of the churchgoers, and due to feigned yet seemingly pure emotion he bursts into tears, as does the audience (page 133). The people in the church immediately open a collection box for him, and the King walks away with 87 dollars and 75 cents. In my opinion, this does not make the southerners seem unsophisticated or vulgar, just easily affected by each other and effortlessly manipulated by those who are smarter than them, especially in this hysterical state of prayer.
~sorry about the length, I have issues with being brief
While Austin does provide a good deal of support for his view that European and not Southern honor is being satirized, I must agree with ed and disagree with Austin. The involvement of potential European monarchs in the story does not truly reference the monarchy in satirical ways, other than occasional sly jokes, such as Austin's reference to the "replacement" of wives on pages 153-154. However, throughout the book and of course in chapters 19-25, we see satirization of the South. Quite frankly, had Twain wanted to satirize European culture he would have placed the story in Europe, or during colonial times. This is the novel, after all, that defined American literature for the first time; why should it's satire involve Europe? At any rate, there is also an important point to this satire that I think I should add, which Kristy perceptively identified for us (thanks); we are reminded at this time, that in the company of swindlers and thieves, visiting towns of dupes and drunks, of all the grown men, a man cast out by society, a lowly black escaped slave, is the only true gentleman. On page 104, the trusting Jim, upon hearing the tale of the Duke of Bridgewater, "pitied him ever so much"; as a result, "All through dinner Jim stood around and waited on him". On page 131, Jim confides in Huck of the sad tale of his daughter Elizabeth, who had "tuck de sk'yarlet-fever, en had a powful rough spell"; his daughter became deaf; not knowing this, Jim slapped her hard enough to "sont her a-sprawlin'." Jim expresses pain and remorse for what he did. Finally, in spite of constantly being tied down uncomfortably tightly to a raft during much of the trip, Jim on page 132 expresses his complaint in quiet, modest terms, simply saying that he hoped that this part of the trip would go quickly because "it got mighty heavy and tiresome". Jim indeed symbolizes this irony, where a man who society holds the very lowest regards for, should be, if not always bright and perceptive to lies or good ideas, is consistently a gentleman and not nearly so graceless as those who would be his masters.
I agree with Lila that Twain satirizes the value of freedom in chapters 19-25. Lila used the example of the Duke suggesting that they tie up Jim in order to allow free travel during the day. I think this example shows how freedom can be easily taken for granted. Huck and Jim have had limited freedom for all their lives, and are therefore content with traveling only during the daytime. The Duke on the other hand, had always had freedom and is therefore not willing to compromise it. He would rather tie Jim up than settle for limited freedom in the times they can travel. I think that Twain is trying to show us that freedom is not valued correctly by free people in the South because they have never experienced being oppressed.
Sorry, I forgot to say that was Natalie R.
While Caroline makes an interesting point, I disagree that the technique of the Snakeoil traders is what Twain was satirizing. Instead, I believe he was mocking the gullibility of those who believed the lies told by them. As was represented by the lavish décor and lofty attitudes of the Grangerfords (seen on pages 108-119), many people, particularly in the South, have a desire to fill their lives with expensive or exciting new items, according to Twain. The Snakeoil traders were familiar with the kind of people they could persuade to purchase whatever it was they should sell, and knew that they could make Southerners feel as though they had a need for it, particularly if they could get it before their neighbors. In fact, I would even go as far to say that while mocking the lifestyle of people similar to the Grangerfords, Twain was praising the Snakeoil traders and their ability to take advantage of the naivety of families in the South. Twain seems impressed by these men, who are commonly mocked for their career choice, because they have an ability to understand the true character of those whom they try to sell to, and can use it to benefit themselves.
I think that Rosalie is a foo-foo head!
Just kidding.
