In his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain used humor as a means for developing both characters and themes. However, the novel as a whole was not intended to be taken as a work of comedy. Rather, there was a serious purpose behind this use of humor in which Twain was seeking to make a statement regarding the quality of life during his own time. Carrington has called the novel a "tragifarce" because it deals with various tragic episodes in a farcial manner (219). In this way, Huckleberry Finn can be seen as "a bitter satire of the various social levels in the American south" (Hearn 578). Through the use of satire, Twain sought to reveal certain essential moral truths. The book was published in 1885, but its setting is the south during the early part of the nineteenth century, prior to the emancipation of the slaves. As such, much of the satirical humor in the novel is directed toward providing an indictment of slavery "in all its ugliness" (Hearn 578). In the course of the novel, Huck encounters the hypocrisies and deceit which are found throughout American society. Despite powerful social conventions, he eventually makes moral choices which show that he has learned to respect the value of human life. Thus, in the words of Lindborg, the overall theme of Huckleberry Finn is "the moral education of a young boy whose better impulses overcome both self-interest and the negative forces of his culture" (584). Although Huck still seems to be somewhat naive at the end of the book, the message of moral truth has been effectively conveyed through Twain's clever and insightful writing style.
An important aspect in Huck's moral growth is his realization that the "nigger" Jim is a human being just like himself. During the novel, both Huck and his friend Tom Sawyer take delight in playing practical jokes on other people. However, one of the jokes that Huck plays on Jim backfires and thereby makes him aware of Jim's humanity. ...