The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Why does chapter 19 in Huckleberry Finn move from the poetic to the satiric?

Apparently in chapter 19 it moves from the poetic to the static... I'm confused on what that even means and why it does that.

Asked by
Last updated by Aslan
Answers 2
Add Yours

The satire comes when the Duke and Dauphin are introduced. They really are just two-bit con artists. The boy's treat them as royalty and cater to their every whim although Huck has his suspicions. The satire relates to the whole absurdity of class structure. Their little world on the raft can be seen as a microcosm of the greater world around them. An escaped slave, a poor delinquent and two drunken hobos role play their own social structure.

Oh I forgot the poetry! Twain’s prose of the nature and the river is quite beautiful. This meditation is disturbed by the absurdity of the Duke and Dauphin crashing through the bush.