Actually, I partly agree with what Rosalie says about how "Twain is largely satirizing the stupidity, naivety, and general gullibility of members of southern society". However, I do not think that he is satirizing just the southern society. I think that Mark Twain is satirizing the gullibility of society in general. On page 133, the king pretends to be a pirate that feels guilty about all the things he’s done. He tells the people in church a sad story, and they all eat it up. I think that Twain was trying to get across how most audiences are willing to believe someone as long as the entertainer has either 1) an interesting story or 2) a sad story. Also, the Duke and the Dauphin put on a play; however they have to change the act to attract a larger audience. To make more people come, they raise the prices of the tickets, giving the impression that the show is worth more, they claim that large stars will be performing, and they suggest that the show is too racy for women and children (Twain 150). After their all of their hard work, the Duke and the Dauphin are rewarded with a jam-packed, full house. Here, I completely agree with Rosalie that Twain is satirizing the foolishness of society. However, once again, I do not think that he is making fun of only southern societies. I think that this represents his views of all societies. I find it interesting because this particular view of society holds true in today’s society. For example, theaters raise the ratings of movies to suggest scandalous behavior or profanity. When ratings are raised, more people flock to the theater to see it. In conclusion, I think that Rosalie made an excellent point about the satirization of society. Except, I think that this satirization included society as a whole, not just the southern societies.
In chapters 19-25 one thing that is satirized is the uncivilized manner in which many of the common people in the south acted.On page 140 when Huck and the king and duke go into the town in Arkansas, Twain describes the attitude of the men in the town. He describes how “There was as many as one loafer leaning up against every awning post,and he most always had his hands in his britches in his pockets, except when he fetched them out to lend a chaw of tobacco or scratch.” Twain then satirizes their conversations by giving an example, which basically consists of arguing over tobacco chaws. Twain also shows how uncivilized they are when he describes they only perk up at a fight of some sort, “There couldn’t anything wake them up all over, and make them happy all over, like a dogfight—unless it might be putting turpentine on a stray dog and setting fire to him, or tying a tin pan to his tail and see him run himself to death”(141) This description of the loafers, and Twain’s expressing how many of them there are in a town, satirizes the common uncivilized lifestyle in the south.
In chapters 19-25 one thing that is satirized is the uncivilized manner in which many of the common people in the south acted.On page 140 when Huck and the king and duke go into the town in Arkansas, Twain describes the attitude of the men in the town. He describes how “There was as many as one loafer leaning up against every awning post,and he most always had his hands in his britches in his pockets, except when he fetched them out to lend a chaw of tobacco or scratch.” Twain then satirizes their conversations by giving an example, which basically consists of arguing over tobacco chaws. Twain also shows how uncivilized they are when he describes they only perk up at a fight of some sort, “There couldn’t anything wake them up all over, and make them happy all over, like a dogfight—unless it might be putting turpentine on a stray dog and setting fire to him, or tying a tin pan to his tail and see him run himself to death”(141) This description of the loafers, and Twain’s expressing how many of them there are in a town, satirizes the common uncivilized lifestyle in the south.
In response to Ava's comment:
This is a good point, but by no means inconsistent with what I wrote. Unsophisticated people are often easily manipulated, and so Ava's point is merely an extension of what I say. However, Twain is making fun of the churchgoers--not only how easily manipulated they are, but in the wild manner in which they practice their religion. If Ava is implying that Twain is somewhat sympathetic to the Southerners because they are being conned by the king, then I would disagree. What he is really trying to show is how ignorant they are, which is central to his satire. For example, on page 134, everyone wanted the King to live in their houses, but he rejected them, saying that he was in a sweat to get to the Indian Ocean and go to work on the pirates. The fact that no one even found it suspicious that he would come to the town, take money, and leave, shows how Twain was portraying them as oblivious not only to the King's con, but to the world around them.
In respose to what Natalie R. said:
I agree that Twain was satirizing how the southerners extreme practice of religion resulted in loss of the actual concepts they were supposed to be learning. Annother example of where Twain was satirizing the loss of religious concepts was on page 121. Here, Huckleberry went to church along with Buck's family, and the Shepherdson family. Each family brought their guns to church. At church, the sermon was about "brotherly love", and everyone there seemed to find it to be a very powerful message (Twain 121). Even though everybody thought the sermon was terrific, and had a lot of very important ideas in it, they did not actually grasp the concepts that it was trying to preach. Everyone is supposed to "love thy neighbor as thy self", yet, they are bringing their guns to church, just in case they feel it necessary to shoot their neighbor. No one seemes to understand that they are doing the exact opposite of what the preacher said they should. They seem to be more pasionate about loving the sermon, and saying how good it is, than actually taking time to understand it, and trying to live by it.
