Huck Finn Satire

615 Words3 Pages
According to Dryden, satire is the corrective ridicule or fine raillery of something. It’s a literary genre intended to voice an opinion or bring about a change. In this passage from Huck Finn, Twain introduces both Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. They are both portrayed as nagging old women whom Huck Finn is not amused even the slightest way. Widow Douglas is a hypocrite who tries to teach Huck about religion. Also, Miss Watson is an aged, slim maid who just moved in with Widow Douglas. She tries to educate Huck and is very strict. Throughout this whole passage, Twain shows both of these women in their own light from Huck’s point of view, and I believe that Twain, without a doubt, shows and satirizes Miss Watson greater than Widow Douglas through epithets, exaggeration, and irony. Miss Watson is an unusual character from the start. Huck describes that she came in “with goggles on”, which can depict many different eccentricities about her. She is most definitely different from her sister, Widow Douglas, by the fact that Miss Watson gives orders and is intolerant of almost everything. She makes caustic remarks at Huck, it feels like that she is omnipresent and ubiquitous in his life. This is very different than her sister, who calls him different names, but at the same time she means no harm. Miss Watson just keeps talking on and on, and this is where Twain uses epithets to show how much scorn Miss Watson has for Huck. Miss Watson tries to educate Huck through spelling books, whereas Widow Douglas reads to Huck from religious books and is devout. Twain also uses exaggeration to show the religious sides of both sisters. Especially Miss Watson. When Huck declares that he wished that he wanted change, Miss Watson castigates him for thinking such thoughts, She tells him that he won’t go to a “happy place” if he keeps his act up. Then, we see that Huck has no interest
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