I agree with Taylor’s idea of Twain satirizing the value of women. Often when Twain includes women in his writing, the first remark is on their appearance. “Mary Jane was redheaded…she was most awful beautiful” (162) was the first statement given about a girl who the Duke and Dauphin proceed to scam. Also, Twain doesn’t only satirize the value of women, but he also satirizes women’s emotion. In chapters 19-25, he does not write about women’s personality, but instead writes about how their appearances reflect their emotions. Often times the emotions are much exaggerated. In the situation where the Dauphin pretends to be a pirate who wants to guide the pirates onto the “true path” of not pirating, “the prettiest kind of girls, with the tears running down their cheeks, would up and ask him would he let them kiss him for to remember him by” (134). This lets them come across as girls who are extremely emotional, and not to mention gullible. Emotionally unbalanced girls are represented in this quote, and that is a generalization about females. Twain also depicts this idea when the Dauphin pretends to be Peter Wilks brother, and puts on a display of profound sadness. This “worked the crowd like you never see any-thing like it… every woman, nearly, went up to the girls, without saying a word… and looked up towards the sky, with the tears running down, and then busted out and went off sobbing and swabbing, and give the next women a show.”
(163) By writing this, Twain increases the exaggerated idea of the emotional side of women. Not only does Twain satirize the value of women, but he also hits on the generalization of women’s emotions by blowing each situation out of proportion.
Lizzy L. brought up a very intriguing point in her first entry. The Duke and the King go to such laughable extents to acquire great quantities of money, but have no practical need for it. They spend the majority of their time and a raft, so therefore do not need to spend money on lodging. Also, the supplies and food that are needed on the raft are extremely minimal and cheap. Not once in chapter 19-25 did the Duke and the King spend any significant amount of their plunder. One might infer that the two are deceiving others to obtain money merely because they enjoy playing such trickery on innocent people. It is illogical that the Duke and the King would have such a burning desire to rack in such insurmountable riches, if they have no want or need to spend them. In an extension of what Lizzy L. conjectured, I think that Twain could very well be satirizing the mindless quest for wealth, even when it is unjustified.
I would like to comment on Lila’s original post stating that Twain satirizes the value of freedom in chapters 19-25. I think that the Duke and the Dauphin are an example of this because of their fraud. When Huck and Jim find the pair, they have been running from people that had been tricked out of money by these snake oil salesmen. However, once they have gained their freedom again, the Duke and the Dauphin go right back to what got them in trouble in the first place. This shows that as white Southerners, they can take their own freedom for granted. Jim, on the other hand, is so glad to be free that he is willing to be bound and gagged so that he appears to be captured. In fact, Jim is hardly free because he has to pretend that he isn’t a runaway. Huck lies to the Duke and the Dauphin, saying that his family died and that he and Jim were the only ones who survived a run-in with a ferry boat. To explain their habit of traveling at night, Huck says that “’people was always coming out in skiffs and trying to take Jim away from me…We don’t run daytimes no more; nights they don’t bother us.’” Twain’s satire of freedom not only pokes holes in the way people value it, but also examines the way that a slave might view it differently from a free white man.
Many people have said that the shooting of Boggs and Colonel Sherburn’s speech satirized Southern justice (or the lack there of), Southern society, an inflated sense of personal honor, and love of violence. I agree that all of these concepts are satirized, but I think there is another thing being mocked. The way Southerners measured a “man” is being made fun of through Colonel Sherburn’s speech. On page 147, Sherburn says, “if only half a man-like Buck Harkness, there-shouts ‘Lynch him! lynch him!’ you’re afraid to back down.” This shows that Sherburn, a typical Southern gentleman, measures a man by his willingness to kill another man. Sherburn also says that, “if any real lynching’s going to be done it will be done in the dark, Southern fashion; and when they come they’ll bring their masks, and fetch a man along.” This statement is ironic because one would assume that the “manly” thing to do would be to kill a man in a way so that the person knows who he is being killed by. However, Colonel Sherburn wants to be killed in a way most would consider cowardly. He wants the mob to kill him at night while they are all wearing masks. After Sherburn calls the mob cowardly and unmanly, they all go away. This is further support for what Ed’s statement that honor is related to how another person views you. Once the mob knew that Sherburn, described on page 142 as a “proud-looking man,” thought they were cowards, the crowd indeed viewed themselves as cowards, losing all courage and running away.
Many people have mentioned that Shakespeare is being satirized. I don't think Shakespeare is being satirized as much as the people performing the Shakespeare. Shakespeare is supposed to be eloquent and entertaining, and what the Duke and the Dauphin do is anything but expressive and poetic. They conned the townspeople into paying lots of money for a short ten-minute play. Tony (the elder) said that they misquote Shakespeare, so it is satire. I think this is just to show how unprofessional and unknowledgeable the duke and the dauphin are. So instead of Twain satirizing Shakespeare, I think he is really trying to emphasize how terrible the duke and dauphin really are.
I think that it is interesting that most people talked about satirizing the South when there are also many other hidden meanings. Within the Southern satirization, there are less general subtopics such as Southern honor, Southern religion, etc. rather than the broad topic of the South. I think that most people weren't looking into it deeply enough, such as to find that he was satirizing the sappy artwork that was popular during the mid 1800s (chapter about Emmeline), the river (freedom vs. land's confinement and moral confusion), Southern honor (also moral confusion), and Southern religion and beliefs (about everything from slavery to how their children should be raised). There are a lot of different opinions and parodies that are embedded within the text that reveal themselves to be quite clever if the reader thinks to find them, and that Twain's personal knowledge and informational/educational purpose should not be overlooked.
In response to Taylor’s comment:
I thought the idea of Twain satirizing the value of women and children in society was a very interesting point to make. However, I don’t agree that the example you gave, in your first comment, satirized woman and children. When the duke wrote “LADIES AND CHILDREN NOT ADMITTED” (page 150) on their bill, Twain was, I believe, more satirizing that men will go to any show if they believe it will be risqué. I don’t believe that Twain was trying to say that men didn’t want their wives and children around because they weren’t valued. With this specific example, I believe that the men in the society are being satirized more than the value of women and children.
However, I do believe that women and children are being satirized in the book. That is why I completely agree with Lorena’s second comment talking about Twain satirizing the value of women and children and the idea of women being over emotional and always classified by appearance. In fact, whenever women are mentioned in the book, they are always classified by their looks. Women and girls’ appearance are usually talked about first when they’re being described. For example, when Huck sees Mary Jane his first reaction was, “Mary Jane was redheaded, but that don’t make no difference, she was most awful beautiful…” (page 182). When woman and girls are being described in this book, they’re physical attributes are always talked about first. Therefore, I do agree with Taylor’s main idea of that Twain’s satirizing the value of women and children, but I more agree with Lorena’s more specific idea Twain satirizing women being over emotional and always being classified by their looks.
Leah G. said that the Mississippi river is a symbol of freedom. However, she mentions that on the river, Huck and Jim experience danger. When the Duke and the Dauphin first come to meet Huck on the river, Huck thinks that they might be after him or Jim. In addition to the river as a symbol of freedom, it also carries an element of danger. While first traveling on the river, Huck and Jim run into few complications. They are also very cautious; they travel during the night and hide away during the day. When the Duke and the Dauphin show up, they no long take the precautions they took before. They travel during the day, risking the chance to be caught. Also, Huck and Jim overlook where they are going. Having missed their exit to Cairo, they head deeper into the South, into the heart of the slave states. Therefore, the Mississippi River represents freedom, and as the story progresses, this symbol of freedom becomes riskier and more dangerous.
In response to Kristy:
I agree that in comparison to all the havoc and chaos that Huck and Jim encounter on shore that the river is extraordinarily peaceful, but there are still troubles for them when on the raft. For example, they meet several men who are on the look out for runaway slaves like Jim, who narrowly escapes due to Huck’s lying (Twain 94). Also, while on the river, a large steamboat “[smashed] straight through the raft”, separating Jim and Huck (Twain 98). They find other unpleasant things while floating on the river, like the shipwreck containing a gang robbing the ship and threatening to murder a man (Twain 73). Although the river is peaceful, it isn’t quite the perfect haven and has it’s own set of problems.
I agree with Natalie that Twain is satirizing the way southerners practice religion. In Huckleberry Finn Twain makes fun of the drama with which religion is practiced in the south, and I think that Twain was also making the point that however big of a deal southerners make about religion it is really meaningless to them. On page 112, the Grangerfords take Huckleberry to church with them. Huck says:
The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall. The Shepherdsons done the same. It was pretty ornery preaching- all about brotherly love, and such-like tiresomeness; but everybody said it was a good sermon, and they all talked it over going home, and had such a powerful lot to say about faith and good works and free grace and preforeordestination, and I don’t know what all, that it did seem to me to be one of the roughest Sundays I had run across yet.
For all the Grangerfords’s talk about “faith and good works and free grace,” they practice none of those values. Even in church, while the preacher is talking about brotherly love no less, both the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons bring their guns as part of the feud between the families. I believe that Twain is making the point that even though southerners put great emphasis on religion, and often try to inject it with excitement and drama, they never really practice what they preach.
In response to Victoria G.’s Comment:
I agree completely that Twain was using the Duke and the Dauphin to symbolize risk and fraud. The Duke and the Dauphin continue to swindle people out of their income throughout chapters 19-24. To add something to her comment, I think Twain also depicts the Duke and the Dauphin as unintelligent con artist. They are mediocre at their job, and their lies are easily seen through by Huck. Twain uses these characters to represent the many con artists, throughout America, who did their jobs poorly. Also, Twain shows how little respect they had for other people. The Duke and the Dauphin mainly stole from people who recently came into money. They are naive, and the two con men take advantage of them, without the littlest bit of remorse or regret.
I have to disagree with what Taylor says. I don't believe that the value of women and children are being satirized in this example. Rather, I think the men are. The men are so crude as to be interested in watching the Duke and the Dauphin show only after women and children are banned from watching. There were "only about twelve people" at the first show before women and children were banned, but "the house was jam full of men" at after (pgs. 150-151). The women are not being degraded or humiliated; their value is not being satirized. Personally, I wouldn't think the Royal Nonesuch suitable for women and children either, what with the show being the king "a-prancing [around] on all fours, naked" (pg. 151).
I disagree with the select few people who said Mark Twain was satirizing Shakespeare. Shakespeare was a brilliant writer, and I believe that Twain is satirizing the misinterpretation and incompetence of many who practice Shakespeare‘s plays. In chapter 21 the King is reciting a speech from Hamlet but adds in passages from Macbeth and Richard III. When only 12 people come to their first performance, the duke said “these Arkansaw lunk-heads couldn’t come up to Shakespeare; what they wanted was low comedy” (161). This is an example of the lack of respect and appreciation for Shakespeare. The Duke and King change their play to a “low comedy” because of their greed. Twain is not satirizing Shakespeare, rather the lack of approval for his plays.
Partially in reponse to Edelman's post...
I agree that Twain could be satirizing the gullibility of Southerners during the time period in which the story takes place. The mere fact that the family of the deceased Peter Wilks would believe that the Duke and the Dauphin speaks multitudes about how gullible these people really are, especially considering their many slip-ups (e.g. "orgies" as opposed to "obsequies").
I found it interesting that Huck knew that the Duke and Dauphin were frauds but simply went along with the deception (page 127). He even continued to call them "Your Majesty" and "Your Grace" and whatnot and also continued to bow to the two of them. There is another instance of this failure to expose the Duke and the Dauphin: The Royal Nonesuch. As as been mentioned, the first people to view this outrageous performance did not expose them as frauds and instead got everyone in the town to see the show. This indictates, not that Huck or Southerns are gullible, but that they are simply unwilling to expose the two snake oil salesmen for what they were.
Only one man, on page 168, tries to expose the two frauds: the doctor. After hearing the word "orgies" instead of "obsequies," he calls the Duke and the Dauphin on their bluff. No one, however, believes him.
My question is, if Huck and the other Southerners allowed themselves to be manipulated and tricked, why didn't this doctor? Huck did not expose them to Jim because he wanted to "keep peace in the family" (page 127). The Southerners did not expose the frauds out of a bizarre (also satirized, but I won't get into that) sense of honor and pride. What prompted the doctor to expose the two when no one else would? Did he not care about peace in the family or not have an exaggerated sense of honor?
Let's examine what we know about the doctor. He has an extremely small role so there isn't much information about him other than the fact that he is a doctor and was "shipping a sick man to t'other world" (page 164) when the Duke, the Dauphin, and Huck arrived. This may indicate that he simply didn't believe them because he missed the introductions and the initial convincing of the family that they were, indeed relatives of the deceased. This argument is flawed, however. The preacher was also with the dying man, so why did he not object?
I think that Twain is saying that because this man is a doctor, he may be more rooted in fact and truth and therefore might examine the situation more closely than, say, the preacher would. As a man of medicine, he might be more inclined to assess the situation with an impartial eye, which leads him to expose the Duke and the Dauphin on page 168. This goes along with what many, many people have been saying: that Twain is satirizing religion. A funeral is something of a religious ceremony, which may make people more inclined to trust in the fact that the King is a preacher. The preacher himself trusts the frauds, too. Religion factors into this story in several ways. First, this is a religious ceremony. Second, the King is pretending to be a preacher, and therefore a man of the Church. Third, even the preacher believes him. The fact that it is the doctor that exposes the frauds indicates that Twain is, indeed, satirizing the religiousness that, as Twain seems to be saying, blinds the people of the South to the truth.
I agree with Elizabeth that Twain is satirizing the uncivilized behavior of the common people in the south. In addition to Elizabeth's examples of satire in Twain's descriptions of the southern people, I think Twain also satirizes their uncivilized behavior when he describes the fighting between the Grangerfords and the Shepersons at the end of chapter 18. After Harney Sheperdson and Sophia Grangerford ran away to get married, the two feuding families begin to fight. I think that Twain is saying that it is uncivilized of these families to not understand or be happy for the young couple, but rather to fight out this ridiculous feud by killing eachother. The violent way that the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons work out their family feud is another example of how Twain satirizes the uncivilized conduct of Southern people.
In response to Masha’s post:
While both Masha and I wrote about the same events, the shooting of Boggs and the planned lynching of Colonel Sherburn, we focused on two related, yet slightly different ways in which Twain satirized them. I wrote about how those acts of violence mocked the belligerence of Southerners, while she wrote about how they ridiculed the average Southerner’s concept of law and order. I think that our responses are both valid because they each illustrate how in the South, crimes were punished with more crime. As this idea can manifest either the Southern society’s method of law enforcement, or the extent to which Southerners love being hostile, I agree with Masha’s point of view and, in addition, affirm my own. Furthermore, I feel that our views are accurate not only for this event, but also in situations throughout the book. For example, many instances of Southern aggression are mentioned in Huckleberry Finn. These include what occurs in the “house of death”, the Walter Scott, and the feud between the Sheperdsons and the Grangerfords. First, the “house of death” is a showcase of violence itself. Jim says in the book that in the house, there is “a dead man [who has] ben shot in de back…[and has] ben dead two er three days”. Huck goes on to say that in the house, one can find “a couple of masks made out of black cloth,” which I believe implies that there were robbers in the house (Twain 57). Second, when exploring the nearly-sunken Walter Scott, Huck and Jim encounter violent southerners. Upon arriving on the wreck, Huck exclaims to Jim that there is “a gang of murderers in yonder” (Twain 75). Third, later in the story, Huck meets a family called the Grangerfords who openly feud with their enemies, the Sheperdsons. Their fight is incredibly intense and outrageous; Huck even says that when “[they] all went to church…the men took their guns along…and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall” (Twain 112). The fact that none of the criminals in this book are ever arrested by others, and instead fight to solve problems, as well as how prevalent those evildoers are, proves that thus far, the book has constantly mocked how in the South, people solve crimes with more crimes and are very pugnacious.
I agree with what Anastasia said about how Twain is satirizing the normality of violence in the south. She used the Arkansas town with Boggs as her example, but even in the more respectable towns such as the one where the King and Duke impersonate the two uncles. When they are suspected as frauds the people of the town say “Le’s duck ‘em! le’s drown ‘em! le’s ride ‘em out on a rail”(198) and everyone is very enthusiastic. Also, in the same scenario, when it is decided that they can determine who are frauds by checking the tattoo on the dead man’s chest, they say “We’ll do it!… and if we don’t find them marks we’ll lynch the whole gang!” Lynching seems to be a popular idea among the violent southerners.
I agree largely with what Chris and Ed have said, and disagree with Austin. While Twain may make some crude references to European royalty before the incident between Boggs and Sherburn, these slight references are not satirizing European honor. The jokes and crude mentionings are just another jab at royalty, which in the big picture is civility and high rankings.
Austin states that Boggs and Sherburn were not satirizing Southern inflated honor. However, satirizing is taking on a perspectice and exaggerating it. The events take on a completely different perspective than what Austin describes, and the practices the Southerners demonstrate are those being exaggerated. The whole event even comes to its heart when Sherburn gives his speech, which brings out the real nature of honor Twain satirizes. This culminating speech was only briefly mentioned by Austin. Just as Chris said, the author would have taken on a more definite European perspective. While there are links between the Southerner's practices and those of European royals, by the same measure I can say that there are links between my practices and, maybe, 50 Cent's practices.
In response to Taylor:
I agree that Mark Twain satirizes the value of women in Southern society. Another example of this satire can be seen chapters 24-29, when the daughters of the late Peter Wilks are portrayed. One of the daughters, named Joanna, is frequently referred to as “The hare-lip.” For example, in chapter 24, when the girls first meet their “Uncle,” Huck described the scene: “The king he spread his arms, and Mary Jane she jumped for them, and the hare-lip jumped for the duke.” In the novel, it’s as if Joanna’s particular physical appearance makes her unworthy of a name. At the same time, Mary Jane, the eldest, is often described as “the read-headed one,” and “most awful beautiful.” By contrasting the two sisters, Mark Twain satirizes how in southern society, a woman’s beauty is all that matters, and they are therefore not very important.
In response to Anya:
I think that Twain is not satirizing royalty itself, but, rather, the conmen themselves. As she has stated, the characters called themselves the “duke” and the “dauphin.” Taking advantage of their “royalty,” the conmen have Huck and Jim obey their orders. Twain introduces the characters like so in order to establish them as conmen in an absurd way. They are portrayed as incompetent conmen who are only trying to gain some money by putting on Shakespearean shows and playing out other schemes. However, as the story progresses, the conmen are portrayed with darkness rather than humor. As Lizzy L. said, the conmen will do anything for money, including taking the Wilks family’s money. After the conmen take the money from the Wilk family, Huck feels so guilty that he steals it to give back to the family later. When the conmen discover that the money has been stolen from them, they blame it on the family’s slaves, but, when the town digs up Peter Wilk’s coffin, they discover the money hidden inside.The conmen then blame each other: “The duke bristles right up now, and says: ‘Oh, let up on this cussed nonsense – do you take me for a blame’ fool? Don’t you reckon I know who hid that money in that coffin?’” To which the dauphin responds, “Yes, sir! I know you do know – because you done it yourself’” (Twain 274). A fight ensues between the duke and the dauphin, becoming so violent that the dauphin admits to taking the money, although he, in reality, has not. While at first the conmen seem harmlessly satirical and absurd, they quickly become menacing and dangerous.
In response to Anya's and Austin's original posts regarding European royalty satirization:
I agree with Anya and Austin about the idea that Twain was satirizing European monarchy. However, I agree more with Austin's idea, that "Huck...bashes kingdom in general." I also agree with the idea that because of certain American's lack of knowledge (e.g. Huck and Jim) regarding European monarchy, strange ideas can be formed about the way the monarchs lived, however true the ideas might seem to people such as Jim. For example, on page 81, Huck begins, "I read considerable to Jim about kings and dukes and earls and such, and how gaudy they dressed, and how much style they put on, and called each other your majesty, and your grace, and your lordship, and so on, 'stead of mister..." Huck also says, "Why, they get a thousand dollars a month if they want it...everything belongs to them...they don't do nothing...they just set around" (82). Huck continues to describe several royals such as Henry the Eighth, Solomon, and Louis Sixteenth, who "got his head cut off in France long time ago..." (83). Twain uses Huck as the proctor for satirization regarding European monarchy within the novel.
In response to Taylor's comment:
I definately agree with everything Taylor said in her comment. Women and children were very much ostracized in southern society, as made evident by Taylor's use of the duke's quote on page 150. Taylor also had a good point of bringing up the fact that, the next night, the audience was full of men. Since satire is taking an idea and exposing it by exaggerating it, Taylor was correct in identifying this example of satire. Twain exaggerated the treatment of women and children of the time period, expecially evident in the south, in order to expose the cruelty. Why, we are amazed at how blatantly offensive this would be to our society, but to have Huck write off the statement on the flyers as the norm, identifies the problem Twain meant for his audience to recognize.
Well thank you, Katerina! It's nice to know that someone agrees with me, even if it was about my original post. (By the way, Mr. Fuller, I already did my two posts so this one is just because I like being in conversations).
In response to all the people who have disagreed with my second post, I would like to say that I am now unsure whether Twain was satirizing Southern or European honor. In fact, he is probably satirizing both...but I chose to talk about the European one. I think he is using the southerners lack of honor to satirze Europe's sense of honor, but I do think everyone is also right in that he is satirizing the Southern sense of honor as well.
In response to Leah G:
I agree that the Mississippi River has always been a symbol for freedom. For example, it is the river that Huck used to escape his father after leaving Widow Douglas's house. He says, "it was rough living in the house all the time" (Twain 11). Huck wanted to be free without the widow or his father holding him back, and the Mississippi River allowed him to do that. It is also the river that is helping Jim escape slavery. I also believe that the trouble that Huck and Jim have had while traveling has come from shore. For example, in chapter nine, the house that floats by came from the shore and it contained a corpse. Also, in chapters 22 and 23, Huck goes on shore and is taken in by the Grangerfords. He later learns about the feud between the Grangerfords and the Shephersons and experiences the death of his friend, Buck. This shows that Mark Twain is trying to say that nature (the Mississippi River) is better than civilization (what comes from the shore), showing us that Twain is a romaniticist.
Mr. Fuller-I just got on the the blog again after my first comment. Sorry it took so long.
Many people thought that Twain was satirizing Shakespeare when the Duke and the King perform some of his works in a show. I half agree with those selevt people, and half agree with Carolyn. Carolyn said Twain is just "satirizing the misinterpretation and incompetence of many who practice Shakespeare‘s plays" and I think that is a correct interpretation although, Twain may have been satirizing Shakespeare a little bit. The Duke and King decide to put on a play with excerpts from Hamlet, Richatd III and Romeo and Juliet (Twain 139) in Arkansaw and the Duke teaches "Hamlet's Soliloquy" to the King, but adds in phrases from other of Shakespeare's works (Twain 137) which shows Twain satirizing those who misinterpret Shakespeare because the Duke doesn't really know Hamlet's Soliloquy. But Twain could also be saying that because Shakespeare wrote so many plays and because they were sometimes hard to understand for some people, it is easy for the works to get mixed up and jumbled until they all sound the same.
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